Tropical Storm Warning Issued For Abaco And Grand Bahama Islands; New York Exposes $1 Billion In Wire Transfers By Sackler Family
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actress Felicity Huffman reports to jail October 25th to serve a 14-day sentence.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Essentially the judge saying this wasn't about college reputations being tarnished or the test-taking process being compromised. This was about privileged kids having a leg up on other college applicants.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A tropical storm is heading for the parts of the Bahamas ravaged by Dorian.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the potential to stall the relief efforts that are ongoing across this area.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people here have an incredible spirit, and for the ones who survived, they're not going to let this stop them.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Top of the hour now, good morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.</s>AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: And I'm Amara Walker. Thanks so much for being with us.</s>BLACKWELL: Right now in the Bahamas, we're bracing for a new tropical threat. Tropical Storm Humberto is approaching the northwestern Bahamas today. It will bring rain and wind to Abaco and Grand Bahama, areas that have seen so much devastation. Thousands of people are still missing and displaced by Hurricane Dorian.</s>WALKER: Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center. This is the last thing they need right now, Allison, what should they be preparing for?</s>ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Conditions that are going to deteriorate throughout the day as the storm does get closer to this region, you are going to start to notice those winds beginning to pick up -- 60 to 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts not out of the question. And a lot of those heavy rain bands starting to slide in too. The storm is moving northwest at just about 7 miles per hour. At some point in the next 24 hours it's going to take a sharp turn to the right, heading back away from the United States and over towards Bermuda. The good news is, in the short term it's only expected to remain a tropical storm strength. We actually have Hurricane Dorian to thank in part for that because all of this water that was here that it churned up is now much colder than it normally would be limiting the current storm from being able to intensify as it moves through those much colder waters that are there. Here's a look. We do still have tropical storm warnings in effect for portions of the Bahamas out there. You can see several of these islands right through here. This is the system and it's going to continue that trek to the northwest and there's a lot of those outer bands bringing very heavy rainfall to these areas. But we're also watching on the other side of Florida too. This particular storm right here now being jumped up to a 30 percent chance of development over the next several days as it begins to head west towards Texas so we will keep a very close eye on that but Victor and Amara, it's mid-September so we've got even more storms in the Atlantic that we're also keeping an eye on over the next several days.</s>BLACKWELL: Peak of the season. Allison Chinchar. Thanks so much. Right now USAID is standing by in Abeco to help people still on those hard-hit islands. The agency handed out tarps and covered up structures damaged by Hurricane Dorian. Their teams will be waiting out this storm and have shelter supplies ready.</s>WALKER: But in the meantime, recovery efforts after Hurricane Dorian are on a hold while this new storm rolls through. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Nassau with more. And I know you've been mentioning this but the emotional toll that this has to take on the people there must be tremendous.</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really, it's triggering, it's traumatizing to have to be going through this, watching this storm path approach the exact same islands just two weeks later. While many of the people are sitting in shelters or if they've returned to what's left of their homes are now trying to board them up, put tarps over the damage that was left by Hurricane Dorian. Now, the government officials in the Bahamas have asked anybody who is in those structures to just go ahead and evacuate to shelters even those on Grand Bahama and Abaco Island. Here's the thing, the aid workers are staying in those areas because they're hoping they can resume relief work immediately after the storm passes. In the meantime, they have search and rescue crews that are on standby, just in case things get worse than they are expecting there on those islands. There are still plenty of people who have stayed. Some people have even gone back. I was talking to our driver here Kendrick (ph) who told me that he knows people who evacuated here to Nassau and gone back to Abaco to their home because that's where they feel most comfortable right now. It's difficult to be evacuated after surviving something like that and to watch this kind of bear down on those same areas. One man again, told me this was the cruelty of Mother Nature once again showing her face. So they're trying to grapple with that, while relief workers are trying to figure out sort of pattern how they're going to continue giving aid afterwards. A lot of those supplies stuck here right now in the Nassau area until they can fly back to those islands. They're hoping that will be able to resume tomorrow. Again, though, those aid workers with USAID, some of the other organizations brought some additional supplies early anticipating this coming so they can get straight to work as soon as that storm passes, but Amara, Victor, the emotional toll is that long- term effect on the people of Abaco and Grand Bahama.</s>WALKER: That's so sad but we are wishing them the best. Dianne Gallagher, thank you for that.</s>BLACKWELL: The New York Attorney General has uncovered $1 billion in offshore wire transfers by the Sackler family. That family owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of oxycontin. And now the A.G.'s office is trying to determine how much money the Sacklers have stashed away and where that money is now.</s>WALKER: This discovery follows the company's multibillion dollar tentative deal to settle thousands of state and federal lawsuits for its role in the opioid epidemic. Polo Sandoval joining us now from New York with more. Polo.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Victor, good morning. Yes, that timing is certainly interesting here. Keep in mind it was a few days ago that Purdue Pharma proposed that settlement between it and various cities, various states. Part of this ongoing legislation that alleges that the pharmaceutical companies, one of the driving factors here behind the nation's opioid epidemic and now this headline here, the New York State Attorney General releasing this new information suggesting that there was millions of dollars that was essentially attempted to conceal. One such example here that I'll mention here for you is that Mortimer Sackler, he's a former board member of Purdue Pharma essentially transferred millions of dollars to various real estate companies here in New York that held multiple townhouses here. I'll read you directly what the attorney general is alleged because defendant Mortimer -- before we get to this response -- this is what the attorney general is actually saying, because defendant Mortimer placed these New York real estate holdings in the name of shell companies, their ownership would have been impossible to detect from publicly available records and without access to financial records. Another allegation is that Sackler attempted to transfer monies also into Swiss bank accounts. Now to the response, Sackler simply saying this is not newsworthy that these were legal and he specifically writes, this is cynical attempt by a hostile A.G.'s office to generate defamatory headlines to try to torpedo a mutual beneficial settlement that is supposed - supported by so many other states and will result in billions of dollars going to communities. I should mention there is obviously - I do want to apologize for the interruption here in our studios in New York. But again, this is certainly significant here as the Sacklers continue with this litigation and of course the A.G. now trying to answer the question. How much money do they have and where it is.</s>BLACKWELL: Well, I thank you for your patience and cooperation through that test. Polo Sandoval for us there. You can never predict when it comes. They are important and we will accept that.</s>SANDOVAL: Saturday morning for you.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, it is.</s>WALKER: You're such a pro though. He didn't skip a beat while that was blaring over the speakers.</s>BLACKWELL: Polo, thanks so much. All right get to the exists.</s>WALKER: Good job, Polo.</s>SANDOVAL: Thanks guys.</s>WALKER: Actress Felicity Huffman is going to prison for trying to buy her daughter's way into college. Her message to the judge before she was sentenced.</s>BLACKWELL: Plus, CNN is learning that the Justice Department and Congress, they're having a hard time coming to an agreement on gun background checks. So will the president pick a side? We'll discuss.</s>WALKER: Also, we could be nearing a major breakthrough for children living with a peanut allergy. What the FDA is recommending, ahead.