WASHINGTON: A plea deal could still be in the offing for Singaporean Malone Lam, whom the United States has accused of being the ring leader of a criminal gang that stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.

At a status hearing in a Washington, DC federal court on Wednesday (Dec 17), Lam’s lawyer, John Patrick Pierce, said discussions with the government remain ongoing.

“We do want to give best efforts at a resolution, and I believe Mr Hart and I can do that in good faith,” Pierce said, referring to Assistant United States Attorney William Hart.

A motion was filed the day before Lam’s hearing for Hart to replace Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rosenberg, who had overseen the sprawling case since its inception.

The details of the new offer for a plea deal, which the government put forward in mid-November, were not disclosed.

But both parties agreed to reconvene on Jan 12, 2026 at 9.30am (10.30pm, Singapore time) to update the court on the status of plea deal negotiations.

In the meantime, Pierce said he would move forward with procuring a court-approved computer so Lam can review the "unwieldy" amount of evidence in the case.

Since Lam’s last status hearing in November, the Court has unsealed a Second Superseding Indictment, which charges three additional defendants in the criminal enterprise, bringing the total to 17 individuals.

The Department of Justice has charged Nicholas Dellecave, Mustafa Ibrahim and Danish Zulfiqar with RICO conspiracy for their roles in the operation, which allegedly included database hacking and crypto laundering. 

Dellecave was arrested in Miami on Dec 3, 2025, while Zulfiqar and Ibrahim were recently arrested in Dubai on related charges, said the DOJ.

The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that Lam, Danish and others collaborated on the enterprises’ most brazen heist: stealing more than 4,100 Bitcoins from a single victim in Washington in August of 2024. At the time, the Bitcoins were valued at more than US$230 million. This week, their value exceeds US$350 million.

Following the theft, the Department of Justice alleges that Lam and “his associates spent over US$4 million in stolen virtual currency at Los Angeles nightclubs”. 

Prosecutors allege that Lam and some of his co-defendants formed a "Social Engineering Enterprise" in late 2023, born out of friendships formed in online gaming platforms.

According to prosecutors, they identified people with vast amounts of crypto, then duped them into handing over their account passwords, private keys and seed phrases by pretending to be support agents at Google or crypto exchanges.

Using that information, Lam and his associates allegedly accessed the victim's accounts, stole their virtual currencies, laundered them in offshore exchanges, and then converted them into hard cash.

Prosecutors allege that the enterprise stole more than US$265 million worth of cryptocurrency and spent lavish amounts of money on private jet rentals, luxury homes, exotic cars and nightclub services totalling more than US$4 million.

Nine of Lam’s co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in the case, including most recently Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, who admitted that he helped launder at least US$3.5 million for the group.

These co-conspirators could testify against Lam if his case goes to trial.

SYDNEY: United States President Donald Trump has signalled in an interview with the Wall Street Journal he is close to announcing his pick for the next chair of the US Federal Reserve.

With inflation again increasing amid widespread focus on the crisis of affordability, Trump’s appointment will be closely watched by financial markets and consumers alike.

The central bank has become a battleground as Trump seeks to extend his influence over Federal Reserve policy. But the last time a US president attempted to interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve provides a strong cautionary tale of the dangers of presidential interference.

TRUMP’S TUMULTUOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FED

Trump has a tumultuous relationship with the Federal Reserve and its current Chair Jerome Powell. 

Powell was first appointed chair by Trump in 2018, but the relationship quickly turned sour, with Trump repeatedly threatening to fire Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Just last month, Trump called Powell a “clown” with “some real mental problems”, adding “I’d love to fire his ass”.

Existing protections mean Trump cannot fire Powell “without cause”, which the US Supreme Court has interpreted to mean corruption or misconduct. Trump has been forced then to wait for the end of Powell’s second term to replace him.

In the meantime, Trump has attempted to fire Lisa Cook, one of the seven Fed governors, by having his Justice Department investigate claims of mortgage fraud against her. The charges however appear to be baseless, and Cook continues to serve as a Fed governor.

At the heart of the dispute with the Federal Reserve is Trump’s view that as president, he should be consulted on the setting of interest rates. With Americans facing a deepening affordability crisis, and Trump taking the blame, he is feeling the pressure to cut interest rates to boost growth.

Accordingly, Trump has insisted that the next chair of the Fed must be someone who is prepared to immediately and significantly cut interest rates, and listen to Trump’s views on monetary policy going forward.

CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE

Reduced interest rates might provide short-term juice to spur spending. However, in the long-term artificially low interest rates cause inflation, only worsening any cost-of-living crisis. For this reason, most developed countries maintain strictly independent central banks.

Central bank independence ensures short-term political considerations like elections and polling numbers do not interfere with long-term planning of monetary policy.

BACK TO THE 70s?

In 1970, during a growing inflation crisis, President Richard Nixon appointed economist Arthur Burns as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Like Trump, Nixon demanded that Burns reduce interest rates and listen to the president’s advice in crafting monetary policy.

At Burns’ swearing in, Nixon said he would meet with Burns regularly, adding: “You see, Dr Burns, that is a standing vote of appreciation in advance for lower interest rates and more money (…) I respect his independence. However, I hope that independently he will conclude that my views are the ones that should be followed.”

Under pressure from the president, who threatened to pass legislation diluting Fed independence if Burns did not comply, Burns repeatedly cut interest rates. However, prematurely low interest rates and the perception that the president was influencing monetary policy only deepened the economic crisis facing the US in the 1970s.

The result was stagflation, the dismal economic situation in which both inflation and unemployment increase simultaneously. Under Burns’ watch, annual inflation peaked at 11 per cent and unemployment at 8.5 per cent.

The “Great Inflation” of the 1970s was eventually ended by another Fed chief, Paul Volcker. Recognising that Burns had created a spiral of inflationary expectations, in 1980 Volcker drastically increased interest rates to 19 per cent. Volcker then kept interest rates in double digits until inflation permanently fell.

The so-called “Volcker shock” did eventually tame inflation, but at the cost of cripplingly high interest rates and surging unemployment.

The Great Inflation of the 1970s, and the price paid to end it, stands as a strong warning against the short-term sugar hit of reducing interest rates in response to political pressure.

WILL TRUMP LEARN THE LESSONS OF HISTORY?

With some economists warning signs of stagflation are once more emerging, Trump must now pick the next chair of the Federal Reserve.

Prediction markets suggest the most likely candidate is Kevin Hassett, an economist appointed last year by Trump as director of the National Economic Council.

Like Trump, Hassett believes interest rates should be much lower. Having served in both Trump administrations, Hassett also appears likely to offer loyalty and compliance with Trump’s demands.

The second candidate under consideration by Trump is economist Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor and bank executive. Warsh brings a reputation as an inflation hawk from his time at Federal Reserve during the Global Financial Crisis. However, a recent interview with the president appears to have assured Trump that Warsh shares his goals, and he is now “at the top of the list” of candidates.

Regardless of who Trump appoints, the crucial question remains whether the next Fed chair will pursue an independent monetary policy free from political interference.

With the president continuing to concentrate power in the hands of the executive, the Federal Reserve remains an important site for the exercise of independent power.

The stagflation crisis of the 1970s stands as a clear warning of what might happen if that independence is compromised.

The spectre of stagflation means financial markets, consumers, and the rest of the world remain unwilling participants in the political drama continuing to play out between the Federal Reserve and the White House.

Henry Maher is a politics lecturer at the University of Sydney's Department of Government and International Relations. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.

LOS ANGELES: The annual Academy Awards telecast will move from the ABC broadcast network to stream live on YouTube around the world starting in 2029, organisers said on Wednesday (Dec 17).

Walt Disney-owned ABC has televised the Oscars, the film industry's highest honours, every year since 1976. Ratings for the show, along with all Hollywood awards shows, have declined as audiences moved to streaming platforms.

The 2025 Oscars in March brought in 19.7 million US viewers, a five-year high but far below the show's biggest audience of 57 million in 1998. This year's ceremony also streamed live on Hulu.

Financial details for the pact with YouTube were not disclosed.

ABC made a bid to keep the Oscars but did not want to overpay, according to a source familiar with the matter. The network had found it harder in recent years to turn a profit from the show, the source said.

YouTube will provide closed captioning and audio tracks in multiple languages to make the show accessible to a global audience, according to a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and YouTube. The agreement will start with the 2029 Oscars ceremony and run through 2033.    

"The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honouring excellence in storytelling and artistry," YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a statement.

The film academy said it would benefit from YouTube's global reach.

"We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a statement.

In addition to the Oscars, YouTube will stream events including the Academy's Governors Awards and Oscar nominees luncheon, two events that have typically taken place off-camera.

ABC will air the Academy Awards telecast in the United States as planned in 2026, 2027 and 2028, the year that marks the Oscars' 100th anniversary.

WASHINGTON: An expanded US federal healthcare subsidy that grew out of the pandemic looked all but certain to expire on Dec 31 as Republican leaders on Wednesday (Dec 17) faced a rebellion within their ranks in support of a Democratic-backed extension of the "Obamacare" benefit.

By a vote of 204-203, the House voted to stop the last-minute move by Democrats, aided by four Republicans, to force quick votes on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidy. Democrats loudly protested, accusing Republican leadership of gavelling an end to the vote prematurely while some members were still trying to vote. 

"That's outrageous," Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts yelled at Republican leadership.

Some of the 24 million Americans who buy their health insurance through the ACA programme, nicknamed Obamacare, could face sharply higher costs beginning on Jan 1 without action by Congress. 

Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said Democrats were trying to vote before the vote was closed.

“Listen, it's playing games when people's lives are at stake,” DeLauro said, “They jettisoned it.”

Twenty-six House members had not yet voted - and some were actively trying to do so - when the House Republican leadership gavelled the vote closed on Wednesday. It is rare but not unprecedented for House leadership to cut a contested vote short.

The political intrigue could continue later on Wednesday with separate healthcare legislation being pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his lieutenants.

The House Republican leadership bill aims to lower premiums for some people while reducing overall subsidies and raising premiums for others, starting January 2027. It would also expand access to association health plans, which allow small businesses, freelancers, and self-employed individuals to pool resources and purchase group health insurance at potentially lower costs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said the legislation would decrease the number of people with health insurance by an average of 100,000 per year through 2035. Its money-saving provisions would reduce federal deficits by US$35.6 billion, the CBO said.

Earlier in the day, Republican leadership corralled some of their members working with the Democrats into animated conversations with finger-pointing. On the House floor, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise leaned over Representative Mike Lawler from New York. Johnson tugged on the coat sleeve of Representative Kevin Kiley, a California Republican, to get answers from him as he has been critical of his leadership's approach to healthcare legislation.

Kiley later said in a floor speech that he would support the Republicans’ targeted healthcare bill despite reservations. “The bill does not address the immediate, urgent problem in front of us, which is that 22 million people are about to pay a lot more for health insurance,” Kiley said. 

With a narrow 220-213 majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson has had a challenging time keeping his caucus in line, and has repeatedly seen members use the manoeuvre Democrats were attempting, known as a "discharge petition" to try to bypass him.

The Senate, also controlled by President Donald Trump's Republicans, last week rejected duelling Republican and Democratic plans to address the subsidies.

SUBSIDIES CAUSE OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Tensions are high over the expiring ACA subsidies, which were the cause of the record-breaking government shutdown earlier this fall. Democrats withheld their support of a temporary government funding bill unless the ACA subsidy was extended. Republicans refused that demand.

The debate over healthcare  - one that has pitted Republicans against Democrats for decades - is more than a policy matter. The November 2026 congressional elections hang heavy over lawmakers at a time when Republican President Donald Trump's public approval rating is an emic and Democrats see an electoral landscape that they think could propel them into a House, and maybe even a Senate, majority beginning in 2027. 

Democrats have pledged to make the cost of healthcare and other "affordability" worries central to their 2026 campaigns.

The four Republicans who joined forces with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in trying to advance a three-year ACA subsidy extension represent districts that could see competitive re-election races next year. Three of them come from the swing state of Pennsylvania, with the fourth from New York.

Even if the Republican-controlled House managed to pass a healthcare bill this week, it is unlikely to be taken up by the Senate before Congress begins a looming end-of-year recess that would stop legislative action until Jan 5. By then, millions of Americans will be looking at significantly more expensive health insurance premiums that could prompt some to go without coverage.

Wednesday's House floor battle could embolden Democrats and some Republicans to revisit the issue in January, even though higher premiums will already be in the pipeline.

Referring to the House debate, moderate Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters: "I think that that will help prompt a response here in the Senate after the first of the new year, and I'm looking forward to that.”  

LONDON: Britain on Wednesday (Dec 17) said it was giving Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich a final chance to give Ukraine 2.5 billion pounds (US$3.33 billion) from the sale of Chelsea Football Club or face potential legal action.

Britain sanctioned Abramovich in a crackdown on Russian oligarchs after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, triggering a rushed sale of the Premier League soccer club and freezing of the proceeds.

Britain wants the funds spent only on humanitarian causes in Ukraine, in line with a wider European push for Moscow to foot the bill for deaths and destruction triggered by its invasion.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach representatives for Abramovich for a response to the government statement. He has previously sought more flexibility and said he wants the money to go to all victims. Abramovich has 90 days to act under the terms of the government's new licence.

Should the Russian businessman fail to free the funds quickly, the government said in a statement that it was fully prepared to take him to court if necessary to enforce a 2022 agreement with him.

"It’s unacceptable that more than 2.5 billion pounds of money owed to the Ukrainian people can be allowed to remain frozen in a UK bank account," finance minister Rachel Reeves said in the statement.

LICENCE NEEDED

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would issue a licence to release the funds. This would allow the transfer of the money to a new charitable foundation.

"We will consider any proposal from Mr Abramovich to make use of this clear legal route to establish the foundation and transfer the funds under the terms of the licence," Reeves said in a separate statement issued to parliament.

European Union leaders are set to review on Thursday proposals aimed at using proceeds from immobilised Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine's huge budget and defence needs - something Moscow fiercely opposes.

Under Abramovich, Chelsea enjoyed the most successful run in their history before the club were sold to a consortium led by US investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital in May 2022.

Proceeds from the sale are frozen in a British bank account. They cannot be moved or used without a licence from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, the agency in the finance ministry that enforces sanctions.

"WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED"

Venezuela's battered economy relies heavily on petroleum exports.

But the country's military, which supports hard-left leader Maduro, said it was "not intimidated."

"We say to the US government and its president that we are not intimidated by their crude and arrogant threats," Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said at an event, surrounded by senior commanders who have repeatedly vowed loyalty to Maduro.

The foreign minister of China, the main market for Venezuelan oil, defended Caracas in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart against the US "bullying".

"China opposes all unilateral bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity," he said, adding Venezuela "has the right to independently develop mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries."

Last week's seizure of a tanker carrying between 1 and 2 million barrels of crude bound for Cuba marked a shift in Trump's offensive against Maduro.

In August, he ordered the biggest military deployment in the Caribbean Sea since the 1989 US invasion of Panama, purportedly to combat drug trafficking.

US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have left at least 95 people dead since.

Caracas believes that the anti-drug operations are a cover for a bid to topple Maduro, accused of stealing elections last year, and make a grab for Venezuela's oil.

Trump has sent mixed signals about a potential US intervention in Venezuela but says he thinks Maduro's days are numbered.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum waded into the dispute on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to step up to "prevent any bloodshed" in Venezuela.

"The United Nations has been nowhere to be seen. It must assume its role to prevent any bloodshed and always seek peaceful solutions to conflicts," the leftist leader told a press conference.

OIL LIFELINE

WASHINGTON: The US Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday (Dec 17) to advance a US$901 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon, sending the massive piece of legislation to the White House, which has said President Donald Trump will sign it into law.

The fiscal 2026 National Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA, is a compromise between separate measures passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives and Senate. It authorises a record US$901 billion in annual military spending, with a 4 per cent pay raise for the troops, purchases of military equipment and efforts to boost competitiveness with US arch rivals China and Russia.

The Senate backed the bill by 77 to 20, with strong support from both parties.

The House passed the bill last week.

In a break with Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, this year's NDAA includes several provisions to boost security in Europe, despite Trump early this month releasing a National Security Strategy seen as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the US relationship with Europe.

The fiscal 2026 NDAA provides US$800 million for Ukraine - US$400 million in each of the next two years - as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies for weapons for Ukraine's military.

It also authorises the Baltic Security Initiative and provides US$175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia's defence. And it limits the Department of Defence's ability to drop the number of US forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and bars the US European Commander from giving up the title of NATO Supreme Commander.

Members of Congress take great pride in having passed the NDAA every year for more than six decades.

This month a handful of senators from both parties called for the addition of a provision to strengthen military helicopter safety rules, following a fatal crash between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people.

But anger over that issue was not strong enough to hold up the bill.

The NDAA also does not include funding to change the name of the Department of Defence to the Department of War, something Trump wants but cannot formally do without congressional approval.

However, it does include some of the "culture war" efforts popular with politicians on the US right. One measure bars transgender women from participating in athletic programs designated for women at US military academies.

"FRENCH CULTURAL EXPERIENCE"