October 2024 TorchStone Global Monthly Executive Protection Report
TorchStone Global believes that broader situational awareness and intelligence are key to providing quality executive protection—whether the principal is a Fortune 500 CEO, international celebrity, or local city council member. With that in mind, we are launching our monthly executive protection report, cataloging incidents we have captured through our open-source searches that are relevant to the practice of executive protection. We hope the report will serve as a centralized source of threat activity to provide insight into current trends in threats to high-profile individuals.
For more information on customized threat tracking for at-risk individuals, threat assessments, executive protection, or other security services, please contact us.
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Summary
The TorchStone Executive Protection Report tracked 22 domestic and 9 international security incidents or updates to prior incidents impacting high-profile individuals during the month of October 2024. Below are some key incidents of note over the past month.
- As the United States election approaches on Nov 5, violence and threats targeting elected officials and candidates remain high. As expected, the threats span the spectrum of government offices, from city council member races in California to state-level political party officials recruiting poll watchers, to continued threats against Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump. TorchStone expects threats and violence to continue through this week’s election and beyond, depending on the nature of the outcome and accusations of wrongdoing.
- The attempted kidnapping of an Australian businessman in Estonia appears to have been another high-profile cryptocurrency kidnapping incident. This attempt and other recent successful attacks highlight the physical threat associated with electronic assets. Kidnapping gangs are bypassing network security measures and targeting the humans behind the accounts with violence in order to steal their assets. Investors can mitigate the associated risks by identifying and addressing threats before they become victims.
- Robberies of high-profile individuals and their homes continued over the past month: a starting pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers was robbed at a horse racing track during the team’s World Series post-season bid; criminals targeted the Los Angeles home of singer Jessie J.; and the home invaders ransacked the home of a New Jersey state lawmaker and stole his car. It is unclear if the lawmaker was specifically targeted for political reasons or if it was an opportunistic robbery.
Business Executive
| Location: Tallinn, Estonia | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
July 29, 2024: At his residence in Estonia, Australian billionaire Tim Heath escaped a kidnapping attempt. The kidnappers confronted Heath in the hallway leading to his apartment and attempted to subdue him and force him into a van. Heath, however, effectively fought off the kidnappers, escaping their grasp and prompting them to flee. It is believed that the kidnappers were not Estonian citizens. While the attack occurred on July 29, it was not reported publicly until October 24.
| Location: Portland, OR | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Office |
October 25, 2024: A married couple of chauffeurs admitted to stealing over $34 million from their client, magazine and book publisher Win McCormack, between 2017 and 2023. The couple gained access to McCormack’s card in 2016 on account of their mutual trust, after which they purchased numerous real estate properties as well as an abundance of expensive gifts for themselves as well as friends and family. Following their guilty plea, they agreed to forfeit the majority of their real estate holdings and may face up to four years of prison time.
Celebrity
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
October 4, 2024: An out-of-state individual swatted actor Chris Pine, leading police to respond to a 911 call alleging a sexual assault at his address and knocking on his door. According to the FBI, swatting entails making a deceptive 9-1-1 call with a fabricated emergency that prompts a response from law enforcement, often involving a SWAT team. This reckless act puts the community at risk since responders are diverted from genuine emergencies. Additionally, it endangers the officers involved and the victims, as unsuspecting residents may attempt to defend themselves in response to the perceived threat.
| Location: Arcadia, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Public Area |
October 6, 2024: Walker Buehler, starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was robbed while attending a horse race at Santa Anita Park with his wife. While surrounded by an abrupt mob of people, Buehler was allegedly accosted by someone in the crowd who managed to take his watch. The incident remains under investigation.
| Location: Johannesburg, South Africa | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
October 6, 2024: South African Olympian sprinter Akani Simbine called out the O.R. Tambo Intl. Airport’s official X account after experiencing one of many instances of attempted luggage theft by the airport’s employees. The official account issued a response stating that, while they would open an investigation on their end, the responsibility of luggage security was primarily in the hands of individual airlines and the baggage-handling companies they contracted.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
October 7, 2024: Reports of an attempted home invasion at the Los Angeles home of Janet Smollett, mother of actor Jussie Smollett, prompted a swift response from the LAPD. Law enforcement officials stated that the suspects tried to enter the house by smashing a back door but quickly fled when Ms. Smollett came out to investigate the disturbance. The police are continuing their investigation.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
October 10, 2024: LAPD responded to reports of a home invasion at the residence of entertainer Jessie J (real name Jessica Ellen Cornish) in West Los Angeles that occurred sometime early in October. Law enforcement reported that the suspect(s) entered by smashing a back window, a tactic commonly used in the recent wave of home burglaries in upscale L.A. neighborhoods. Ms. Cornish, who was not at the residence during the break-in, reported that around $20,000 worth of jewelry had been stolen. The investigation of the incident is ongoing.
| Location: Las Vegas, NV | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
October 15, 2024: Guitarist Jake E. Lee was shot several times in front of his home while walking his dog at approximately 2:40 am in S. Las Vegas. Several days later, Lee made a personal statement on his Facebook group where he stated that he had been confronted by a couple of armed thieves who were in his neighbor’s driveway. Lee stated that the two parties verbally confronted one another, which resulted in his shooting. The investigation regarding the incident remains ongoing.
| Location: Chennai, India | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
October 16, 2024: Tamil actor Karunakaran’s Chennai residence was robbed of about 60 sovereigns (around $40,000) worth of gold jewelry. Since the crime scene contained no evidence to suggest forced entry, the domestic workers employed at the residence were investigated. Through this investigation, it was confirmed that one of the house’s domestic workers did gradually steal the jewelry over an unspecified amount of time.
| Location: Miami, FL | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
October 18, 2024: An individual was arrested for posing as a security guard to enter a Taylor Swift concert. The criminal claimed that a group of women hired him to protect them for the duration of the event. Though the criminal prepared a fictitious ID to legitimize his claims, the women only recalled hiring a driver and not a security guard.
Federal Government
| Location: New York, NY | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Office |
September 26, 2024: New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s office in Manhattan was defaced with graffiti expressing anti-Israel sentiments. The office, situated within a highly Jewish-populated area of Manhattan, is a frequent location for pro-Palestinian protestors. The graffiti denounced Israel’s actions in the war with Hamas and displayed a symbol from Hamas propaganda videos. Espaillat, a Democrat who has supported the Israeli hostages in the conflict and funding services supporting the local Jewish population, is one of several politicians in New York who have had their offices vandalized around the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
| Location: Skopje, Macedonia | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 1, 2024: A man posted death threats on social media towards a judge on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of North Macedonia following a ruling over the statute of limitations for debts. In response, a Skopje prosecutor submitted a criminal warrant proposal for the disgruntled man who would be given a suspended prison sentence of three months. Upon acceptance of the proposal, prison time would only be enforced if the man perpetrated another crime within the next year.
| Location: Copenhagen, Denmark | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
October 2, 2024: A couple of explosions occurred near the Israeli Embassy to Denmark in Copenhagen, presumably an act of terror in opposition to Israel. Police did not reveal the circumstances regarding the intensity of the explosions’ damage, nor any information regarding potential suspects or motives. In response to the blasts, a nearby Jewish school closed for the day, and security efforts were bolstered around Copenhagen’s largest synagogue.
| Location: West Palm Beach, FL | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Home |
October 3, 2024: An Illinois resident was indicted by a federal grand jury for death threats against a judge and the jurist’s family. It is believed that his primary target was Aileen Cannon, the district judge who dismissed the classified documents case against her appointer, former President Donald Trump. The suspect made his threats throughout the summer, following Cannon’s responses to prosecutors of the case. He faces six charges pertinent to these threats, with a maximum prison sentence of 45 years.
| Location: Cincinnati, OH | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Home |
October 6, 2024: Protesters gathered around Democratic U.S. Representative Greg Landsman’s house on the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. The protestors erected art installations on the street listing statistics regarding the death and destruction upon the Palestinian people in Gaza, calling out Landsman’s support for Israel’s actions in the war. Though the protestors were nonviolent, Landsman and his family were escorted in and out of the house by Cincinnati police.
| Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Public Area |
October 6, 2024: Canadian Parliamentary Security and the RCMP have provided security coverage for Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya, who was recently targeted by Sikh pro-Khalistan protestors following his persistent comments on Khalistani extremism in Canada. This coverage was observed in action during Arya’s presence at a Coalition of Hindus of North America (COHNA) advocacy event in Edmonton, where protestors clashed with the security detail and attempted to disrupt the event.
| Location: California | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 9, 2024: Federal authorities have arrested a California woman on charges of threatening to kill a federal judge in Texas. She faces two criminal charges for transmitting a threatening communication and attempting to influence a federal official through threats. The indictment, though brief in its details, accuses the woman of threatening to murder an unnamed judge.
| Location: Mumbai, India | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
October 12, 2024: A leader in India’s opposition National Congress Party, Baba Siddique, was shot dead in Mumbai at 9:30 pm outside his son’s office in Neelamnagar. The police arrested two people after the assassination. Unnamed sources have indicated that the assassination was ordered by Mumbai criminal leader, Lawrence Bishnoi.
| Location: Bostic, NC | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Public Area |
October 14, 2024: An armed man was arrested for threatening FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. Prior to the weekend, FEMA, who have been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories since their response to the damages of Hurricane Helene, advised its agencies to “stand down” in response to spreading rumors of militias banding together to hunt down FEMA employees. Police arrested the suspect after being tipped off to his possession of small arms and comments on harming FEMA employees in the area. Police charged him with “Going Armed to the Terror of the Public.” Despite the rumors, the man was the only armed individual apprehended in the vicinity of the disaster relief areas.
| Location: Tokyo, Japan | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Office |
October 19, 2024: Amidst campaigning for a general election, police arrested a man for throwing Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party. The man also crashed his van into a security fence outside the office of the Prime Minister nearby and threw homemade smoke bombs at officers. No deaths nor injuries were reported, and campaigning has proceeded as normal.
| Location: Tempe, AZ | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 22, 2024: Police arrested a Desert Vista High School social studies teacher for making multiple online threats towards Donald Trump Jr. and Charlie Kirk, who were attending a political rally organized by Turning Point USA in the area. Tempe police were notified of the teacher’s threats, which were made in response to a mass messaging system inquiring about RSVPs for the TPUSA event. The teacher admitted to the crime and was arrested at his residence.
| Location: Detroit, MI | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 22, 2024: Police charged a man for sending around 400 emails, containing death threats targeted at a federal judge, to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Civil Rights and Office of Government Accountability. The suspect targeted a federal judge, one of two from the U.S. District Court for Michigan’s Eastern District, who signed off on search warrants placed on the suspect’s residences after he received approximately $3,000 worth of tactical gear from a local Amazon drop box. The suspect had prior convictions over concealed carry violations in 2019 and 2021, with the former establishing his felon status.
| Location: State College, PA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Public Area |
October 25, 2024: A Pennsylvania man was witnessed describing threats on former President Donald Trump’s life the day before he was to appear at a rally on Penn State’s campus. The man was overheard by an employee at the university’s office of transportation while he was attempting to purchase a parking pass. The employee tipped off-campus police, who interviewed the man with members of the U.S. Secret Service shortly thereafter. In the interview, the suspect expressed his discontent with Trump and revealed that he was in possession of a rifle at his residence. The suspect was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct and making terroristic threats.”
| Location: Bihar, India | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 28, 2024: Independent MP, Rajesh Ranjan, requested increased security after reporting death threats received from jailed criminal organizer, Lawrence Bishnoi. The threats came after Ranjan criticized Bishnoi’s group as a “gang of thugs and insignificant criminals” following the murder of the Indian National Congress leader, Baba Siddique, in Mumbai.
State Government
| Location: New York, NY | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
October 4, 2024: Former New York Governor David Paterson was assaulted, along with his 20-year-old stepson, by five suspects in Manhattan’s Upper East Side near the victims’ home. The attack began as a “verbal altercation” and the suspects had “a previous interaction” with Paterson’s stepson. The assailants hit the victims in the body and face before being fought off and fleeing on foot.
| Location: Hazlet, NJ | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
October 9, 2024: Two thieves broke into New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra’s home early in the morning, likely using a prying tool. The thieves ransacked Kanitra’s home and stole a vehicle. The lawmaker was out of town, but his wife and mother-in-law were asleep in the home during the robbery and remained unharmed.
| Location: Philadelphia, PA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 21, 2024: A Pennsylvania man was arrested and federally charged with transmitting interstate threats after sending three threatening texts to a state political party member who was recruiting volunteers for poll watching. The case falls under the scope of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Election Threats Task Force, which has been in place since June 2021.
Local Government
| Location: Manhattan, IL | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
September 23, 2024: The wife of Manhattan Mayor Mike Adrieansen was attacked by a woman from New Lenox, resulting in the woman being charged with felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor battery. The attack took place at Fritz’s Saloon when the assailant grabbed her by the hair from behind and threw her to the ground. After the attack, the assailant was seen pointing at the victim and saying, “There’s that [expletive] faced mayor’s wife,” according to reports.
| Location: Chilpancingo, Mexico | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
October 6, 2024: A newly elected mayor of a Mexican city, Alejandro Arcos, was murdered just three days after the new city government’s secretary was shot to death. Arcos was last reported to be seen traveling, in his personal truck, to the nearby town of Petaquillas to meet with members of a local gang. Notably, Arcos did so without a driver or security escort. Unverified reports allege the mayor was found beheaded. This continues the trend of violence against elected officials in the Mexican state of Guerrero as at least six candidates for public office were killed in the state ahead of this past June’s elections.
| Location: Ellensburg, ND | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 10, 2024: Court documents reveal a man threatened a local judge with a bow and arrow during a phone call with his sister. The threats were in response to the judge’s ruling over a prior criminal case, in which the man violently resisted arrest following a traffic incident. His sister reported him to the authorities and expressed concern for his mental state. The man was taken into custody on the 18th and awaits court hearings in November.
| Location: Folsom, CA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
October 24, 2024: Folsom City Council District 4 candidate Barbara Leary received a threatening voicemail on her phone and reported the incident to the police, who continue to investigate the situation. Another candidate in the race, Gul Khan, expressed solidarity, having faced similar threats.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Home |
October 26, 2024: Protesters gathered outside LA councilmember candidate Ysabel Jurado’s home after she made disparaging comments about the police. The demonstrators demanded an apology from Jurado and accused her of “being bad for public safety.”
Community Leader
| Location: West Bloomfield, MI | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Home |
October 7, 2024: The University of Michigan’s President Santa Ono’s personal home in suburban Detroit was defaced with graffiti, featuring the words “intifada” and “coward” spray-painted on the house and sidewalk. This act of vandalism occurred on the anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, affecting a residence separate from Ono’s official campus housing.
| Location: Cuxtitali, Chiapas, Mexico | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
October 20, 2024: A Mexican priest was shot dead after speaking out against the cartel. The priest was a known advocate for indigenous rights and had condemned the violence surrounding his community. He was killed by two men on a motorcycle who opened fire on his vehicle early on Sunday after conducting mass in the Cuxtitali neighborhood of San Cristobal de Las Casas.