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A married Florida man has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $12.8million from a non-profit at a Florida university and laundering it through an adult website to spend on a life of luxury. Ralph Puglisi, 59, of Palm Harbor, Florida, was found to have made the non-business charges on two company credit cards while working as an accounting manager for the University Medical Service Association - an organization at the University of South Florida that provides staffing and other support for the school's health care endeavors.  Puglisi then used the adult website mygirlfund.com to clean about $11.5million of the stolen money.  Federal prosecutors revealed Puglisi made 22,000 interactions with the site in a 19-page plea agreement he signed in June that was filed last week in US District Court in Tampa, according to Tampa Bay Times. The court documents said Puglisi frequented the profile of a woman on the site believed to be his stepson's fiancée. He reportedly shared the funds w

A former Royal Marine Commando who runs an animal rights charity in Afghanistan revealed today that he has lost contact with his wife and pregnant manager after they were crushed in a stampede at Kabul Airport.   Pen Farthing, who is founder of the Nowzad charity which is backed by celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Judi Dench, said he would hold Boris Johnson 'personally responsible' if his wife or staff members were injured. Mr Farthing, who set up the organisation after befriending a stray dog while serving in Helmand in 2006, is urging the UK Government to fly 71 people linked to the charity from Afghanistan to Britain after the Taliban seized Kabul. The 52-year-old, who wife is a Norwegian named Kaisa Helene, said the charity was working on plans to evacuate 100 cats and 100 dogs on a charter plane along with his team and their dependants which could cost £200,000. But he said some of the older and injured dogs at the shelter are 'going to have to be put to sleep&

People dining indoors at New York City's restaurants, browsing art at its museums or sweating in its gyms had to show proof Tuesday that they were at least partially inoculated against COVID-19 as the city began the nation's largest effort yet to exclude the unvaccinated from public places. Signs on the front door and windows of The Stop Inn, a Queens diner, warned patrons arriving for breakfast that they had to show proof of at least one vaccine shot to be allowed to dine inside. Still, Norbu Lama, 17, said he was surprised when a server politely asked for his vaccination card soon after he slid into a booth with his parents and younger sister. A Katz's Deli employee checks proof of vaccination from customers looking to eat at the legendary Lower East Side restaurant Tuesday, the first day of the city's stricter rules 'We didn't know we had to bring it,' he said. The server appeared relieved when Lama and his family presented copies of their vaccination ca

Former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez has been sentenced to two to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2017. In May, Vazquez was found guilty on 15 charges: 10 counts of sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, and single counts of statutory sexual assault, indecent sexual assault and corruption of a minor. At his sentencing in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Vazquez, 30, also received two years probation and will need to register as a sex offender for as long as he remains in the country. Vazquez did not deny having a sexual relationship with the teenager but said he did not know she was 13 years old. The relationship continued until Vazquez, a native of Venezuela, was arrested in 2019. According to local station WPXI, prosecutors claimed Vazquez had groomed the teenager over text messages in which he referred to her as 'kid.' Vazquez may also face charges in Florida and Missouri for related crime

A senior Taliban commander named Abdul Ghani Baradar gave an interview to Newsweek in 2009 and was asked what the future of his homeland might hold. 'The history of Afghanistan shows that Afghans never get tired of struggling until they have freed their country,' he responded. 'We shall continue our jihad until the expulsion of our enemy from our land… In every nook and corner of the country, a spirit for jihad is raging.' Twelve years later, that prediction seems eerily prescient – aside from one minor detail. The Taliban's 'enemy' were not exactly expelled – but instead chose to quit the hostile land of their own accord. Abdul Ghani Baradar is preparing to be unveiled as president of a new Islamic republic after the Taliban's success in Afghanistan Meanwhile, Baradar, who back then was in deep hiding – the interview was conducted via a network of encrypted phone messages forwarded by his insurgent group's PR man – has experienced a dramatic uptick

More than 11,000 Americans stranded in Afghanistan are being told gradually to make their own way to the airport in Kabul, past Taliban checkpoints, without any assistance from the military  The State Department is refusing to transport Americans stranded in Kabul to the airport and instead is telling them to make their own way there, past the Taliban - unless they think it's 'unsafe' to do so.   There are thousands of US citizens stranded in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation flights home. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki put the number at at least 11,000 on Tuesday afternoon but others say it may be as high as 40,000. The number includes American journalists, contractors, NGO workers, diplomats and government staff who remain in Kabul, which the Taliban took control of on Sunday.   There is now a frantic rush to get everyone out, along with 22,000 Afghan Special Interest Visa applicants that the US says it will help, and countless more Afghans who are hoping desperately