World

Gun-Related Deaths Surge During the Pandemic

Published

3 years ago

August 13, 2022

The number of deaths resulting from firearms has been consistently rising, with the peak occurring at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The CDC reported a worrying 35 percent increase from the previous years.

While gun violence and death have risen yearly, long before the pandemic, many people speculate that COVID-19 largely contributed to this increase. In fact, investigations have shown that difficult living conditions due to the onset of this pandemic lead to these staggering statistics. Social isolation, loss of employment, and economic instability also significantly contributed to the higher number of people purchasing firearms.

In addition, worldwide city lockdowns resulted in the use of lethal force by the police to restrain citizens, and long-term indoor confinement increased the cases of domestic violence. These facts can make the correlation between the pandemic and the uptick in gun crimes seem even more apparent.

Trends in Gun Violence

Investigations done by CDC officials revealed that the surge in gun deaths was observed primarily in poor counties across America. Areas and neighborhoods dominated by Hispanic, Black, and Native American individuals were reported to have the highest gun homicide rates. Reports also showed that the number of gun-related deaths among women had risen substantially.

Similarly, gun-related suicides also rose sharply, with significant increases among Native Americans and other minority groups. However, these figures were less than those of White men above the age of 50.

During an event to discuss crime, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti further explained how the pandemic could have caused an increase in gun homicides. He related the countrywide devastating mental health system, or lack thereof, as a significant contributor to the increased deaths.

The FBI reported new records of firearm background checks in 2020 as the pandemic saw millions of guns circulate throughout the American population. Reports have suggested that people might have been scared and felt the need to acquire guns for their own personal safety.

However, guns have been noted to endanger the members of the households which possess them. This is because they increase the probability of a gun homicide or suicide threefold compared to a home that does not have guns. Ironically, Americans can be more at risk by the very object thought and purchased to provide protection.

New Reforms

Congress is now keen on ensuring that solid gun control measures are in place. In an attempt to reduce the rates of firearm homicides, several research projects are in the works, and acts have been reinstated that aim to promote gun safety.

One of the policies currently being reworked includes the free distribution of lockboxes to help store firearms at home. This measure ensures that guns are only accessible by the right people at the right time.

With the pandemic slowly ending and people resuming their everyday lives, researchers hope that the number of gun-related deaths will decrease. Whether the pandemic was responsible for the surge in firearm homicides, gun deaths continue to be a significant challenge facing America.

World

TRG Chairman Khaishgi and CEO Aslam implicated in $150 million fraud

Published

6 days ago

June 23, 2025

Jenny Jackson

In a scathing 52-page decision, the Sindh High Court has found that TRG Pakistan’s management was acting fraudulently and that Bermuda-based Greentree Holdings historic and prospective purchase of TRG shares were illegal, fraudulent and oppressive.

The Sindh High Court has further directed TRGP to immediately hold board elections that have been overdue and illegally withheld by the existing board since January 14, 2025.

In the landmark ruling, the Sindh High Court has blocked the attempted takeover of TRG Pakistan Limited by Greentree Holdings, declaring that the shares acquired by Greentree, nearly 30% of TRG’s stock, were unlawfully financed using TRG’s funds in violation of Section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2017.

“Having concluded that the affairs of TRGP are being conducted in an unlawful and fraudulent manner and in a manner oppressive to members such as the Petitioner (Zia Chishti), the case falls for corrective orders under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Companies Act,” Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry concluded.

The case was brought by TRGP former CEO and founder Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti against TRG Pakistan, its associate TRG International and TRG International’s wholly-owned shell company Greentree Limited. In addition, the case named AKD Securities for managing Greentree’s illegal tender offer as well as various regulators requiring that they act to perform their regulatory duties.

The case centred around the dispute that shell company Greentree Limited was fraudulently using TRG Pakistan’s own funds to purchase TRG Pakistan’s shares in order to give control to Zia Chishti’s former partners Mohammed Khaishgi, Hasnain Aslam and Pinebridge Investments.

According to the case facts, the Chairman of TRG Pakistan Mohammed Khaishgi and the CEO of TRG Pakistan Hasnain Aslam masterminded the $150 million fraud. They did so together with Hong Kong based fund manager Pinebridge who has two nominees on TRG Pakistan’s board, Mr. John Leone and Mr. Patrick McGinnis.

According to the court papers, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis set up a shell company called Greentree which they secretly controlled and from which they started buying up shares of TRG Pakistan. The fraud was that Greentree was using TRG Pakistan’s funds itself. The idea was to give Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis control over TRG Pakistan even though they owned less than 1% of the company, lawyers of the petitioner told the court.

This was all part of a broader battle for control over TRG Pakistan that is raging between Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis on one side and TRG Pakistan founder Zia Chishti on the other side. Zia Chishti has been trying to retake control of TRG Pakistan after he was forced to resign in 2021 based on sexual misconduct allegations made by a former employee of his. This year those allegations were shown to be without basis in litigation that Chishti launched in the United Kingdom against The Telegraph newspaper which had printed the allegations. The Telegraph was forced to apologize for 13 separate articles it published about Chishti and paid him damages and legal costs.

After Chishti resigned in 2021, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis moved to take total control over TRG Pakistan and its various subsidiaries including TRG International and to block out Chishti. The Sindh High Court’s ruling today has reversed that effort, ruling the scheme fraudulent, illegal, and oppressive.

It now appears that Zia Chishti will take control of TRG Pakistan in short order when elections are called. He and his family are now the largest shareholders with over 30% interest. He is closely followed by companies related to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company which have over a 20% interest. The result appears to be a complete vindication for Zia Chishti and damning for his rivals Aslam, Khaishgi, Leone, and McGinnis who have been ruled to have been conducting a fraud.

TRG Pakistan’s share price declined by over 8% on the news on heavy volume. Market experts say that this was because the tender offer at Rs 75 was gone and that now shares would trade closer to their natural value. Presently the shares are trading at Rs 59 per share.

According to the court ruling, since 2021, shell company Greentree had purchased approximately 30% of TRG shares using $80 million of TRG’s own money, which means that that the directors of TRG Pakistan allowed company assets to be funneled through offshore affiliates TRG International and Greentree for acquiring TRG’s shares – a move deemed both fraudulent and oppressive to minority shareholders. The Sindh High Court also found illegal Greentree’s further attempt to purchase another 35% of TRG shares using another $70 million of TRG’s money in a tender offer.

The ruling is a major victory for the tech entrepreneur Zia Chishti against his former partners and the legal ruling paves the way for him to take control of TRG in a few weeks.