‘Uber let a wolf in’: Tech CEO sues after bloody assault by illegal immigrant driver
A biotech CEO is taking Uber to court after an illegal immigrant driver was caught on camera violently assaulting him in downtown Charleston, South Carolina—sending his dog crashing to the pavement.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Charleston County, alleges TC BioPharm CEO Bryan Kobel, 45, suffered a concussion in April after Uber driver and illegal Russian national Uliumdzhiev Vadim Nikolaevich, 42, attacked him in a King Street restaurant parking lot.
Nikolaevich was arrested and released on a $10,000 bond for second-degree assault and battery, according to Charleston County Sheriff’s Office records.
He was later placed on an immigration hold after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia, according to Kobel’s attorneys.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Kobel said the driver appeared to be upset about his service dog. When Nikolaevich refused to allow the pet, Kobel asked to cancel the ride.
Surveillance footage shows Nikolaevich getting out of the Audi SUV, grabbing Kobel by the throat, then headbutting and punching him—knocking the unconscious CEO and his dog to the ground.
Nikolaevich quickly got back into the car and drove away, as stunned witnesses called 911 and rushed to help, footage showed.
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“I can’t even look, oh my God,” a female caller said in a 911 call minutes after the attack. “The suspect has driven off.”
Another male 911 caller detailed the bloody scene.
“He’s bleeding very badly in the back of the head,” the man said. “We’re going to need an ambulance. Send the police … there’s a gazillion witnesses.”
Kobel was taken to the hospital with a severe concussion and received seven staples for a head laceration, according to his attorneys. Kobel said a nurse and doctor affiliated with MUSC Health University Medical Center quickly rendered aid, ensuring the best outcome.
However, unlike Kobel, Nikolaevich’s night was not over after the attack. Kobel said he picked up a new ride two minutes after speeding off.
“This man violently assaults me, leaves me effectively bleeding out from my head in a parking lot, speeds off, and picks somebody up two minutes later,” Kobel said. “When I left the hospital, my account had been suspended, and within 48 hours, it had been deactivated. Despite me sharing hospital records, police records, the detective’s name and phone number, and images of the assault, Uber chose to effectively victim-blame me and vilify me.”
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Authorities later told Kobel that Nikolaevich’s driver’s license was fake, and he was a Russian national living in the U.S. illegally.
“Riders rely on Uber to know who is behind the wheel,” Kenneth Berger, Kobel’s attorney, wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We’re seeking answers and accountability for how an undocumented individual using a fraudulent ID was able to access Uber’s platform, assault a passenger, and flee. Publicly traded companies that profit from public trust must have screening and real-time identity systems that actually protect people.”
The suit alleges that, as a direct result of Nikolaevich’s conduct while working for Uber and Raiser, Kobel suffered serious injuries and losses, including lost enjoyment of life, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and medical expenses.
“It was about 60 days before I could really have some semblance of a normal life,” Kobel said. “I had to bring our employees into a Zoom call and inform them of what had happened. … I couldn’t look at screens, I couldn’t really focus my eyes … I had a complete loss of vocabulary. You wonder, will I ever be whole again. Am I ever going to be the person I was. It’s made me more jaded, for sure.”
Furthermore, attorneys claim the rideshare giant is negligent in screening, hiring and monitoring drivers, leading to safety risks for its riders.
“Uber let a wolf into the hen house,” Kobel said. “They allowed a man who was in a country illegally, a Russian national with a fake license, go through their background check and snake his way in, and then have what was nothing more than a violent outburst for no reason.”
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DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
The Charleston Police Department declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment, citing pending litigation. The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Judge who fined Trump $500 million gets the book thrown at him on appeal
In New York, a court revealed that a leading citizen had cooked the books by inflating questionable figures without any support in reality. Moreover, his wild overvaluation was widely viewed as motivated by his self-aggrandizement. The final reported figures are so absurdly inflated that they were rejected in their entirety. In the end, he was off by over half a billion dollars.
That man is Judge Arthur Engoron.
After a New York appellate court unanimously threw out Engoron’s absurd half-a-billion-dollar judgment and interest against President Donald Trump, the irony was crushing. It was Engoron who seemed, as he characterized Trump witnesses, as having “simply denied reality.” It made his notorious reliance on an assessment of Mar-a-Lago as worth between $18 million and $27.6 million seem like good accounting.
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In the end, he could not get a single judge to preserve a single dollar of that fine.
For some of us who covered that trial, the most vivid image of Engoron came at the start. He indicated that he did not want cameras in the courtroom, but when the networks showed up, Engoron took off his glasses and seemed to pose for the cameras.
It was a “Sunset Boulevard” moment. We only need Gloria Swanson looking into the camera to speak to “those wonderful people out there in the dark!” and announcing “all right, [Ms. James], I’m ready for my close-up.”
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The close-up was not a good idea, and, on appeal, it was perfectly disastrous. The court found little legal or factual basis for his fine. The purported witnesses not only did not lose a dime, but they testified that they made money on the loans and wanted new loans with the Trump administration. That did not move Engoron. From the start, he was speaking to those “wonderful people out there.”
You did not have to go far. In both the civil and criminal trials of Trump in New York, there was a carnival atmosphere in the street outside the courthouse. It was really not derangement as much as delirium. Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James had injected lawfare directly into the veins of New Yorkers. Pledging in her campaign to bag Trump (without bothering to name any crime or violation), James was elected based on her recreational rather than legal appeal.
Yet, James could not have succeeded if she had not had a judge willing to ignore reality and cook the books on the fines. She needed a partner in lawfare. She needed Engoron.
Even for some anti-Trump commentators, the judgment was impossible to defend and some acknowledged that they had never seen any case like this one brought in New York.
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Judge David Friedman gave Engoron a close-up that would have made Swanson wince. He detailed how the underlying law “has never been used in the way it is being used in this case – namely, to attack successful, private, commercial transactions, negotiated at arm’s length between highly sophisticated parties fully capable of monitoring and defending their own interests.”
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He accused Engoron of participating in an effort clearly directed by James at “ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business.”
Other judges said that Engoron’s fine was so off base and engorged that it was an unconstitutional order under the Eighth Amendment, protecting citizens from “cruel and unusual” punishments. So, Engoron not only inflated the figures but shredded the Constitution in his effort to deliver a blow against Trump.
Trump can now appeal the residual parts of the Engoron decision imposing limits on the Trump family doing business in New York. Some of those limits could be moot by the time of any final judgment. Ironically, if Engoron had shown a modicum of restraint, he might have secured a victory. During the trial in New York, I said that he would have been smart to impose a dollar fine and limited injunctive relief. That, however, required a modicum of judicial restraint and judgment.
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Instead, Engoron chose to walk down the stairway into infamy. He was off by half a billion dollars, which could put him in the Bernie Madoff class of judges.
In other words, if he wanted to be remembered on that first day, Arthur Engoron succeeded.
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Rural dairy tragedy claims six lives as officials launch investigation
At least six bodies have been found after a “dairy accident” on the Colorado plains.
Southeast Weld Fire Protection District officials said crews were dispatched to a “confined space” rescue, where the bodies were found on Wednesday.
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital the incident does not appear criminal in nature.
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The identities of the victims and preliminary cause of the incident have not yet been released.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officials confirmed to Fox News Digital they had received notification.
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“The District extends its sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” the fire protection district wrote in a statement on social media.
Fire officials told Fox News Digital they will not release any additional information about the incident.
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The dairy is located in a rural area near Keenesburg, which is less than 40 miles northeast of Denver.
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The Weld County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
Obama-appointed judge strips Trump ally of authority in stunning legal rebuke
A judge on Thursday found that Alina Habba was unlawfully serving in the role of acting U.S. attorney of New Jersey after President Donald Trump sidestepped typical processes to keep her in charge.
Judge Matthew Brann said Habba has not been the rightful temporary U.S. attorney for New Jersey since July 1, a ruling that follows two criminal defendants in New Jersey challenging her appointment in court, alleging it was unconstitutional.
“Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,” Brann wrote in a 77-page order.
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Habba, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, had been serving as interim U.S. attorney, but when her term expired last month, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi used loopholes in federal vacancy laws to install her as “acting” rather than “interim” U.S. attorney.
One of the defendants in the district, Julien Giraud, alleged that the moves violated his constitutional rights because of the string of unconventional actions it took to attempt to keep Habba in the role.
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Brann, an Obama appointee serving in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, agreed and found Habba could not prosecute Giraud or another defendant who challenged Habba’s position. The judges said the criminal cases could proceed in the court district, just not under Habba’s purview.
Brann is presiding over the matter after the chief judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania, decided the case presented too much of a conflict for New Jersey’s federal judges.
Last month, the New Jersey judges made the rare decision to decline to extend Habba’s term and instead appointed career attorney Desiree Grace to the job. Trump and Bondi fired Grace, withdrew Habba’s nomination as permanent U.S. attorney and then reinstated Habba as acting U.S. attorney, which they said kept Habba in charge for at least another 210 days under federal statute.
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Brann said his ruling effectively disqualified Habba from prosecuting the two defendants’ cases and that her signatures on court filings were invalid, opening the floodgates for other defendants in New Jersey to object to Habba prosecuting them as well.
The judge said his ruling would not take effect until the Trump administration had an opportunity to appeal.
Spokespeople for Habba and the DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
Brann’s ruling comes against the backdrop of Trump and Bondi using similar maneuvers to keep the president’s preferred appointees as head prosecutors of court districts in blue states, including in California and New York, where the appointees are struggling to find paths to Senate confirmation.
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Brann said the Trump administration improperly flouted the Federal Vacancies Reform Act by exploiting its loopholes in Habba’s case.
“A statutory interpretation that opens a gaping loophole in this tightly crafted scheme meant to provide only limited flexibility and prevent ‘manipulation’ flies in the face of the goal that Congress was trying to accomplish,” Brann wrote. “Although clearer text could require such a result, the Government’s arguments reaching such a conclusion through vague implication must fail.”
Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson’s funeral rekindles long-standing feud between bandmates
Beach Boys member Al Jardine slammed Mike Love’s eulogy given at Brian Wilson’s Aug. 6 funeral as the feud between the former bandmates seemingly resurfaced.
“Mike wanted everybody to know that he wrote every single word of ‘Good Vibrations,’” Jardine told Rolling Stone about Love’s speech. “I didn’t feel the compassion, let’s put it that way. Mike’s got some serious megalomania problems.”
During Jardine’s speech, delivered at an event held after the funeral, he addressed Love’s words. “Mike, I’ve written some songs with Brian myself. We wrote one called ‘Surfin’ Down the Swanee River.’ It just wasn’t as big as ‘Good Vibrations,'” he said.
“I was focusing on Brian, and Mike was more focused on Mike,” Jardine told the outlet. “I think that is what it boiled down to.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Love for comment.
The Beach Boys began with Brian and his two brothers, Carl and Dennis. Eventually, they were joined by their cousin, Love, and their friend from school, Jardine. The band is one of the most commercially successful groups of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide.
Despite the success, rifts between the band members have existed for decades.
“Mike is like P.T. Barnum,” Jardine told Rolling Stone. “He had these incredibly exotic ideas for tours. He was always looking at that next tour. He probably has a tour of Mars planned right now. I was going, ‘Let’s go back to the studio.’ And then he kicked me out of the band. It was pretty s—–.”
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At the time, Jardine formed the Beach Boys Family and Friends. The band consisted of him along with his two sons, Wilson’s two daughters and Cass Elliot’s daughter. He was sued over the use of “Beach Boys.”
“Frankly, they were threatened by me, because my band sounded better than the Beach Boys band,” he explained. “Mike just came down on me with a s—load of lawyers. And pretty soon I was down about a million bucks. It was pretty devastating financially and emotionally. He showed me no mercy.”
A representative for Love told Rolling Stone that the musician never sued Jardine. The outlet reported the lawsuits were technically between Jardine and Brother Records, which the Beach Boys founded in the ’60s.
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The band got back together in 2012 for a reunion tour, setting their disagreements aside.
“I enjoyed hearing everybody sing again, even Mike,” Jardine recalled. “It still had political overtones, believe me, within the band, but it really proved that we could do it again, and have fun doing it.”
According to Jardine, the fun was short-lived after Love and Bruce Johnston ended the reunion tour run to play as the Beach Boys on their own.
“He cut us right off there,” the musician claimed. “We were hopefully going to continue on doing some more, but he insisted on going back to his handpicked band and basically left Brian and I in the dust.”
Afterward, Wilson recruited Jardine and Blondie Chaplin to form their own trio and performed until the Beach Boys founder’s cognitive health began to decline.
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Wilson’s family announced his death on June 11.
“We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away,” the family wrote on Instagram. “We are at a loss for words right now.
“Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world.”
In the year leading up to his death, Wilson had been placed under a conservatorship after a dementia diagnosis.
“Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys — he was the soul of our sound,” Love wrote in part in a tribute to his cousin and bandmate at the time of his death. “From the first time we sang together as kids in my living room, I knew there was something otherworldly in him. His musical gifts were unmatched. The melodies he dreamed up, the emotions he poured into every note – Brian changed the course of music forever.”
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Venezuela’s Maduro vows response as Trump deploys warships against ‘narco-terror’
China on Thursday condemned an American military buildup off the coast of Venezuela amid the Trump administration’s effort to combat drug cartels, accusing Washington of engaging in foreign interference.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was speaking with reporters when she was asked about the naval deployment.
“China opposes any move that violates the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter and a country’s sovereignty and security,” Ning said. “We oppose the use or threat of force in international relations and the interference of external forces in Venezuela’s internal affairs under any pretext.”
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“We hope that the United States will do more things conducive to peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region,” she added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.
At least three Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham among them — are part of the mission that includes thousands of Marines.
“On day one of the Trump Administration, the president published an executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, clearly identifying them as a direct threat to the national security of the United States,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Tuesday.
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“These cartels have engaged in historic violence and terror throughout our Hemisphere — and around the globe — that has destabilized economies and internal security of countries but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals and vicious gangs.”
In response to “outlandish threats” by the U.S., Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he would deploy 4.5 million militia members.
The show of military force comes as the Trump administration continues to demand that Maduro be held accountable for drugs being smuggled into the U.S.
The administration has labeled Maduro’s regime as a “narco-terror cartel.” Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the South American leader.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department said it has seized more than $700 million in assets tied to the embattled dictator, including two private jets and nine luxury vehicles.
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Maduro, indicted in New York in 2020 on narco-terrorism and cocaine importation conspiracy charges, has clung to power with military backing and allegedly with support from Russia, China and Cuba.
Jessica Alba flaunts bikini body while ex Cash Warren spotted with 25-year-old model
Jessica Alba is flaunting her bikini body after her ex-husband, Cash Warren, was seen with his new fling.
Alba took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a collage of photos from her summer. Included was a picture of the actress wearing a black string bikini in a pool. Alba was wearing a white hat and making a heart with her hands.
Alba included a few selfies, a photo of her working out in an orange matching set, some shots of food and a video of her and Warren’s son playing tennis.
This week, Warren was photographed with model Hana Sun Doerr, holding hands prior to dinner at an upscale restaurant in Beverly Hills. Warren, 46, was photographed kissing Doerr, 25, on the cheek during their outing.
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According to Page Six, Doerr and Warren were first seen publicly grabbing dinner in Los Angeles earlier this month.
The “Honey” star has had her own romances since her divorce from Warren. In July, Alba was spotted leaving Cancun with “Top Gun: Maverick” actor Danny Ramirez, per TMZ, the outlet reporting the two were spending time together in the coastal town.
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Rumors of her new romance with the actor then began swirling on social media, and a source told People that things are “very new” between Alba and the 32-year-old actor.
The source told the outlet the two are “having a good time together.”
In January, Alba took to Instagram to announce that her marriage with Warren was coming to an end after nearly 17 years.
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“I’ve been on a journey of self realization and transformation for years – both as an individual and in partnership with Cash. I’m proud of how we’ve grown as a couple and in our marriage over the last 20 years and it’s now time for us to embark on a new chapter of growth and evolution as individuals,” Alba wrote on Instagram at the time.
“We are moving forward with love and kindness and respect for each other and will forever be family. Our children remain our highest priority and we request privacy at this time.”
In February, Alba filed for divorce. In court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, the actress cited irreconcilable differences and listed Dec. 27, 2024, as the date of separation.
Warren and Alba share three kids — Honor, Haven and Hayes. They were awarded joint custody in the divorce proceedings.
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‘Don’t ever let that happen again’: Aaron Rodgers confronts linemen after QB hit
Aaron Rodgers has yet to take a snap in a game in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform, but the veteran quarterback is already setting the tone.
During a recent appearance on Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast, Rodgers spoke about how he reacted to seeing fellow quarterback Skylar Thompson take a hit and get knocked down during the early portion of training camp.
“And one thing, one really important moment, Skylar got knocked down early in camp. And I walked out there like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ I looked back and nobody was walking out there. And I told the line, ‘Don’t you ever let that happen again,’” Rodgers said.
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Rodgers added that he instructed the linemen to embody the role of “policemen” whenever they take the football field.
“I said, ‘We gotta protect each other. And you guys are the policemen out there on the field. You’re the big brothers out there. You protect everybody from DK [Metcalf] to me to whoever’s in there (at) quarterback or whoever’s in there (at) running back. I don’t care if it’s preseason practice, whatever. You gotta protect them.”
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Rodgers suggested he realized his message resonated with the offensive line after he watched another situation unfold several days later.
“The next time something happened about a week later, Zach [Frazier] was in there. Pat [Freiermuth] was in there,” Rodgers said. “If Zach’s in there, you know Mason [McCormick’s] in there. And then I saw Troy [Fautanu] going in there. And then Spencer [Anderson]. I was like, ‘That’s what it looks like.’ And I’m not talking about instigating fights. I’m just talking about backing your brothers up.”
On Monday, Steelers left tackle Broderick Jones offered details about what he’s experienced having Rodgers as a teammate. “It’s a love/hate relationship at the same time. Because sometimes he’s playing, but not everybody’s on the same page,” he explained.
Jones also acknowledged the vast NFL experience Rodgers brings and praised the four-time league MVP for having “a good sense of who he is.”
“But it’s also good to have that bond within to have the understanding, ‘OK, he’s a vet. I know everything, let me make sure everybody else is good and then we carry on with whatever is going on, whatever the situation was.’ Just things like that. But I feel like he has a good sense of who he is and who we’re trying to be and getting us where we’re trying to go.”
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he Steelers play their final preseason game of the year on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. Rodgers and the Steelers will open their regular season on Sept. 7 against his former team, the New York Jets.
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