New California Law Allows More Lawsuits Against USC Gynecologist To Go Forward

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Wednesday that will allow those who say they were sexually assaulted by former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall more time to seek damages against him.

State Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes introduced the bill, AB 1510, last month in response to the nearly 400 women who have accused Tyndall of sexually assaulting them as his patients at USC’s campus clinic.

In July, Tyndall, 72, pleaded not guilty to charges of molesting 16 patients at the clinic where he worked for 27 years until he quietly resigned in 2017, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Despite the hundreds of women that have come forward, many of them were unable to sue Tyndall for damages from the alleged assault because they had missed the deadline to file a civil lawsuit. read more »

USC includes some of the allegations against George Tyndall in this year’s annual security report

The total number of sex offenses in 2018 is much higher than that of past years because the statistics include some sexual assault reports against USC former campus gynecologist George Tyndall, according to the newly released annual security report.

The report shows 92 reports of rape and 25 reports of fondling at the University Park Campus area in 2018, a rise from 17 rape reports and 17 fondling reports in 2017.

In an email to the USC community, Senior Vice President for Administration David Wright attributes the increase to including 68 rape allegations and four fondling reports against Tyndall. These 72 incidents were reported to the university in 2018 but allegedly occurred during Tyndall’s time at USC, between 1989 and 2016. read more »

Plácido Domingo resigns from Los Angeles Opera amid sexual harassment claims

The opera star Plácido Domingo has resigned as general director of Los Angeles Opera – a company he helped found – amid allegations of sexual harassment that span several decades.

Domingo also withdrew from all forthcoming performances at the LA Opera, his last scheduled shows in the United States, signaling an end to his half-century career in American opera. read more »

Jeffrey Epstein Raked In $200 Million After Legal and Financial Crises

Jeffrey Epstein’s biggest client had deserted him, his money management firm had lost more than $150 million during the financial crisis, and he was a registered sex offender. But after he started a new company with a wildly speculative business plan in 2012, Mr. Epstein had no problem pulling in cash.

His start-up, Southern Trust, reported more than $200 million in revenues over the next five years, according to a review of previously unreported financial statements filed in the Virgin Islands.

But the documents do not say who was paying vast sums of money to Mr. Epstein’s new venture just a few years after his 2008 guilty plea to soliciting a minor for prostitution. read more »

Facebook Encryption Eyed in Fight Against Online Child Sex Abuse

An explosion in reports of child sexual abuse imagery on the internet is prompting the authorities to step up pressure on technology companies over their use of encryption — and Facebook, which flags by far the largest amount of the material, is drawing outsize attention.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Facebook Messenger, which is not encrypted, accounted for nearly two-thirds of reports last year of online child sexual abuse imagery. On Wednesday, the Justice Department said that Facebook as a whole was responsible for 90 percent of the reports. read more »