Author: rb809rb

Did Trump say of Iran, ‘Let ’em take out’ LA and San Diego?

Claim:

While speaking about the Iran war on Oct. 5, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “They [Iran] can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

Rating:

Context

Trump said these words during an unscripted, tangential portion of a speech he gave at a Nebraska political rally. Many people, including high-level Democratic politicians and pundits, appeared to interpret him as saying the destruction of two large California cities would be a small price to pay for ending the war. White House spokesperson Steven Cheung replied on X that, on the contrary, Trump “was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”

On Oct. 5, a rumor circulated online that, while speaking at a rally, U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego and that it would be a “very small price to pay” amid the war on Iran.

The joint U.S.-Israel military operation has killed thousands of Iranians, beginning with the assassination of Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, on Feb. 28, 2026. According to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 28% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling Iran, as the cost of gas and groceries continued to soar.

“Trump on Iran: Let ’em take out Los Angeles and San Diego, it’s a small price to pay,” one X post showing a video of Trump speaking was captioned (archived). It had more than 15 million views.

The video was authentic, and the quote was correctly attributed to Trump. While speaking about economic sacrifices during the war at a Nebraska rally on Oct. 5, Trump said (at 1:47:01):

I want to see a tremendous victory. You want to see a tremendous victory ’cause it verifies all the things we did. And again, remember, with the war it’s just artificial. It’s a little bit high, it’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay and it’s going to be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with and they might keep going a little long. You know, they always say they have a big threshold for pain — they need it, let me tell you, they need it. But it’s gonna end very soon and it’ll end one way or the other and your gas and your gasoline and all of the things.

California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and the mayors of Los Angeles and San Diego, denounced Trump’s comments.

“After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California,” Newsom posted on X, “Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego. He is deranged and dangerous.”

We sought comment from the White House, which directed us to a statement on X (archived) by spokesperson Steven Cheung. Cheung wrote that Trump was “clearly” stating that “U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.“

It was unclear what Trump was referring to when he made the comment about “a small price to pay” and the White House’s response didn’t provide further context.

For further reading, we’ve verified numerous authentic Trump quotes, including that he said the Iran war was “small potatoes” and that when speaking about Iran negotiations, he said, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”

Sources

Esposito, Joey. ‘Trump on Iran Negotiations: “I Don’t Think about Americans” Financial Situation”. Snopes, 13 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-americans-finances-iran-deal/.

Ferrara, John Ross. ‘Newsom, Bass Respond to Trump’s “Take out Los Angeles” Comments’. KTLA5, 5 Oct. 2026, https://ktla.com/news/local-news/newsom-bass-respond-to-trumps-take-out-los-angeles-comments/.

Gambrell, Jon. ‘Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Who Led the Islamic Republic since 1989, Is Dead at 86’. The Associated Press, 1 Mar. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/iran-supreme-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-dead-5b13b69b708c4ed38e8f95f5fb41a597.

‘Mayor Gloria Criticizes President Trump’s Comment That Iran Could “Take out” San Diego’. Yahoo News, 6 Oct. 2026, https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/mayor-gloria-criticizes-president-trumps-115431970.html.

PerryCook, Taija. ‘Images Show Fragments of U.S.-Made Missile at Bombed Iranian Girls’ School. We Broke down the Evidence’. Snopes, 13 Mar. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/us-missile-fragments-iran-school/.

New item…

Press, The Associated. ‘Most Americans Blame Trump for High Prices as Midterms Approach, a New AP-NORC Poll Finds’. The Associated Press, 1 Oct. 2026, https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/elections/2026/most-americans-blame-trump-for-high-prices-as-midterms-approach-a-new-ap-norc-poll-finds/.

Trump Rally Nebraska 10/05/26 | Rev. https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-rally-in-nebraska-on-10-05-26. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

‘Trump Suggests Letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego at Campaign Rally’. Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-05/trump-suggests-letting-iran-take-out-los-angeles-san-diego-at-campaign-rally.

October 7, 2026
Death row inmate next in line for lethal injection after Christa Pike’s botched attempt

Texas death row inmate Jamaal Howard is set to become the first person to be executed following the botched attempt on Christa Pike.

Howard is set to be executed on 7 October for the 2000 murder of Vickie Swartout during an attempted robbery.

Howard was 20 at the time of the killing and has spent more than two decades on death row.

His legal team has attempted to fight the execution and requested an emergency reprieve from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

His lawyers claim that Howard, 46, has an intellectual disability and a long history of severe mental illness.

Howard’s spiritual advisor Reverend Jeff Hood told 12 News Now that at his trial, psychiatrists who examined Howard found his IQ to be in the 65 to 70 range and described him as functioning at the level of an 11- or 12-year-old.

Jamaal Howard is set to be executed on 7 October (State of Texas 356th Judicial Court)

His legal team have also raised concerns following Pike’s recent execution attempt that went badly wrong.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital at her scheduled execution on 30 September and was rushed to hospital for life-saving treatment.

On Tuesday (6 October), her legal team said she is ‘conscious and speaking’.

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” they said.

“Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

In the wake of the botched execution attempt, the state of Tennessee announced a halt on all scheduled executions.

In court filings made by Howard’s lawyers, they note that he is at risk of receiving the same type of lethal injection as Pike.

The filing states: “Ms. Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital, the same drug used in executions in Texas, and she reportedly remains hospitalised in critical condition.”

Tennessee Department of Corrections

The reprieve request continues: “When an execution goes wrong, one of the first questions anyone asks is whether the drug was what the State said it was. “Tennessee’s own officials cannot yet answer that, and the answer lies in records: when the drug was bought, from whom, how it was stored, and what testing was done and when. Texas should not wait until after a failed execution to ask the same questions.

“We do not know why Ms. Pike’s execution failed, and we, specifically, do not know whether the failure was due to the pentobarbital’s being ineffective.”

In an article for the Texas Observer ahead of the execution, Hood claimed that Howard ‘didn’t understand how executions were carried out’ and that he had not heard of the Pike case.

Hood said he told Howard that in Pike’s case the drugs didn’t work, to which he replied: “I guess if the drugs don’t work, they’ll just shoot me in the head.”

He said that he told Howard that executions didn’t work but claimed he ‘literally had no understanding of the protocol by which he was going to be executed or what would happen if something went wrong’.

October 7, 2026
Eddie Redmayne’s Kore-eda Hirokazu Film Is Still Being Scripted, Director Says at Busan

Eddie Redmayne‘s upcoming collaboration with Kore-eda Hirokazu is still at the screenplay stage, the Japanese filmmaker said Wednesday at a Busan International Film Festival press conference for his manga adaptation “Look Back.”

“Right now, I am writing the script,” Kore-eda said about the Searchlight Pictures film. “I cannot share specific plot details at this stage, but preparations are progressing smoothly. Please look forward to it.”

The director did not disclose a title. He expects to go public formally next year at the earliest and hopes to bring that film to Busan as well.

The festival has kept inviting Kore-eda back since his debut, and the opening ceremony even featured a piece of music named after him. “It is a city and a film festival for which I have exceptionally strong feelings,” he said.

He was joined by “Look Back” cast members Deguchi Natsuki, Makita Aju, Mori Nana and Ishikawa Ruka.

Kore-eda stumbled on the manga in a bookshop rather than through its serial run. “When I read it, I felt a shock like an impact,” he said. “It explored why people write stories, or in my case, why one makes films – that sort of creative impulse, or the heavy burden or karma that artists carry.”

On set, he avoided detailed scene-by-scene instruction and concentrated instead on the hours the four actors spent together and on how the town looked as the light and seasons shifted. “The cast understood that very well, and they appeared in front of the camera as individuals truly living inside that town,” he said.

As soon as the adaptation was confirmed, Kore-eda pushed for 35mm across all four seasons, in line with his longstanding conviction that anything that can be shot on celluloid ought to be. “Because there is no mindset of ‘we can fix it later,’ it creates a healthy tension for the cast and crew,” he said. “When that collective tension gathers, I believe it generates a magnetic field in that shooting location.”

The rotoscoped animation sequence late in the film stems from a single line. After a competition win, Fujino remarks that her dream was to see her manga animated, a comment that temporarily splits the two central characters. Kore-eda said the animation Fujino later makes stands in for a future the pair never got to share.

“Rather than conventional cel animation, rotoscoping sits halfway between live-action and drawn animation,” he said. “Having the characters move within the background art drawn by Kyoko felt like the most suitable form of expression.”

The film opens and closes on shots of Deguchi seen from behind. For the last of these, she said, Kore-eda instructed her, “Show Kyoko through your back.” After a long stretch shooting in Akita with her co-star, Deguchi found herself filming alone. “It felt like she was there, but not there… so with my heart feeling completely empty, I did that shot,” she said.

Makita, who plays Kyoko, is at Busan for the first time. Mori said she had done the Venice red carpet too, though the mood in Korea struck her as different. “There was a huge crowd, so I was nervous, but seeing everyone wave their hands made it so much fun,” she said.

October 7, 2026
Skydance Sets Leadership Across Games, Experiences, Consumer Products and HR
Skydance president Andy Gordon has solidified leadership positions across key areas outside of the companies TV and film divisions, including games and experiences, products and publishing, HR and global operations.

In a memo to staff Tuesday, which was obtained by Variety, Gordon announced the following:

Tony Driscoll will be president of games and experiences, in addition to leading corporate strategy and development

Josh Silverman will be president of global products and publshing

Jim Sterner will remain chief people officer and continue to lead HR operations

Jose Turkienicz will continue as president of global operations, including real estate, procurement, and studio operations, with a “focus on simplifying processes and improving service to our businesses so teams can bring ideas to market faster”

Jeff Silberman will be Gordon’s chief of staff in addition to continuing as executive vice president of corporate strategy

“We’re investing in our future growth engines alongside our core ambitions in TV, Film and direct-to-consumer: Games, Experiences, Consumer Products, and Publishing,” Gordon wrote. “These are core pillars of our strategy to build engagement and fandom in both the physical and digital worlds. We want to meet consumers where they watch, play, and engage. At the same time, we see opportunities to build on DC Comics’ storytelling and expand our e-commerce offerings to connect fans with the brands they love.”

More to come…
October 7, 2026
Megyn Kelly Tells Olivia Rodrigo to ‘Stick to Singing’ After Speaking Out About Cornell 7 Case: ‘You Don’t Know What the F— You’re Talking About’

Following Olivia Rodrigo’s statement in support of the Jane Doe at the center of the Cornell 7 lawsuit on Sunday, Megyn Kelly is firing off at the singer, calling her a “know-nothing moron” who should “sit down and be quiet.”

“Olivia, in sum, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Shut up and stick to singing,” Kelly said on a Monday episode of her YouTube show. “I liked you better when you were in front of a microphone singing your weird little depressing songs.” She continued: “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people suspect you’re an idiot than to open it and prove them right. Ever hear that saying? It applies to you, sweetheart… We don’t need the participation of know-nothing morons who have been auto-tuned into fame and suddenly think they have something profound to say on the culture wars.”

The previous day, Rodrigo had shared a post to her Instagram story writing: “Shame on Cornell and on every institution who protects rapists and abusers over women. I stand with Jane Doe. Her bravery reverberates across the country and the crimes against her will not go unpunished. What she lived through matters, and so does the failure of those who could have intervened but chose not to. She deserves answers, consequences, and lasting change.”

The Cornell 7 lawsuit refers to the legal document filed by an unnamed Cornell University student who accused seven men of raping and drugging her at a frat house party in October 2024 — and faced no legal consequences. Her lawsuit filed against the university claimed that the school failed to protect her and prevent the alleged assault.

Following an investigation by the university at the time, two of the men were expelled, while the other five received lesser punishment. The lawsuit claims that some of them wrote essays to the school to reduce their disciplinary action, according to her attorney.

Florence Pugh, Mariska Hargitay, Hudson Williams, Josh Gad and more celebrities have used their platforms to condemn the case in recent weeks.

October 7, 2026
PETA euthanized 67% of animals it took in during 2024, data shows

Claim:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals euthanized approximately 67% of the animals that it took in during the year 2024.

Rating:

Context

According to data provided by the state of Virginia, where the U.S. branch of PETA is headquartered, the figure is correct. The specific figure, according to Snopes’ own calculation of the data provided, is 66.7%. A spokesperson for PETA said via email that the statistics reflect it being the last shelter in its area to provide “free end-of-life services” for suffering animals, resulting in a high number of referrals from other shelters and vet clinics.

In October 2026, a rumor circulated online that animal welfare nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put down 67% of the animals it took in during the year 2024.

Social media users claimed that PETA euthanized 2,213 out of the 3,317 animals it took in that year.

The assertion appears to have originated from a popular Facebook page called Rack Junkies that focuses on hunting and fishing.

In short, the claim is true, according to data provided by the state of Virginia, where the organization is headquartered.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ database of animal custody record reports for PETA in the year 2024 shows a total of 3,317 companion animals taken in, including 1,374 dogs and 1,885 cats. Of the total number, the data shows 2,709 of the animals were classified as “surrendered by owner.”

Of those 3,317 animals, 2,213 were euthanized, making the percentage of animals euthanized by PETA that year 66.7% (which rounds up to 67%).

Among the companion animals euthanized, 875 were dogs (63.7% of dogs taken in) and 1,299 were cats (68.9% of cats taken in). A separate figure for wildlife taken in throughout 2024 shows that 32 of 38 wild animals were euthanized (84.2%).

According to PETA’s explanatory notes, also available in the report, the organization’s shelter is “the last in the region to still provide free end-of-life services” and that “dozens of Virginians were referred to PETA for end-of-life help” for animals by most of the area’s shelters and veterinary clinics, which the nonprofit says had a “significant impact” on the statistics.

The notes also say the euthanized wildlife animals “were critically injured/dying.”

(Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

A spokesperson for PETA said via email that the organization is appreciative for “the opportunity to respond even though it’s to a social media post that deliberately misrepresents PETA’s work and is written by a man who makes a hobby and career of killing animals, which is what PETA works against every day,” referencing Rack Junkies’ hunting content.

Snopes contacted Stephen Ziegler — whose name is in the biography of the Rack Junkies Facebook account — for a response to the PETA spokesperson’s comments. We will update this article if we receive a reply.

The spokesperson provided several examples of nearby pet owners and their companions who were referred to PETA for euthanasia, calling this “a small fraction” of cases. The spokesperson wrote:

PETA’s services also span 260 localities across Virginia and North Carolina. So naturally, our intake—and by extension our euthanasia figures—will be higher than shelters that serve only their specific locality, because we are assisting exponentially more animals, including those from communities far beyond Norfolk’s borders.

PETA’s spokesperson reiterated the same points seen in the explanatory notes and added, “While other shelters in and around PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, have adopted restrictive ‘no-kill’ policies aimed at keeping animals out of their shelters and often turn away animals, PETA takes in all comers without discrimination, without admission fees, appointments, waiting lists, or other obstacles.”

PETA’s intake policy notes that its “shelter does not have a waiting list or charge a surrender fee, and our staff is available 24/7, including to respond to after-hours emergencies and pick up and transport surrendered animals. We often take in aggressive or feral animals rejected by other shelters as unadoptable.”

The policy further states that some of the “dangerous” canines who were euthanized had been previously adopted out by other shelters that later declined to take them back “when families attempted to return them due to aggression” and that “more than 100 behaviorally unsound, ailing, and even actively dying animals were referred to PETA by area shelters and veterinary clinics.”

In 2012, PETA was the subject of an expose from news magazine The Atlantic, titled, “PETA’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad History of Killing Animals.” That article says that in 2011, the nonprofit’s adoption rate was only “2.5 percent for dogs and 0.4 for cats.”

A spokesperson for PETA reportedly told the outlet that “euthanasia is a product of love for animals who have no one to love them” and that animals sometimes “need the comfort of being put out of their misery.”

Snopes has previously unpacked similar claims against PETA, including its founder’s previous comments on animal euthanasia and reports of PETA workers stealing family pets and euthanizing them.

October 6, 2026
Did Trump say he has an IQ of 1,775?

Claim:

Video from a political rally authentically shows U.S. President Donald Trump saying he has an IQ of 1,775.

Rating:

Context

The clip as presented in some social media posts lacked context that made it clear Trump was not referring to his IQ when he mentioned the number 1,775 during a campaign rally speech. Rather, he was speaking about the “warrior dividend” his administration promised U.S. service members.

In early October, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump said his IQ was 1,775.

IQ, or intelligence quotient, is a measure of a person’s relative intelligence. There are many different tests for IQ that usually assign the taker a number score. An IQ score of 1,775 would be remarkable, given that the Guinness World Records holder for highest IQ held a score of 228 before Guinness retired the record in 1990.

One Facebook user who shared the claim included a clip of Trump saying:

I’m a high-IQ person, unlike some other people I can tell you about. Very, the, among the highest IQs anywhere in the world, 1,775. And I said, you know, if we can scrap up $1 more we’ll be at 1,776, and that’s what we did.

The Facebook user captioned the video “Trump thinks his IQ is 1775.”

The clip of Trump speaking and his purported claim about his intelligence also circulated on X (archived) and Instagram (archived). Snopes readers contacted us, asking whether Trump really claimed his IQ was 1,775.

Trump did not claim to have an IQ of 1,775. Social media users appeared to misrepresent a portion of the president’s campaign rally appearance in Vandalia, Ohio, on Oct. 3, where he talked about the $1,776 “warrior dividend” his administration promised U.S. service members in December 2025.

The clip was authentic, meaning not generated with artificially intelligence or otherwise edited; Trump did say he had a “very high” IQ and that it was “among the highest IQ’s anywhere in the world,” immediately followed by saying “1,775.” However, the number referred to the amount federal officials initially suggested for the warrior dividend, not Trump’s IQ. This was clear when watching that section of Trump’s speech in full.

Therefore, we find social media users miscaptioned authentic footage.

Speaking in Vandalia on Oct. 3, Trump said (at 2:17:38, emphasis ours, archived)

And remember just recently, I, just to give you an example, just recently, I gave all members of the military $1,776. And everyone said that couldn’t be done and I did it. And you know, Bernie, that, when they put the number I said, “What would be the right amount? What would be something we can afford for our great military?” They came back with 1,775 and they put it on my desk. “Sir, we can do 1,7—” Can you believe this? “We can do 1,775.” they said. I said, “Wow.” Nobody saw it but me, I’m very proud of this, very intelligent. I’m a high-IQ person, unlike some other people I can tell you about. Very, the, among the highest IQ’s anywhere in the world, 1,775. And I said, you know, if we can scrap up $1 more we’ll be at 1,776, and that’s what we did, 1,776.

Considering the full context of Trump’s speech, it was obvious he was not referring to his IQ when he said the number 1,775.

Though Trump often calls himself a “high-IQ individual” (in fact, he did so while telling the same story at a rally on Sept. 16) his actual IQ is unconfirmed. Snopes has previously debunked rumors that he scored 73 on an IQ test during his time at the New York Military Academy as well as an article claiming the president’s IQ was 156.

October 6, 2026
Police who pepper sprayed and tasered now deceased amputee, 92, sacked for ‘excessive force’

Two police officers who used a Taser, baton and synthetic pepper spray on a 92-year-old amputee have been sacked.

PCs Stephen Smith and Rachel Comotto responded to a call at a care home in St Leonards, East Sussex, on June 21 2022, following a report of resident Donald Burgess holding a knife and threatening to stab staff.

Police bodycam footage showed the two officers entering a room where Donald, who was in a wheelchair due to having an amputated leg, had been isolated.

The 92-year-old was holding a cutlery knife as the PCs approached him.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said that within a minute-and-a-half of them entering the room, both officers used force on Donald.

PC Smith was seen using Pava spray in the elderly man’s face and struck the arm holding the knife with a baton.

PC Stephen Smith and his colleague PC Rachel Comotto have been fired (Lucy North/PA Wire)

PC Comotto then used a Taser on Donald.

In a ruling on Tuesday (6 October), the IOPC said both officers used ‘excessive force’ on Donald.

Following the incident, PC Comotto was also found to have shared an inappropriate comment about it on Facebook.

The misconduct hearing was told PC Comotto received a Facebook comment that read: “Happy birthday, the care home is getting closer and closer” with wink and laugh emojis.

To which she replied: “We all know what happens in care homes,” adding with a lightning bolt emoji.

On PC Comotto accepted writing the comment on the day of the incident.

After the two officers used inappropriate force against him, Donald was taken to hospital and later contracted Covid-19.

He died 22 days later, aged 93.

Sussex Police said the evidence did not indicate the officers’ actions caused or contributed to the death.

PC Rachel Comotto also admitted to making an inappropriate comment on Facebook (Lucy North/PA Wire)

PC Smith and PC Comotto were cleared of assault after a Southwark Crown Court trial in May 2025, but were dismissed without notice on Tuesday, the IOPC said.

They will also be put on the College of Policing’s barred list, banning them from working in policing.

IOPC director of engagement Emily Barry said: “We know that footage of this incident showing the force used by the officers on Mr Burgess has caused widespread concern and anger.

“This was not a fast-paced incident where the officers or other care home residents were in immediate danger.

“Mr Burgess, who was wheelchair-bound and holding a cutlery knife, was isolated from other residents and clearly posed little risk to the officers.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said the pair used ‘excessive force’ (IOPC/PA Wire)

“Any use of force should have been a last resort and only used when necessary.

“Rather than de-escalating the situation they immediately threatened Mr Burgess with force and then discharged Pava spray, struck him with a baton and tasered him when he didn’t drop the knife.

“Their actions were clearly excessive and unreasonable, and PC Comotto then displayed further poor judgment by joking about tasering Mr Burgess on social media afterwards.

“Their actions have damaged the public’s trust and confidence in policing and they have been held accountable and dismissed from policing.”

Donald’s family said they welcomed the decision, but their solicitor has asked for the inquest into his death to be resumed, saying there are unanswered questions about the force used by the officers and the actions of the care home.

“We remain concerned that opportunities to de-escalate the situation were missed, including the fact that family members who lived nearby were not contacted by the staff at Park Beck nursing home before the police were called,” the family said.

“Donald was a much-loved family man. We want him to be remembered for the life he lived, not simply for the events that brought us to this point.”

October 6, 2026
Flash Loan Attacks Drained $1.2B From DeFi Between 2020 and 2024: Study
In brief

Flash loan attacks caused $1.211 billion in losses across 72 incidents between February 2020 and July 2024, according to a study in the Journal of Financial Crime.

That was 18.44% of the $6.568 billion lost to all DeFi attacks in the period, with more than 80% of flash loan losses on Ethereum.

Attacks exploiting flaws in protocol logic were rarer but costlier, and grew in significance as platforms patched exploited weaknesses and attackers moved on.
Flash loan attacks drained $1.211 billion from decentralized finance platforms between February 2020 and July 2024, according to newly published research in the Journal of Financial Crime.

The study, by Professor Tim Hall of the University of Winchester and Remo Stieger, a former partner at Swiss risk intelligence firm SyntiFi, identified 72 flash loan attacks among 254 successful attacks on DeFi over the period. Those 254 attacks caused $6.568 billion in losses, 18.44% of which came from flash loan attacks.

Hall said in a statement that “we now are seeing crimes that we have never seen before,” some “capable of stealing mind-boggling sums of money, often in the tens of millions of dollars.”

Flash loans let users borrow assets from a liquidity pool without collateral, provided the loan is repaid within the same blockchain transaction. Attackers use them to access the large sums needed to execute an exploit.

More than 80% of flash loan attack losses occurred on Ethereum, the study found. Individual attacks ranged from $80,000 to $197 million, and those that stole $10 million or more accounted for over 88% of losses.

The researchers identified 14 types of flash loan attack, falling into two broad groups: those that manipulate price feeds, and those that exploit flaws in a protocol’s underlying logic. Logic exploits were less frequent but caused higher average losses.

Logic exploits accounted for 28% of flash loan attack losses between February 2020 and January 2022, and 55% from February 2022 to July 2024, according to the paper.

Four attack types accounted for more than 81% of losses: price oracle attacks, donate function logic exploits, reentrancy attacks and a single governance attack, which cost $181 million.

Flash loan attackers

Attack activity moved through phases of growth and consolidation, which the authors write suggests platforms improved their security after attacks while attackers found new vulnerabilities.

The study drew on an interview with one platform that suffered a major flash loan attack, granted anonymity at its request. The bug exploited had passed “ourselves and several of the auditors,” the platform’s representative said, and went unnoticed on-chain for more than a year.

Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction.

The attacker began “taunting” the platform on social media afterward, Hall said, which “led to some victims engaging with the attacker and outlining the devastating impacts that the loss of this money had on them.”

The representative divided attackers into “hobbyist individual researchers” and professional state-level or organized crime groups, citing North Korea. From a blockchain security perspective, the professionals’ attacks “are not at all advanced,” the representative said.

The representative also described the toll on teams that suffer attacks, saying that “most often it ends up fracturing them and destroying them,” even when funds are recovered.

Losses exceeded 0.5% of the value borrowed through flash loans in only one six-month period, and flash loan use kept growing, the paper found.

The authors characterize the attacks as significant, increasingly sophisticated and unpredictable “but not existential” threats to DeFi.

Since the study period ended, decentralized exchange Bunni shut down in October 2025 after an $8.4 million exploit that used flash loans, saying it could not afford the cost of a secure relaunch.

“We are keen that this isn’t seen just as a piece of academic research,” Hall said. “The analysis we did has a host of applications for the cryptocurrency industry, for regulators and for legal and law enforcement agencies.

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October 6, 2026
Christa Pike ‘conscious and speaking’ after botched execution according to her lawyers

Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after surviving an execution attempt, her lawyers have said.

In a new statement, her legal team said: “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care.

“Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

Her lawyers said they are grateful for the first responders and the medical team at the hospital ‘who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her’.

They added: “We also want to thank thousands from all over the world who sent messages offering prayers and support for Christa.”

Christa Pike survived a botched execution attempt last week (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

The statement was the first indication that Pike has improved since an ambulance took her from a Nashville prison last Wednesday.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital as Tennessee officials attempted to put her to death.

Pike, 50, was set to become the first woman put to death in the state of Tennessee for around 200 years for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

Her execution was scheduled for 30 September and, as planned, Pike was taken into the death chamber and shared what she thought would be her final words.

However, witnesses said it soon became clear that something had gone wrong.

Members of the press who were witness to the execution attempt said that shortly after the first dose was administered, Pike said: “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”

She then appeared to sense something has gone wrong, and asked: “Does this happen like that?”

Her lawyers later confirmed that Pike had been rushed into hospital where she was receiving ‘life-saving’ care.

In a statement after the execution attempt, the Tennessee Department of Correction said it had followed ‘every step’ of the standard protocol.

“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the statement said.

Christa Pike is still alive, having survived her lethal injection (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”

In an update earlier this week, her legal team said she was on life-support and were unsure if she would recover.

Her lawyer Stephen Ferrel told CNN of her current status: “She is guarded. I’m not sure who may have seen her.

“I know I have not seen her. The state of Tennessee has not yet said whether it will ultimately try to execute her again.”

The incident prompted the state of Tennessee to announce it was halting all executions until an investigation could be carried out.

It also led to the resignation of Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.

Strada will leave his role this month after being the residing commissioner of Tennessee’s Department of Correction for the past three years, and also in the role when the May execution of Tony Carruthers, was called off due to problems finding a vein for his lethal injection.

Why was Christa Pike given the death penalty?

Pike was sent to death row for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer (Find a Grave)

On 12 January 1995, an 18-year-old Pike, her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a secluded woodland in Knoxville.

According to court documents, Pike and Shipp then brutally attacked Slemmer, while Peterson kept watch.

The beating lasted around 30 minutes, and saw them carve a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest, before Pike then killed the 19-year-old by delivering a fatal blow to the head, court documents claimed.

During her incarceration, Pike’s legal team argued that she should not have been given the death penalty due to her age when committing the crime and her troubled background.

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said she was abused as a child and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

In her clemency petition, Pike wrote: “I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realise the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime.”

October 6, 2026