BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance on the island of Aruba, walked shackled into an Alabama courtroom on Friday as her parents looked on. He pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to extort money from the missing teen’s mother in exchange for revealing where to find…

In 2022, 90,137 incidents of fraud were reported, with 56,352 Canadian victims and a total loss of $530 million, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC). Each year, CAFC documents new frauds, trying to stay ahead of scammers who keep coming up with more innovative ways to victimize Canadians for their money. This month, for…

Feng Zhenguo, former owner of a profitable wood furniture factory in China’s central Heibei province, experienced extortion from the environmental authorities and police, and was forced to sell his factory to Chinese police at a very low price. “The communist regime’s so-called reform and opening up is just to loosen the shackles around Chinese people’s…

A sentencing hearing for a Dutch national convicted of harassing and extorting British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd before her suicide has been scheduled for next month. Justice Martha Devlin set the hearing for Aydin Coban to begin on Sept. 20 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. A jury delivered a unanimous verdict on Saturday…

The mother of Amanda Todd hopes her daughter’s case brings increased awareness of the devastating impacts of “sextortion”, as a jury in the trial of a Dutch man accused of blackmailing the British Columbia teenager begins its first full day of deliberations. Carol Todd says her daughter was “disabled” by depression and anxiety caused by…

Carol Todd said she wants her daughter’s legacy to live on past a verdict as the jury began its deliberations Friday at the trial of Amanda Todd’s alleged tormentor. Fighting back tears, Todd said she is hopeful the jury finds Dutch national Aydin Coban guilty on all five counts he is charged with, but is…

The British Columbia Supreme Court justice in the trial of a Dutch man charged with harassing and extorting teenager Amanda Todd told the jury to “take special care” with the teen’s statements. Justice Martha Devlin said because Todd died in October 2012 and didn’t testify and wasn’t able to be cross-examined at Aydin Coban’s trial,…

Sharing a link is “not child pornography,” says a defence lawyer for a Dutch man accused of harassment and extortion of British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd. Joseph Saulnier told the jury in Aydin Coban’s B.C. Supreme Court trial Wednesday there was evidence that a video titled “AmandaTodd.wmv” was played on a device seized from his…

“Fragments” of computer data cited by police cannot link a Dutch man to the harassment and extortion of British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd, says a defence lawyer. Joseph Saulnier, representing Aydin Coban, began his closing arguments Tuesday afternoon by telling a B.C. Supreme Court jury trial they should convict his client only if they are…

A hard drive seized from the home of the Dutch man accused of harassing British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd contained a deleted bookmark to child pornography depicting her, a Crown attorney told B.C. Supreme Court on Friday. Louise Kenworthy told the jury trial of Aydin Coban that previous expert testimony showed Todd’s name and several…