Teen pot use may be climbing again since legalization

Steady reductions in teen marijuana use in Washington state may have been disrupted by legalization of the drug, a new study suggests.

Teens interviewed after voters approved recreational pot in 2012 were several times more likely to report past-year marijuana use.

That suggests legalization may be working against decreases in teen drug use, said lead author Jennifer Bailey. She is principal investigator in the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"When we think about marijuana legalization, a worry is that underage use may go up," Bailey said in a university news release. "Early use and heavy use during adolescence can have a lot of negative health consequences, then and later in life, so we don't want teen use to be going up."

RELATED Legal marijuana has led to increased use, risk for abuse among teens

Researchers study the perception of harm because people are more likely to engage in behaviors they regard as risk-free, Bailey explained.

Drug use in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, was higher than it has been since, because the risk of harm from many drugs was generally thought to be low.

Before legalization, teen use of marijuana and other drugs had been decreasing over the last couple of decades, according to Bailey.

RELATED Teens who use joints, bongs, concentrates more likely to keep using pot

SO ANYBODY SMOKING POT WILL BECOME ADDICTED ....NOT LIKELY 

For the new study, her team surveyed more than 230 young people who were 13 or younger in 2002 and assessed their marijuana use from ages 10 to 20.

Those who were younger were less likely to report using marijuana in the past year. For example, at age 15, 11% of those born before 2000 said they had used marijuana over the past year, compared with 5% of those born after 2000.

The study, published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found no connection between marijuana legalization and teen cigarette use, even though the two often go hand in hand, Bailey noted.

RELATED U.S. teens waiting longer to try alcohol, drugs
NO LONGER A RITE OF PASSAGE LIKE IT WAS IN THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES 

Recreational marijuana is legal in 11 states and Washington, D.C., and 33 states and the District of Columbia allow it for medical purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"A teen usage rate that holds steady isn't good enough if it would normally be going down," Bailey said. "We need to devote more attention to prevention of adolescent use in the context of legalization because we want to keep the decreases we've been seeing before legalization was implemented."

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about marijuana.

Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Poll: Most in U.S. dissatisfied with treatment of Black Americans

THE TIPPING POINT TOOK FIFTY YEARS

A young man looks at photographs of Black Americans who have died by violence in the United States, on a fence outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4. File Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Overall satisfaction in the United States with the treatment of Black persons has fallen this year to a record low, Gallup said in a new survey Wednesday.

According to the poll, just 35% of U.S. adults said they are either "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the treatment of Black communities -- a decline of 9% since the last survey two years ago and the lowest mark Gallup has recorded since it first asked the question in 2001.

Forty-one percent of White Americans expressed satisfaction, compared to 21% of Black Americans. The figure for Whites is also a record low, but Black satisfaction is 3% higher than it was in 2018.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they're dissatisfied with the treatment of Black Americans, most of whom (46%) said they're "very" dissatisfied. Just 11% -- including just 4% of Black adults -- said they're "very" satisfied.

RELATED Poll: More Americans now engaged in 2020 election race


"U.S. adults are about equally satisfied with the treatment of Arab people (44%) and Hispanic people (41%)," Gallup wrote. "White adults are much more satisfied than Black adults with the treatment of each group, as racial gaps in satisfaction range from 13 points (for Arab persons) to 22 points (immigrants).

"White Americans and U.S. adults overall have become less satisfied with the treatment of both the Hispanic and Asian people since 2018, but Black Americans' views on these are essentially unchanged."

Respondents are most satisfied (60%) with the treatment of Asian communities, the poll showed. Just 37% said they're satisfied with the treatment of immigrants.

RELATED Gallup: Fewer in U.S. satisfied with treatment of women

The poll was taken from early June to late July amid mass civil rights protests nationwide that spawned from the police killing of George Floyd in May.

Gallup polled more than 1,200 U.S. adults for the survey, which has a margin of error of between 4 and 7 points.


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Study: False health information viewed nearly 4B times on Facebook

B AS IN BILLION

The report called on Facebook to provide all users with independently fact-checked corrections and downgrade erroneous posts by adjusting its algorithms. File Photo by Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA-EFE


Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Billions of Facebook users in several countries came across some type of false health information on the social media platform over the past year, according to a new analysis published Wednesday.

Advocacy group Avaaz said in a 33-page report that it found health misinformation on the platform that generated at least 3.8 billion page views in at least five nations. Websites spreading the inaccurate information peaked at about 460 million views in April in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, it noted.

Avaaz said its findings underscore that Facebook must take greater steps to filter misinformation that can endanger the safety of billions of users who seek health advice online.

"Many of these networks, made up of both websites and Facebook pages, have spread vaccination and health misinformation on the social media platform for years," the assessment said. "However, some did not appear to have had any focus on health until February 2020 when they started covering the COVID-19 pandemic."

The report covered Facebook users in the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy and said anti-vaccine propaganda was also found on the popular platform.

"Factually inaccurate or misleading content doesn't spread in isolation," it said. "It's often shared by actors who are spreading other types of content, in a bid to build followers and help make misinformation go viral."

Campaign director Fadi Quran said the algorithm that Facebook uses to gather information is a "major threat to public health."

"Mark Zuckerberg promised to provide reliable information during the pandemic, but his algorithm is sabotaging those efforts by driving many of Facebook's 2.7 billion users to health misinformation spreading networks," Quran said.

The report called on Facebook to provide all users with independently fact-checked corrections and downgrade erroneous posts by adjusting its algorithms.

A Facebook representative said it shares "Avaaz's goal of limiting misinformation," but added that the new findings don't account for the measures the company has already taken to prevent the spread of misinformation.

Johnson & Johnson buys drugmaker Momenta for $6.5B

 M&AMONOPOLY CAPITALISM

Wednesday's acquisition of Momenta will be an all-cash deal, the company said. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. pharma company Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday it will buy drugmaker Momenta in a $6.5 billion deal, as it seeks to expand its presence in the autoimmune diseases market.

Massachusetts-based Momenta will become part of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen pharmaceutical unit. The purchase will be completed at $52.50 per share -- a 70.4% premium to Momenta's closing price on Tuesday.

The company said the key to the deal was Momenta's "nipocalimab" antibody, which has been shown effective in treating autoimmune diseases like maternal-fetal and neuro-inflammatory disorders, rheumatology, dermatology and autoimmune hematology.

Nipocalimab recently received a rare pediatric disease designation from the Food and Drug Administration, the company noted.

"This acquisition broadens Janssen's leadership in autoimmune diseases and provides us with a major catalyst for sustained growth," Jennifer Taubert, Johnson & Johnson's worldwide chairwoman for pharmaceuticals, said in a statement. "Autoantibody-driven diseases are often serious, and patients are underserved by current treatment options."

In autoantibody-driven diseases, the body's antibodies attack or damage its own proteins, cells and tissues. Nearly 200 million people worldwide, or 2.5% of the global population, have some form of autoantibody-driven disease, some of which are rare.

Wednesday's acquisition will be an all-cash deal, the company said.

MARX'S FORMULA FOR LATE CAPITALISM M-C-M

MONEY-CAPITAL/CONSUMABLES-MONEY

Too much corporate power is driving fiscal inequality, Fed says

SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARIES 

AT THE AMERICAN FEDERAL RESERVE

By

Don Jacobson

Activists march in Oak Brook, Ill., to demand a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour on May 20, 2015. The Federal Reserve says in a study that income inequality in the United States has been a side effect of growing monopolistic corporate power. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. central bank has found in a recent study that the rising monopolistic market power of dominant American companies is leading to an array of economic ills, such as income and wealth inequality.

In a 41-page report titled "Market Power, Inequality, and Financial Instability," the Federal Reserve said concentration of market power by the largest U.S. companies directly correlates to six "undesirable" economic trends that have endured for four decades.

Federal Reserve Board economists Isabel Cairo and Jae Sim said in the analysis those trends include things like stagnating wage growth, a "dramatic increase" in corporate profits, rising disparities in income and wealth, rising household debt and greater risk of large-scale financial instability.

"The fact that the six secular trends have realized over a time period in which the investment-to-output ratio has steadily declined suggests that the rise of market power of the firms may have been the driving force of the six secular trends," they wrote.

RELATED Study: Climate change crisis requires less growth-oriented global economy

The study says the inequality trend has risen as owners of assets like stocks and property have largely benefited from the concentration of monopolistic power.

To keep up, some workers who have seen smaller economic benefit are borrowing more money than they once did, thus making the entire financial system more fragile and vulnerable to large-scale shocks similar to the financial crisis a decade ago, the authors said.

To address the imbalances, Cairo and Sim recommend new government policies that redistribute wealth to poorer Americans through higher taxes and more social safety net spending, which they say would be "non-distortionary" for markets.

RELATED Pandemic exposes vulnerability of U.S. economy

Both U.S. political parties have shown concerns over the issue of market concentration, particularly in technology.

President Donald Trump has sought increased scrutiny for "big tech" firms and the Justice Department started an investigation last year into various tech platforms amid criticism that they had become too large and too powerful.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been critical of Facebook and argued that the government should consider breaking up large tech firms, although he acknowledged it was "premature" to make any definitive judgment.

RELATED Joe Biden unveils 'Build Back Better' economic relief plan

Mozambique firm says it bought ammonium nitrate at center of Beirut blast

A Mozambican explosives manufacturing company said it purchased the ammonium nitrate at the center of the deadly blast in Beirut to be used for mining but it never arrived after being detained in Lebanon. Photo by Mustafa Jamaleddine/UPI | License Photo


Aug. 18 (UPI) -- An explosives manufacturing company from Mozambique said Tuesday that it purchased the ammonium nitrate that sparked the devastating blast in Beirut's port.

Fabrica de Explosivos Mocambique told CNN it originally ordered the 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate to be used for mining, but the order never made it to Mozambique but rather remained in a container at Beirut's port for more than six years before the Aug. 4 blast that killed 154 people.

"This is not common. It's absolutely not common," a representative for the company said. "Usually, when you place an order for whatever it is that you're buying, it's not common that you don't get the goods. This is a vessel, it's not like one thing that was lost in the mail, it's a big quantity."

The representative said FEM worked with an outside trading company to facilitate the transfer of the ammonium nitrate, which originated in Georgia before being transported on the Russian ship, Rhosus. The ship was detained and later impounded by Lebanese officials.

RELATED Lebanon judge to open inquiry into deadly Beirut explosions

A pair of explosions rocked Beirut's port on Aug. 4 with a smaller explosion stemming from a fire that started inside a warehouse and a larger secondary blast that sent a shockwave miles throughout the city registering a magnitude-3.3 earthquake.

Last week, Lebanon's Chemical Biological Radio Nuclear Events Preparedness reported materials including flammable liquids and unsafe combinations of fuels and oxidizers were safely removed from the area.

Fabien Tarably, director of security consulting and intelligence firm NIGMA Conseil, described the impact of the blast and its effects on recovery efforts.

"The first and main technical difficulty is the magnitude of the explosion -- everything has been pulverized," Tarably said. "It's going to be very hard, because everything that is of interest has probably disappeared."

A Lebanese civil defense officer said they are still looking for firefighters dispatched to the scene despite fears of heavily damaged silos collapsing.

"We're still searching, but we've brought in engineers to assess their structural integrity and see if we can continue," the officer said. "We're still looking for a 30-ton fire truck we can't find. It's like it was vaporized."

BIG PHARMA & MEDICINE INC.

Psychiatric meds may pose risk to dementia patients, experts say

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay News

As many as 3 in 4 older adults with dementia have been prescribed drugs that may pose a risk to them, researchers report.

The drugs in the study included commonly prescribed medications that can affect the brain or nervous system, such as sedatives, painkillers and antidepressants.

"There just is not a lot of evidence that these medications are helpful in people with dementia," said study author Dr. Donovan Maust.

When I think about somebody who has dementia and the way the brain is changing, it seems like it's not a great thing to be exposing their brain to these drugs when the brain is already having trouble dealing with the changes going on from the dementia," said Maust, a geriatric psychiatrist from the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Health System.

"Medications we use in patients of other ages work different in brains with dementia," he added.

Behavior changes are common in people with dementia. They may include irritability, anger or aggression, anxiety, depression or emotional distress, restlessness, delusions or hallucinations, and difficulty sleeping.

These behaviors are primarily caused by progressive damage to brain cells. Other possible triggers of behavior issues include medications, environmental factors and other medical conditions, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Maust said that prescribing practices have been studied in patients with dementia in nursing homes, but there was a lack of information on what types of drugs people with dementia are prescribed if they don't live in a nursing home.
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The study included almost 740,000 people with dementia. They were all over 65 -- average age was 82 -- and on Medicare. About 81% were white, 9% were black and 7% Hispanic. Most lived in urban areas.

The researchers found that 73.5% of them were prescribed a central nervous system-active medication, including opioids, antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedatives and anti-epileptic drugs -- can be prescribed for pain or in place of an antipsychotic.

Researchers found that half were given an antidepressant -- a rate that's about triple what it is for older adults in the general population, the researchers noted.

Maust said doctors may prescribe these when someone shows signs of withdrawal or apathy, but in dementia patients, those signs may be due to dementia, not depression.

"Initiation of activity and enjoyment of the activity isn't the same in someone with dementia, but it's easy to look at those symptoms and think they're depressed," Maust said.

These drugs increase fall risk

The concern in taking an antidepressant is that they may make someone with dementia feel jittery. But patients also may have trouble telling a caregiver how they're feeling, which may make them seem agitated or angry. And that, Maust said, may then lead to another prescription to calm them down.

Someone who took antidepressants for depression prior to developing dementia may still benefit from the drug, Maust pointed out.

Thirty percent of the group was given an opioid prescription, though the researchers said these tended to be short-term prescriptions that were probably for acute pain.
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Twenty-seven percent were given sedatives, 22% were given anti-epileptics and 22% were given prescriptions for antipsychotics.

In addition to potentially not helping someone with dementia, many of these medications come with a risk of falls, a common concern for all older adults.

So, why are these medications still being prescribed?

"I think it really speaks to how challenging dementia is to take care of. Many clinicians haven't had a lot of training specifically in dementia. Doctors are just trying to provide good care, and sometimes it feels as if we're not prescribing something, we're not helping. But doctors can help with listening, supporting and helping people get psychosocial support," Maust explained.

Rebecca Edelmayer is director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer's Association. "There is an urgent need for more options. Behavioral and psychological symptoms can be very frustrating. Physicians are using what they have available to treat these symptoms," she said.

"It's not that physicians aren't well-intentioned, but not all psychoactive medications may be beneficial, and the risks may outweigh the benefits," said Edelmayer, who wasn't part of the study.

She said "person-centered care" is crucial. Before prescribing medications, it's important to do a thorough evaluation to see what might be causing someone's symptoms. If possible, try to solve their concerns without medications, but "if medications are the right solution, they should be on the table as a possibility," she said.

Edelmayer said there are a number of ongoing clinical trials for treatments of the psychological and behavioral symptoms of dementia. "There a lot of promise in the therapeutic pipeline," she said.
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In the meantime, Maust said, "Caregivers should look at the list of medications that a loved one is taking and review it with the doctor. Think about whether something is helpful or not, and whether the drug could be used at a lower dose, or if someone should be tapered off it. Any kind of simplifying you can do to minimize medications for older adults is almost certainly safer."

The findings were published as a letter in the Aug. 18 Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

Learn more about treatments for behavioral symptoms of dementia from the Alzheimer's Association.

Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Study suggests 'horrifying' rise in domestic violence during pandemic
An analysis at a hospital in Massachusetts suggests domestic violence has increased during the pandemic. Photo by Counselling/Pixabay

X-ray evidence points to pandemic lockdowns triggering a surge in cases of domestic violence.
Data from a major Massachusetts hospital found a significant year-over-year jump in intimate partner violence cases among patients -- nearly all women -- who sought emergency care during the COVID-19 pandemic's first few weeks.

"This data confirms what we suspected," said study co-author Mardi Chadwick Balcom. "Being confined to home for a period of time would increase the possibility for violence between intimate partners."

And the new study probably exposes "only the tip of the iceberg," said co-author Dr. Bharti Khurana, as it focused only on patients who sought emergency care at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and reported being a victim of domestic abuse.

RELATED Domestic violence may have risen under stay-at-home rules

Balcom is senior director of community health intervention and prevention programs at the hospital. Khurana is head of its trauma imaging research and innovation center.

The study focused on results of radiology scans at the hospital between March 11 and May 3 -- the nine-week period after Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker declared a state of emergency and closed schools in response to COVID-19.

The scans identified 26 patients with injuries consistent with either superficial wounds or serious abuse.

RELATED Nearly half of patients keep information about sexual assault, depression from doctors

That number was nearly equal to the 27 identified at the hospital during the same weeks in 2018 and 2019 combined. It also exceeded the 15 cases of physical abuse treated in 2017.

During spring 2020, the hospital treated 28 serious domestic abuse injuries -- with some patients sustaining more than one. Such "deep" injuries resulted from strangulation, stabbing, burns or the use of knives or guns, the study reported.
Five victims of severe abuse were identified in 2020, compared to one in each of the three previous years. The study was published Aug. 13 in the journal Radiology.

RELATED U.N. report predicts COVID-19 pandemic will be disastrous for women

While deeply troubling, Khurana acknowledged that the findings are from one institution and might not apply more broadly. Still, Balcom noted they are concerning.

"Isolation is a big risk factor in [intimate partner violence and] COVID-19 has increased isolation both physically and socially for so many people," she said.

The findings dovetail with concerns about pandemic-related domestic abuse expressed in April by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

"We know lockdowns and quarantines are essential to suppressing COVID-19, but they can trap women with abusive partners," Guterres said at the time. "Over the past weeks, as the economic and social pressures and fear have grown, we have seen a horrifying surge in domestic violence.

"For many women and girls," he added, "the threat looms largest where they should be safest, in their own homes."

Barbara Paradiso, director of the Center on Domestic Violence at the University of Colorado, Denver, echoed that thought.

"When a victim is required to stay in a home without access to the usual outlets that help to reduce tension [such as] time apart when at work, opportunities to visit friends or family, a private place to reach out for help -- the opportunity for violence naturally rises," noted Paradiso, who wasn't part of the study.

Stress stemming from the pandemic itself probably contributes as well, she added.

"The person choosing to use violence -- the perpetrator -- employs violence as a tool to establish and maintain power and control over their partner," Paradiso explained. "That need for power is, in part, a reflection of the lack of power they feel over their environment. COVID has brought with it just about every uncertainty any of us can imagine: Will we lose our jobs? Be furloughed? When will be allowed to go back to work or school? Can I make my rent payment? And on and on."

The uncertainty is likely to hit abusers hard, Paradiso said. "That lack of control each of us are feeling is likely to be amplified for the abuser, and so they amplify their violence," she said.

Many shelters and safe homes have had to move people into hotels to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, so space for domestic abuse victims can be limited. But help is available, Balcom said.

"Hotlines and domestic violence programs are operating," she said. Those who need help should contact their local program for support or reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Its website -- thehotline.org -- also has information about local resources.

"Even if leaving home and going to a shelter is not what a survivor wants to do, the staff at safe home programs are great to talk with," Paradiso said. "They can provide support, help you to develop a plan to better keep yourself and your children safe, and connect you to lots of valuable resources in the community."

More information There's more about support for people experiencing abuse at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Copyright 2020 HealthDay

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Study: Black, White COVID-19 patients with access to care die at similar rates

Black and White patients hospitalized with COVID-19 die at similar rates, a new study has found. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 18 (UPI) -- White Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 are just as likely to die from the disease as Black Americans, according to a study published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open.

Just over 23% of White patients with COVID-19 being treated in the hospital ultimately died after getting infected, compared to 19% of Black patients, the data showed.

Researchers have previously found that Black and Hispanic Americans are hospitalized for the new coronavirus at a rate up to three times their share of the general population, but with access to care the death rates appear to even out.
"These findings suggest that while Black U.S. residents might be at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and represent a disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths, mortality for those able to access hospital care does not differ from White patients," researchers wrote in the study.

RELATED COVID-19 hospitalization rate for minorities far beyond share of population

For the new analysis, researchers at Ascension, a network of Catholic hospitals across the country, reviewed data on COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths from 92 hospitals in 12 states between Feb. 19 and May 31.

The 12 states represented in the study were Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. The number of hospitals contributing data from each state ranged from one in Maryland to 18 in Wisconsin.

More than 11,000 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were treated at the 92 hospitals during the study period -- roughly 4,200 were Black and 5,500 were White, according to the authors.

RELATED Racial disparities in death rates widen in U.S. rural areas, study says

The patients ranged in age from 46 to 74, although Black patients tended to be younger -- in their early 60s -- compared to White patients, who were typically in their mid-60s. Twenty-five percent of the Black patients were Medicaid beneficiaries, compared to 13% of White patients.

Twenty percent of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 died in the hospital, including 38% of those who required mechanical ventilation.

Black patients in the study were more likely to have underlying health conditions like asthma, cancer, COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity than their White counterparts, the researchers said.

RELATED CDC data highlight racial disparities in spread, scope of COVID-19 pandemic

Most research suggests "that people of color are more highly impacted by COVID-19 compared to their white counterparts," Brandon Brown, an associate professor of social medicine, population and public health at the University of California-Riverside, told UPI.

However, despite the apparent discrepancy, the study fills in an important gap in available research on the impact of COVID-19: the "transition from hospitalization to death, by race," said Brown, who was not involved in the new study.

"We know that because of systematic racism ... that people of color are more likely to be essential workers during the pandemic and less likely to be able to shelter in place," he said.

"This is a major reason for the increased hospitalizations due to COVID-19 among Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people."

Justice Department seeks forfeiture of property from Ukrainian bank owners


Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The Justice Department on Thursday moved to seize property from the owners of one of the largest banks in Ukraine for alleged money laundering.

The Department of Justice filed two civil forfeiture complaints against the owners of PrivatBank, Ihor Kollomoisky and Gennadiy Boholiubov, alleging they obtained fraudulent loans and lines of credit from 2008 through 2016 and laundered the illegally obtained funds through a series of shell companies' bank accounts before transferring the money to the United States.

\
The complaints seek the seizure of an office park in Dallas and an office tower in Louisville, Ky., which the Justice Department estimates are worth a combined $70 million.

According to the complaint, Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber, accomplices of Kollomoisky and Boholiubov, created a web of entities -- usually under some variation of the name "Optima" -- to launder the funds.

The pair then allegedly purchased millions of dollars of real estate throughout the country, including the two properties designated for seizure.

In 2016, the scheme was discovered and the Ukrainian government seized control of PrivatBank.