INTERNACIONAL
Swiss-born liberal megadonor slapped with lawsuit for allegedly groping, sexually harassing winery employee
Swiss billionaire and liberal megadonor Hansjörg Wyss is facing a sexual harassment lawsuit from a now-former female employee in California who claims Wyss groped her, shared unwanted information about his sexual past and then ultimately retaliated against her when she denied his advances.
Former Wyss employee Madison Busby, in a suit filed in San Luis Obispo County last month, claims that the 89-year-old Wyss «deliberately placed his hand on Ms. Busby’s butt and groped her» the first time she was introduced to him in 2019 by her future husband, Bryce Mullins.
«Mr. Wyss proceeded to tell Mr. Mullins in Ms. Busby’s presence about how ‘good’ Ms. Busby’s butt looked in the dress she was wearing,» the lawsuit states.
Mullins was working for the Wyss-owned Halter Ranch winery in Paso Robles, and Busby ultimately began working there in 2021. The lawsuit states that Busby did not speak up at first due to concerns that Mullins would lose his employment or standing.
GOP BILL CRACKS DOWN ON ‘LOOPHOLE’ ALLOWING FOREIGN DONORS TO PUMP DARK MONEY INTO US ELECTIONS
Liberal megadonor Hansjörg Wyss is facing a sexual harassment suit from a former employee at a winery he owns. (Getty)
Over the next few years, the lawsuit alleges other harassment from Wyss, including «making several sexual propositions» including telling her «how much he enjoyed having a threesome» and suggesting they engage in a «foursome.»
«Throughout 2021 and 2022, Mr. Wyss frequently shared unwelcome stories about his sexual exploits and various affairs with other women,» the lawsuit states. «In 2021, Mr. Wyss told Ms. Busby and Mr. Mullins about his many sexual affairs outside of his marriage and stated there was nothing wrong with affairs. He further said that Americans were ‘too uptight’ around those having affairs.»
Other allegations include Wyss telling Busby about going to a movie theater with a woman named «Lori» and meeting a man he did not know and «initiated oral sex with him» before going back to her apartment and having a threesome.
SWISS BILLIONAIRE HANSJÖRG WYSS RECENTLY POURED OVER $60M INTO PROPPING UP LEFT-WING GROUPS AND CAUSES
Wyss is also alleged to have «subjected Ms. Busby to a live video of Lori while Mr. Wyss was having phone sex with her» and at one point told Busby «he often had phone sex with Lori and that she could orgasm multiple times just from ‘dirty talk.’»
«He went on to tell Ms. Busby that he usually had phone sex at Halter Ranch with Lori because his wife was not around,» the lawsuit said. «Mr. Wyss mentioned to Ms. Busby that he wanted them to ‘Facetime’ Lori with him.»
A spokesperson for Halter Winery dismissed the allegations as «not true,» telling Fox News Digital that they «intend to vigorously advance the facts that surround Mr. Mullins’ and Ms. Busby’s time at the winery and their departure.»
«For almost five years, starting in 2019, Mr. Mullins and his current wife voluntarily made themselves part of the Halter Winery community and took advantage of its owner’s generosity,» the spokesperson continued. «This included deciding to become employees of the winery, choosing to live at the winery rent free for years, frequently traveling with the owner to Europe, the Caribbean and elsewhere at the owner’s expense, asking the owner and his wife to host their wedding party and inviting the owner to serve as Best Man. Through all these years, they never complained about the owner’s conduct, or simply declined to spend so much time with him, until after they voluntarily left their employment at the winery in 2024.»
Wyss, according to the lawsuit, knew his actions could be legally problematic for him, telling Busby at one point in 2022, «If you ever went after me for sexual harassment, you would win.»
When Busby and Mullins began pulling away and decided to move to a smaller house on the property in order to ensure that Wyss would not be able to stay with them when he visited, the lawsuit alleges that Wyss retaliated against them by forcing her to take a pay cut and insisting the couple pay rent.
Former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, left, and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss attend Oceana’s 2015 New York City benefit. (Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Oceana)
Busby resigned from her position and sent a letter on the day she left to Wyss outlining her concerns about his «ongoing conduct and her own anxiety and distress as the result of that conduct.»
The complaint filed in April accuses Wyss of sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual battery.
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Wyss is also facing a lawsuit from Mullins, who says the billionaire «abruptly terminated» his employment after Busby’s complaint, despite bringing him out from the East Coast to work at the ranch and once promising Mullins would «have full control of the Halter Companies upon Mr. Wyss’s death.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Busby’s legal team for comment.
«The Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund have no involvement with this matter. The organizations’ charitable activities are totally separate from those of the Halter Ranch,» a Wyss foundation spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Wyss, who is referred to by some as the «new George Soros,» is well-known in American politics as one of the most prominent liberal megadonors and has given hundreds of millions to Democratic causes through a network of left-wing nonprofits.
Politics,Fundraising,Crime
INTERNACIONAL
Trump battles John Bolton, Chris Christie and threatens to pull funds from Wes Moore’s Maryland
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
I asked Donald Trump the question. Everyone asked Donald Trump the question.
Would he engage in retribution in a second term?
And we all got the same answer: He’d be too busy for that. His only retribution would be success.
Well, if Trump is not engaged in turning government against his political enemies, he’s doing a pretty good imitation of it.
Now, hardball politics is as old as the republic. The founders engaged in it. Abe Lincoln engaged in it. And you think LBJ never got his way by threatening to pull a grant or two for a congressman’s pet projects?
Look, one thing I’ve learned covering Trump for decades is that he loves to fight. In New York, back in the day, he would do battle with the likes of Ed Koch and Leona Helmsley, the «Queen of Mean.»
BROADCAST BIAS: NETWORKS OOZE WITH SYMPATHY TO ANYONE WHO OPPOSES TRUMP
President Donald Trump has dismissed suggestions that he would target political enemies, but Trump’s combative approach reflects a pattern that has defined both his career and American politics more broadly. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When his divorce from Ivana became a tabloid sensation, Trump got on the phone with me to discuss why his proposed settlement was really generous.
We see that fighting instinct today when the president goes after not just Democrats but fellow Republicans who defy him, or won’t back his proposals – a number of whom have announced their retirements rather than lose a primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
We see that Trump-against-the-world approach with his crackdown on D.C. crime which, despite the home-rule issues, is being welcomed by some liberals (publicly and privately) because folks are scared in a city that can’t even stop teenage carjackings.
The next target is Chicago, which also has a Black mayor, with the Washington Post reporting that there has been weeks of secret planning to send thousands of National Guard troops there. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has denounced this as an effort to spread fear, and sometimes it seems like the president is at war with urban America.
The underlying motivation is crucial: Trump believes that the Democrats waged «lawfare» against him for four years. There is no evidence that President Biden ordered such efforts, but Trump is convinced that the multiple investigations against him–as in the Stormy Daniels case–were part of a grand scheme to knock him out of the race.
And he has a point. Look at the outrageously illegal fine that Judge Arthur Engoron hit him with in the civil fraud case brought by New York AG Letitia James: $354 million, since grown to $515 million.
This was so blatantly unfair that an appellate court just threw it out as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, barring cruel and unusual punishment. James is appealing, and the court didn’t toss the whole case–the «fake» case, says Trump–but a half-billion-fine over real estate valuations seems pathetically unfair.
But when Trump cried foul, the media reaction was there he goes again, attacking every judge who disagrees with him. But Trump was right about Engoron.
The Trump DOJ, by the way, is now investigating Tish James for allegations of mortgage fraud.
So what the press sees as Trump going after his opponents is, in his eyes, just basic payback, an attempt at getting even.
Having said that…
«I just watched Sloppy Chris Christie be interviewed on a ratings challenged ‘News’ Show…on ABC Fake News,» «This Week» hosted by George Stephanopoulos.
«Can anyone believe anything that Sloppy Chris says? Do you remember the way he lied about the dangerous and deadly closure of the George Washington Bridge in order to stay out of prison, at the same time sacrificing people who worked for him, including a young mother, who spent years trying to fight off the vicious charges against her. Chris refused to take responsibility for these criminal acts. For the sake of JUSTICE, perhaps we should start looking at that very serious situation again?»
Christie, a onetime ally, was Trump’s harshest Republican critic during the campaign. As for the 2013 scandal known as Bridgegate, it was thoroughly investigated and two top Christie aides were convicted, but the Supreme Court, while blasting the conduct, overturned those convictions.
It’s worth pointing out that the decision to close some lanes on the George Washington Bridge, which created traffic chaos, was the governor’s attempt to strike back at a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse him.
«Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,» wrote one of the convicted aides in a remarkably succinct message.
«I always thought he got away with murder,» Trump told reporters yesterday.
Having watched the Sunday shows, the president unloaded on two networks:
«Despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History, ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC. I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!»
CHRIS MATTHEWS SAYS DEMOCRATS ‘FALLING INTO A TRAP OF DEFENDING WHAT’S INDEFENSIBLE’ ON CRIME
President Donald Trump and former national security adviser John Bolton have feuded since Trump fired him in 2019. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
He added that ABC and NBC should be paying «Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES…Crooked ‘journalism’ should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!»
Now networks shouldn’t lose their licenses just because the president doesn’t like their coverage. Maybe they should be paying more for use of the airwaves, but that should apply to all networks; so far they’ve played by the rules.
Trump and John Bolton have been at each other’s throats since the president fired the national security adviser. There was a criminal investigation over Bolton’s 2020 book that Trump tried to stop, but it was cleared for publication.
I take Trump at his word that he didn’t know in advance about the FBI raid on Bolton’s Bethesda home. But twice in the days leading up to the raid, Trump was slamming him online for criticizing his efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war..
«Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin. Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won.’ What’s that all about?»
After the raid, Trump called Bolton a «low-life» and a «sleazebag» who suffers from «major Trump Derangement Syndrome.»
But two things can be true at once. Trump prosecutors had to show convincing evidence to a special court to get the search warrant approved. So it’s possible that Bolton did hang on to some classified documents.
After the raid, Trump posted that Bolton was among the «stupid people» who were making it «much harder» for him to end the war by ripping his approach to Putin.
I’ve known John Bolton for years–he used to be a Fox contributor–and I’m surprised he’s made no comment. There was just a little wave at the press pack when he returned home.
Next up: Wes Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor.
They’ve been jabbing each other back and forth, which is fine. But then the president posted this:
«Governor Wes Moore of Maryland has asked, in a rather nasty and provocative tone, that I ‘walk the streets of Maryland’ with him. I assume he is talking about out of control, crime ridden, Baltimore? As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk.’ Wes Moore’s record on Crime is a very bad one.».
DEMOCRATS’ NEW BOOGEYMAN IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF DONALD TRUMP
Governor Wes Moore of Maryland has been rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge with funds approved by Congress as part of a package during the Biden Administration. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
There’s more:
Trump «offered» to deploy troops to Baltimore – which has a serious crime problem – after which he would accept Moore’s invitation to meet him on the streets.
Then came the threat: «I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision???»
Moore has been rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge since a reckless and out-of-control tanker destroyed it early last year. And for the record, Congress approved the funds as part of a package during the final stretch of the Biden administration.
But put that aside. Who would be hurt if Trump carried out this threat?
Millions of people in Maryland who rely on the bridge, or whose jobs are tied to commerce in that region.
So Trump is openly suggesting to use the official power of government to withhold funds that would hurt ordinary citizens. That is more troubling than the punching and counterpunching with Bolton and Christie.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Trump would actually do it. It’s a brushback pitch.
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While Trump may view himself as evening the score, one day Democrats will occupy the White House again. They would feel fully justified in going after their opponents as payback for the way they were targeted for investigation. And the endless cycle continues.
media buzz,donald trump,republicans elections,feud
INTERNACIONAL
El Vaticano expresó su asombro por la violencia en Gaza y pidió soluciones reales a la crisis humanitaria
El secretario de Estado vaticano, cardenal Pietro Parolin, expresó su preocupación por la situación en Gaza y aseguró que en la Santa Sede están “atónitos” ante la continuidad de la crisis y la falta de respuesta efectiva, luego de que un ataque israelí contra el hospital Nasser en Khan Younis provocara la muerte de al menos 20 personas, entre ellas cinco periodistas.
Parolin afirmó que “estamos atónitos por lo que está sucediendo en Gaza, a pesar de la condena mundial, porque existe una condena unánime de lo que está sucediendo”, al ser consultado por reporteros en el sur de Italia.
El alto representante de la Santa Sede calificó el bombardeo como “un sin sentido” y lamentó la ausencia de vías para una solución efectiva al conflicto. “Parece no haber un atisbo de solución”, señaló Parolin, quien consideró que la situación “se está volviendo cada vez más complicada y, desde el punto de vista humanitario, cada vez más precaria, con todas las consecuencias que vemos continuamente”.
Las palabras de Parolin se producen tras una jornada marcada por protestas masivas en Israel, donde familiares de rehenes y grupos civiles exigieron un alto el fuego y la liberación de los secuestrados por Hamas. Decenas de miles de manifestantes bloquearon autopistas, encendieron neumáticos y se concentraron frente a residencias de ministros, dentro de un día de protesta convocado por el Foro de Familias de Rehenes y Desaparecidos.
En Tel Aviv, el movimiento encabezado por parientes de los secuestrados pidió a la sociedad israelí redoblar la presión para lograr un acuerdo que termine el conflicto. “Le pido a la ciudadanía: salgan a las calles con nosotros, solo a través de nuestra fortaleza podremos lograr un acuerdo completo y poner fin a la guerra. El Gobierno los ha abandonado, pero el pueblo los traerá de vuelta”, afirmó Einav Zangauker, madre del rehén Matan Zangauker, durante una rueda de prensa.
La escalada de violencia se reflejó con especial crudeza en el ataque al hospital Nasser, ubicado en Khan Younis, al sur de la Franja de Gaza. Según fuentes médicas locales, el bombardeo provocó numerosas víctimas y dejó destrozos en las instalaciones sanitarias en un momento de alta vulnerabilidad humanitaria.
Frente a esta emergencia, Parolin llamó a la comunidad internacional y a los actores políticos a no observar los acontecimientos con pasividad. “No debemos rendirnos y hay que seguir trabajando por la paz y la reconciliación”, instó el cardenal, quien reeditó el mensaje del papa Francisco sobre el valor de la esperanza y la voluntad de diálogo. En sus palabras, “se necesita esperanza para todo el mundo”, recordando que el Jubileo proclamado por el pontífice está dedicado precisamente a ese tema.
El secretario de Estado vaticano también hizo mención a la situación en Ucrania y la importancia de la política y la disposición espiritual como claves para abrir vías a la reconciliación. “Se necesita mucha política, porque existen muchas soluciones teóricas… hay muchos caminos para alcanzar la paz, pero se debe querer llevarlos a la práctica”, subrayó Parolin.
La reacción del Vaticano coincide con el aumento de la presión sobre el gobierno israelí. El domingo anterior, cientos de miles de personas llenaron las calles de Tel Aviv durante una masiva manifestación para exigir el fin de la ofensiva militar y que se concrete un acuerdo para el retorno de los rehenes.
El primer ministro Benjamín Netanyahu continúa, no obstante, con los planes para intensificar las operaciones y avanzar sobre Gaza, decisión que agrava la polarización social y la emergencia en el enclave.
Mientras tanto, organizaciones humanitarias y eclesiásticas insisten en la urgencia de restablecer canales de negociación y socorrer a la población civil.
Parolin advirtió que “la situación es cada vez más precaria” y reiteró que “hay que seguir trabajando por la paz y la reconciliación” para evitar un agravamiento aún mayor del sufrimiento en Gaza y otros escenarios de conflicto.
(Con información de EFE)
07 septiembre 2023,category_code_new,maricel blanch,pietro parolin
INTERNACIONAL
El drama de un salvadoreño deportado por Donald Trump a una cárcel de Nayib Bukele suma otra pesadilla: lo echarían de EE.UU. a Uganda
Una pesadilla tras otra
Kilmar Abrego García asiste a una manifestación de apoyo en la oficina local del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) en Baltimore. Foto AP
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