Conspiracy

The man who ran an escort business at the heart of the scandal that helped bring down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 years in prison. Mark Brener, 63, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit a prostitution offense and conspiracy to commit money laundering. "I want to apologize to this court, my family and anyone else I have hurt as a result of my actions," Brener said at the hearing. "I am sorry." Prosecutors said he was the "driving force" behind the Emperors Club VIP, a lucrative prostitution enterprise.

Two Florida businessmen who planned to seek lucrative concession contracts from Los Angeles International Airport for their gift shop business pleaded guilty Friday to laundering campaign contributions to Antonio Villaraigosa's 2005 mayoral campaign and agreed to pay more than $200,000 in fines and penalties. Sean Anderson and Richard Manhire, who own the Miami-based Travel Traders LLC, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of improperly identifying a campaign contributor, according the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Two men accused in an audacious jewel heist appeared in court, and police charged a third in the $66-million robbery in London's upscale Mayfair neighborhood. Solomun Beyene and Craig Calderwood, both 26, were ordered held until Sept. 1. They are charged with conspiracy to rob and firearms offenses. Defense lawyer Antonie Xavier, who represents Beyene, said his client "totally denied" involvement. Police also announced that they had charged a third man with conspiracy. Clinton Mogg, 42, of Bournemouth, in southern England, is scheduled to appear in court today.

Georgian authorities formally charged a billionaire businessman who was a candidate in this month's election with plotting to overthrow the government. Badri Patarkatsishvili was seen as a driving force behind anti-government protests in November that led President Mikheil Saakashvili to order a police crackdown and call an early presidential vote on Jan. 5. The president was reelected with 52% of the vote, the Electoral Commission said, but the opposition alleges the balloting was rigged.

Alleged "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla and two codefendants were engaged in terrorism when they conspired to fight in foreign holy wars and should spend 30 years to life in prison, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The sentencing guidelines imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke seemed to indicate that, at least in the case of 37-year-old Padilla, she would heed prosecutors' call for life without parole.

A Venezuelan man pleaded guilty in Miami in a scheme to cover up the source of $800,000 in a suitcase seized in Argentina, allegedly sent by Venezuelans as a donation to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's presidential campaign. Moises Maionica, 36, admitted he acted as an unregistered foreign government agent in the U.S. He faces up to 15 years for this and a related conspiracy count, but is cooperating with prosecutors and could get a reduced sentence. The other suspects have pleaded not guilty.

A retrial began in Miami for six men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower, a case a defense attorney alleged was a "setup" by federal officials hungry for a high-profile terrorism case. The first trial of the "Liberty City Seven" ended in December in a hung jury for six defendants and the acquittal of a seventh, who is being deported to Haiti because of the accusations.

The alert came from an informant who warned of impending suicide attacks on the Barcelona subway. And because the suspected bombers thought the spy was ready to die with them, officials say, he urged authorities to act fast. The paramilitary Guardia Civil raided mosques and apartments in port neighborhoods housing one of mainland Europe's largest Pakistani communities. A judge jailed 10 suspects.

The Pentagon announced Monday that it was seeking the death penalty against alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and five other men, in a move that will probably ensure that the controversial military commissions at the Guantanamo Bay prison live on into the next presidential administration.

The Defense Department had an eye on history Monday when it announced capital murder and war crimes charges against six detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the alleged Sept. 11 plotters would be given an "extraordinary set of rights" when they go on trial. They will receive more rights than the top Nazis tried at Nuremberg, military officials pointed out, and far more than the plotters in the assassination of President Lincoln, who were hanged within three months.