By Associated Press

(AP) — Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka became the first player to defect from LIV Golf, a significant blow to the Saudi-funded league that raises questions whether the PGA Tour will find a way for him to return.

LIV Golf posted an announcement to its website under a statement that Talor Gooch is the new captain of the Smash team that Koepka had led.

Scott O’Neil, the new CEO of LIV, said Koepka and LIV “amicably and mutually agreed” that Koepka will no longer compete in the league.

“Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home,” O’Neil said. “We appreciate the significant impact he has had on the game and wish him continued success, both on and off the course.”

LIV does not disclose contracts, though it was believed Koepka had another year left from when he joined in June 2022.

The PGA Tour policy banning players who have joined the rival league requires them to sit out for one year from their last participation. LIV ended its season on Aug. 24.

Koepka began his career on the European tour and would have access to play there. He played four European tour events this year, finishing fourth in the French Open a week before the Ryder Cup. He played in the 2023 Ryder Cup, but was not a consideration this year because of his form.

Blake Smith, Koepka’s manager at Hambric Sports, said there would be no comment beyond a statement released through LIV Golf that Koepka is grateful for his time at LIV.

“Family has always guided Brooks’s decisions, and he feels this is the right moment to spend more time at home,” the statement said. “Brooks will continue to be a huge supporter of LIV Golf and wishes the league and its players continued success. Brooks remains passionate about the game of golf and will keep fans updated on what’s ahead.”

The PGA Tour, while not offering any substance, took the rare step of acknowledging the move involving a player who is no longer a member.

“Brooks Koepka is a highly accomplished professional, and we wish him and his family continued success,” the tour said in a statement. “The PGA Tour continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness.”

Koepka had alerted the PGA Tour of his plans before the LIV announcement, according to one person aware of communication. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly disclosed.

The first step for Koepka to return would be to re-apply for membership. He was not among the LIV players who were part of the antitrust lawsuit filed against the PGA Tour in 2022.

Koepka, who spent 47 weeks at No. 1 in the world in 2018 and 2019, was one of the biggest signings by LIV when it launched in 2022. He had been coping with injuries and later suggested he might not have joined had his health been better.

He had been part of a meeting at the 2022 U.S. Open with top PGA Tour players a week earlier encouraging them to rally around the tour. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had even gone to Koepka’s wedding in the Caribbean weeks before he jumped over to LIV.

Koepka was the first LIV player to win a major in 2023 when he won the PGA Championship at Oak Hill for his fifth major. Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open the following year.

Koepka won five times on LIV Golf, but he had only two top 10s — his best was a runner-up — in 2025 and finished 31st in the standings of the 54-man circuit. He missed the cut in five of the eight tournaments

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Análisis por Aaron Blake

El Departamento de Justicia (DOJ, por sus siglas en inglés) publicó un nuevo lote de documentos relacionados con el delincuente sexual convicto Jeffrey Epstein, archivos que incluyen muchas más menciones al presidente Donald Trump que las del lote de la semana pasada.

El DOJ publicó el lote inicial el viernes —la fecha límite para hacerlos públicos después de que el Congreso aprobara una nueva ley el mes pasado— y continúa publicando gradualmente documentos adicionales.

A continuación se presentan algunas conclusiones de la última publicación.

Seguimos descubriendo cosas potencialmente significativas sobre la manera en que el Gobierno manejó las investigaciones de Epstein.

El nuevo lote de documentos, por ejemplo, incluye evidencia de que los fiscales buscaron investigar y potencialmente acusar a más personas.

Una serie de aparentes correos electrónicos del FBI de julio de 2019 mencionan “10 co-conspiradores”.

“Cuando tengas la oportunidad, ¿puedes darme una actualización sobre el estado de los 10 co-conspiradores?”, dice un correo electrónico del 7 de julio de 2019 de un remitente con “FBI New York” en la firma.

Otro correo electrónico dos días después solicita “una actualización sobre los 10 co-conspiradores antes del cierre de hoy”.

Un tercer correo menciona esfuerzos para localizar y entregar citaciones judiciales a estas personas. Indica que algunos, de hecho, fueron contactados. Uno que no lo fue es descrito como “un hombre de negocios adinerado en Ohio”.

Los documentos también citan —pero no parecen incluir— memorandos posteriores a la muerte de Epstein en agosto de 2019 que enumeran co-conspiradores que podrían ser acusados.

Hasta la fecha, solo Epstein y Ghislaine Maxwell, su exnovia, han sido acusados.

No tenemos realmente esos memorandos ni los nombres de los presuntos “co-conspiradores”, así que no sabemos a quiénes podrían estar refiriéndose. No está claro qué tipo de delitos podrían haber estado en juego. Y, aunque muchos han estado buscando una supuesta “lista de clientes” que el FBI dice que no existe, no está claro si estos documentos realmente implican a otras personas en los delitos presuntamente cometidos.

No sabemos qué ocurrió con estas posibles acusaciones. El hecho de que los casos nunca se presentaron podría sugerir que las investigaciones no sustentaron tales cargos. Pero el uso de “co-conspiradores” sugiere que, al menos en algún momento, los investigadores creyeron que otros estaban involucrados en los crímenes de Epstein.

Y estos son el tipo de documentos que muchas personas han estado anticipando durante mucho tiempo, documentos que podrían sugerir quién más podría ser responsabilizado por los crímenes de Epstein.

Puedes apostar que habrá mucha presión sobre el Gobierno de Trump para asegurarse de que estos documentos se publiquen.

El lote inicial del viernes incluía muchas menciones a Bill Clinton, pero pocas a Trump. Este lote presenta una dosis mucho más abundante del actual presidente.

Y quizás lo más notable, los documentos muestran cómo el nombre de Trump surgió en el contexto de las investigaciones y procesamientos de Epstein y Maxwell. (Trump nunca ha sido acusado por las autoridades de ninguna conducta indebida relacionada con los crímenes de Epstein, y él ha negado cualquier implicación).

Hay una Read more

By Marshall Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities

Social media users on Reddit and TikTok noticed in recent days that the redacted allegations could be uncovered by simply copying the blacked-out words and pasting them into a new document.

CNN has verified that there are faulty redactions in at least one document.

The glitch appears to affect only a tiny number of the hundreds of thousands of documents that the Justice Department has posted online this past week because of a new Epstein-related transparency law. And it appears this redacting error wasn’t committed by the Justice Department – but rather by the Virgin Islands’ attorney general’s office when it first posted the original court filing onto a public docket in 2021.

Still, it went viral online, amid the ongoing headaches for the Justice Department over the redactions that at times didn’t go far enough to protect victims, while also going too far to shield others.

The redaction snafu can be traced back to a civil racketeering lawsuit in the Virgin Islands from 2020.

The territory’s attorney general sued Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, his companies and lawyers, including his long-time attorney Darren Indyke, claiming they “fraudulently” obtained more than $80 million from the Virgin Islands in tax breaks for Epstein’s various holdings while running a “sex trafficking ring.”

Attorneys for the Virgin Islands filed an amended lawsuit in February 2021. That document, which is still available on the public docket, added new allegations that contained the botched redaction. That document was later attached as an exhibit in a related Virgin Islands-based civil case against Epstein’s estate in Read more