FBI

Feb. 25, 2009 -- NEW YORK - Lev L. Dassin, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Division, announced today that Paul Greenwood, 61, of North Salem, N.Y., and Stephen Walsh, 64, of Sands Point, N.Y., were arrested this morning on conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges.    » read more »

Defendant Also Agrees to Plead Guilty to Beating D.C. Prison Guard Unconscious

February 26, 2009 --
WASHINGTON – An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen today pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to murder Americans overseas, including by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, and by demonstrating on video how these explosives would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants.    » read more »

Department Receives additional Funding for National Security, Combating Financial Fraud, Hiring More Police Officers, Civil Rights Division, Prison Operations

February 26, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The President released the Administration’s FY 2010 top-line budget proposal today which includes $26.5 billion for the Department of Justice (DOJ), a 3.5 percent increase more than the FY 2009 budget. The Department’s budget includes enhanced funding for: national security and intelligence; combating financial fraud; hiring additional police officers; civil rights enforcement; securing our nation’s borders; and for federal detention and incarceration programs.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today took emergency action and obtained an asset freeze against two New York residents and their three affiliated entities, who orchestrated a brazen investment fraud involving the misappropriation of as much as $554 million in investor assets.    » read more »

“Operation Xcellerator” Takes 23 Tons of Narcotics off America’s Streets and Seizes More Than $59 Million in Drug Money

February 25, 2009 -- WASHINGTON —Today, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. announced the arrest of more than 750 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 23 tons of narcotics as part of a 21-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Operation Xcellerator.” The Attorney General was joined in announcing the current results of Operation Xcellerator by DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.    » read more »

February 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – A former employee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has been indicted on corruption and tax violations arising from her alleged receipt of a $100,000 bribe while working at the Ex-Im Bank, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.    » read more »

February 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Gary Moss and Devan Klausegger of Medford, Ore., pleaded guilty today to conspiring to interfere with civil rights, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Karin J. Immergut for the District of Oregon.    » read more »

February 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice in federal court in Houston, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin and Andrew R. Bland III, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Houston office announced.

Kent, 59, a district judge in the Southern District of Texas, pleaded guilty to making false statements to a special investigative committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during an investigation of a judicial misconduct complaint filed against him. Kent’s guilty plea was accepted by the Hon. Roger Vinson, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida, who was sitting by designation in the Southern District of Texas.    » read more »

Pharmaceutical Companies Allegedly Marketed the Drug Natrecor for a Use Not Approved by the Food and Drug Administration

February 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The United States has intervened in two whistleblower suits filed in the Northern District of California against the drug manufacturer Scios Inc. and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson Inc., alleging that the companies marketed the cardiac drug Natrecor for a use not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and caused false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to the federal health care programs, the Justice Department announced today. Such an unapproved use is also known as an "off-label" use because it is not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label.    » read more »

February 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The government filed a lawsuit today in Miami against Swiss bank UBS AG, the Justice Department announced. The lawsuit asks the court to order the international bank to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the identities of the bank’s U.S. customers with secret Swiss accounts. According to the lawsuit, as many as 52,000 U.S. customers hid their UBS accounts from the government in violation of the tax laws.    » read more »

February 19, 2009 -- (Washington, DC) - President Barack Obama should appoint a nonpartisan commission to investigate and examine detention, treatment, and transfer of detainees following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Human Rights Watch and 17 other leading rights organizations said today.

The statement was also endorsed by several prominent religious, political, and military officials, including former FBI Director William Sessions, former UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering, and Maj.-Gen. Antonio Taguba, who investigated detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settlements with KBR, Inc. and Halliburton Co. to resolve SEC charges that KBR subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root LLC bribed Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), in order to obtain construction contracts. The SEC also charged that KBR and Halliburton, KBR's former parent company, engaged in books and records violations and internal controls violations related to the bribery.    » read more »

Enforcement Actions by DOJ and SEC Result in Penalties of $579 Million for KBR’s Participation in a Scheme to Bribe Nigerian Government Officials to Obtain Contracts

February 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Kellogg Brown & Root LLC (KBR), a global engineering, construction and services company based in Houston, pleaded guilty today to charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.    » read more »

February 4, 2009 - Washington D.C. -- The FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) continue to receive numerous complaints from individuals who have fallen victim to work-at-home scams and remind consumers to be vigilant when seeking employment online.

These work-at-home schemes are designed by criminals to gain the trust of job seekers in order to take advantage of working relationships to further illegal activity. Most victims do not even realize they are engaging in criminal behavior until it is too late.    » read more »

February 2, 2009 -- According to the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment released by the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), approximately one million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active in the U.S. as of September 2008. The assessment was developed through analysis of available federal, state, and local law enforcement information; 2008 NDIC National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data; and verified open source information.    » read more »