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Iran escalates Hormuz ‘tit-for-tat,’ seizes ship tied to billionaire close to Trump, Macron
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Tensions escalated in the Strait of Hormuz April 22 after Iran’s IRGC seized two vessels in what analysts describe as «tit-for-tat» retaliation against the U.S. And one ship is linked to a billionaire shipping family tied to Presidents Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron.
Video aired on Iranian state TV purportedly shows IRGC soldiers seizing the container ships in the Strait, Reuters said Thursday.
One vessel, the MSC Francesca, is owned by MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, which was founded by Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte and is now controlled by his two children, Fox News Digital has learned.
«Some 20 Iranians armed to the teeth stormed the ship. Sailors are under Iranian control, their movements on the ship are limited but the Iranians are treating them well,» a relative of one of the MSC Francesca seafarers told Reuters.
TRUMP’S SPECIAL ENVOY WITKOFF AND KUSHNER VISIT US AIRCRAFT CARRIER AMID IRAN TENSIONS, TALKS
Soldiers take part in the seizure of the container ships MSC Francesca and Epaminondas in the Strait of Hormuz, according to footage broadcast on Iranian state TV and released April 22, 2026. (IRIB/Handout/Reuters)
«The ship is anchored 9 nautical miles from the Iranian coast. Negotiations between MSC and Iran are ongoing, our sailors are fine,» Montenegro’s minister of maritime affairs, Filip Radulovic, told state broadcaster RTCG.
Maritime intelligence firm Windward AI pointed to IRGC «tit-for-tat» tactics given the recent MSC vessel seizure.
This followed a U.S. naval blockade imposed on April 13, with Tehran warning of retaliation after U.S. forces also seized an Iranian vessel.
«The IRGC attacked three ships. It also captured and took in two of them — the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas — while the Euphoria managed to get away,» Windward AI co-founder Ami Daniel told Fox News Digital.
IRAN FIRES LIVE MISSILES INTO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS TRUMP ENVOYS ARRIVE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS
Soldiers take part in the operation seizing the container ships MSC Francesca and Epaminondas in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state TV April 22, 2026. (IRIB/Handout/Reuters)
«This is a ‘tit-for-tat’ exercise by the IRGC, which, along with the Houthis, has long claimed MSC is connected to Israel.
«Aponte, owner and chairman, has a Jewish wife, and MSC calls in Israel; however, so do all major liners.»
Diego Aponte, Gianluigi’s son, had been making «inroads with Trump’s circle,» Bloomberg reported April 13.
He also helped arrange a November 2025 White House meeting with Swiss business leaders that led to a preliminary deal to reduce the 39% tariffs imposed on Switzerland over the summer.
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The MSC executive chairman has been photographed with French President Emmanuel Macron. (Reuters/Stephane Mahe)
Over the last year, MSC’s relationship with the White House also positioned father Gianluigi Aponte as a key player in a $19 billion deal with Li Ka-shing, as MSC and BlackRock moved to acquire two Panama Canal ports under pressure from Trump to place them in «friendly» hands, according to the outlet.
With a net worth of at least $37 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, it is Gianluigi Aponte and his wife, Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, who appear to mingle with world leaders.
The MSC executive chairman and Rafaela have been photographed with French President Emmanuel Macron.
GULF SHIPPING OPERATIONS GRIND TO HALT NEAR IRAN; US QUIETLY PREPARES FOR POSSIBLE STRIKE: ‘HEIGHTENED RISK’
The Panama-flagged MSC Francesca vessel docked in Long Beach, Calif., April 16, 2025. (Efrain Morales/Reuters)
Rafaela is also reportedly related to Alexis Kohler (his mother is said to be her cousin), who served as Macron’s secretary-general from May 2017 to April 14, 2025, and was described as «Macron’s second brain.»
The Aponte family’s vessel, carrying about 40 crew members, was taken toward Iran’s port of Bandar Abbas by the Iranian navy, sources told Reuters Thursday.
Four crew members, including the captain, are from Montenegro, officials said, while Croatia’s foreign ministry confirmed two Croatian nationals are also aboard.
MSC declined to comment, Reuters confirmed.
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The IRGC Navy claimed both vessels captured «were operating without the necessary permits.»
According to Lloyd’s List, the 2008-built MSC Francesca «normally operates in service between the U.S. West Coast, Asia and the Middle East Gulf.»
navy, us navy, middle east, iran, sanctions
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Obama-appointed judge with ties to anti-Trump conspiracy theory hit with misconduct complaint
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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is facing a judicial misconduct complaint from a conservative watchdog group, which argues he should have recused himself from a lawsuit involving President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Kennedy Center.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) alleged that Cooper should have bowed out of the case because his wife, Amy Jeffress, has a history of representing what the group described as «anti-Trump» clients. In May, Cooper ruled against Trump by permanently blocking the renaming of the Kennedy Center after Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed a lawsuit.
CASA filed a complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, alleging Cooper failed to disclose or recuse himself despite what it called significant financial and professional interests stemming from his wife’s involvement in litigation against Trump.
«CASA is filing a judicial complaint against Obama-appointed DC District Court Judge Christopher Cooper for his potentially unethical behavior after his failure to recuse himself from the frivolous Kennedy Center lawsuit filed against President Trump, given his wife’s financial interests in opposing President Trump’s agenda through litigation,» CASA Director of Research and Policy Curtis Schube said in a statement.
JUDGE WITH INTIMATE TIES TO DEM PARTY’S KEY RUSSIA HOAX PLAYERS BEHIND LATEST ANTI-TRUMP DECISION
A composite photo shows a worker on a lift at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, alongside U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the building. (Getty / and the U.S. District Court of D.C.)
The complaint comes more than a week after Trump slammed Cooper for having a «conflict of interest,» pointing to Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress’, track record of representing Trump’s biggest foes, including former anti-Trump FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and currently representing former President Joe Biden, who is suing Trump’s Justice Department over the release of Robert Hur’s interview recordings.
«Cooper’s wife is longtime Democrat activist and attorney Amy Jeffress. Jeffress is the former counsel to the January 6th committee, works as former President Biden’s personal lawyer, and currently represents Biden in ongoing litigation against President Trump,» Schube said. «There was a clear need for Cooper to recuse himself from this matter, or at the very least disclose these conflicts. By doing neither, Cooper caused — at the very least — an appearance of impropriety, which warrants a full investigation.»
The complaint does not challenge Cooper’s ruling itself, but it argues that his involvement in the case could raise reasonable questions about his ability to be impartial under the federal judiciary’s Code of Conduct.
Sign on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Getty Images)
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«We are deeply concerned with the fact that a sitting federal judge did not recuse himself, and adjudicated to disposition, a case from which he and his spouse financially benefit,» the complaint states. «Indeed, a large portion of his wife’s business model appears to rely on handling litigation that is anti-Trump in nature.»
CASA argues that Cooper may have violated Canon 1, which requires judges to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
Read the complaint below. App users: Click here
«Canon 1 requires that a judge uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary,» the filing states. «Judge Cooper, presumably, goes home every night to his wife whose career is predicated on suing President Trump.»
CASA argued Cooper is in violation of Canon 2, which requires judges to avoid situations that could appear improper, even when no actual misconduct has occurred.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 10, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
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«More specifically, Canon 2 lists occasions when the appearance of a relationship affects a judge’s ability to adjudicate a case: 1) when public confidence is hampered; and 2) when spousal relationships influence judicial conduct,» the complaint stated. «Both problems are present here.»
The complaint also argues that Cooper violated Canon 3, which requires judges to remain fair and impartial and that recusal may be warranted when a judge’s spouse’s interests or potential partisan influences could reasonably raise questions about that impartiality.
The complaint concludes by urging the D.C. Circuit to investigate Cooper and determine whether disciplinary action is warranted.
Appointed by President Barack Obama, Cooper has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., since 2014.
Cooper has long been the target of conflict of interest allegations from Trump and his allies. The judge drew scrutiny during Special Counsel John Durham’s prosecution of former Clinton campaign-linked attorney Michael Sussmann, which was a part of Durham’s broader probe into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation centered on the now-debunked Russian-Trump collusion theory.
Critics argued then that he should have recused himself because his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, represented former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a figure tied to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cooper and Jeffress for comment.
judiciary, federal judges, appeals, investigations, kennedy center, politics
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Elecciones en Colombia: el inédito pedido de una diputada para suspender a Gustavo Petro de su cargo agita la campaña
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First on Fox: Trump admin opens new front in fraud crackdown targeting health insurers, drug middlemen
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FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is lifting the hood on federal health benefits programs that cover millions of Americans, ordering insurance carriers to tighten fraud controls as part of a broader crackdown on waste and abuse, Fox News Digital learned.
«Working alongside the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, OPM is taking additional steps to safeguard the premiums paid by federal employees and taxpayers, protect beneficiaries, and ensure health insurance companies are meeting the highest standards of accountability,» said Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director Scott Kupor to Fox News Digital.
OPM functions as the federal government’s human resources agency, overseeing civilian personnel policy and administering benefits for federal employees, retirees and their families.
OPM, partnered with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is sending new compliance expectations on Wednesday to insurance carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs, directing them to strengthen fraud prevention, payment reviews, pharmacy benefit oversight, subcontractor accountability, audits and reporting, Fox News Digital learned.
READ: DR. OZ PUTS ALL 50 GOVERNORS ON NOTICE OVER BILLIONS LOST TO MEDICAID FRAUD
FEHB cost taxpayers about $70 billion and provided more than 8.2 million federal employees, family members, and other eligible individuals in in 2024. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The push also targets pharmacy benefit managers, the drug-pricing middlemen that administer prescription drug benefits for health plans and negotiate with drugmakers and pharmacies.
The FEHB program cost the government and enrollees about $70 billion in fiscal 2024 and covered more than 8.2 million federal employees, family members and other eligible individuals, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
«OPM is a valuable partner and leader on the Task Force. The steps taken today will protect taxpayers and our federal workforce,» White House Task Force Executive Director Scott Brady told Fox News Digital.
OPM is also building a data science and audit team with the agency’s inspector general to review anonymized claims data and detect fraud, waste and overbilling more proactively.
HOUSE GOP LAUNCHES NEW TASK FORCE, PROBES ALLEGED $250B MEDICAID FRAUD IN OHIO
The White House Task Force has amped up its fraud investigations narrowing in on medical corruption. (Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)
The Government Accountability Office said in a July 2025 report that OPM should do more to manage fraud risks in the FEHB program, citing risks including benefit card sharing, improper inducements, insufficient or fraudulent documentation, kickbacks, marketing fraud, theft of personally identifiable information, provider ineligibility and self-referrals.
The announcement marks the latest crackdown in medical programs following the launch of a nationwide probe into Medicaid.
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OPM has given orders to insurance companies handling federal employee health benefits to launch investigations into payments, pharmacy benefit oversights, and subcontractors. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CMS directed all 50 states to submit plans to revalidate high-risk Medicaid providers, including providers subject to less rigorous enrollment standards or operating without a National Provider Identifier in April.
Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the task force, amplified the call in May, saying during a news conference that states could lose federal funding if they fail to aggressively pursue Medicaid fraud.
The push comes amid heightened focus on large-scale fraud cases, including Minnesota’s $250 million «Feeding Our Future» scheme, which became a national flashpoint in recent months.
white house, health care, enforcement, donald trump, jd vance
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