Tag: US Attorney

Trump’s Personal Lawyer Brags That He Got Preet Bharara Fired

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❝ Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

Kasowitz told Trump, “This guy is going to get you,” according to a person familiar with Kasowitz’s account.

❝ Those who know Kasowitz say he is sometimes prone to exaggerating when regaling them with his exploits. But if true, his assertion adds to the mystery surrounding the motive and timing of Bharara’s firing.

❝ New presidents typically ask U.S. attorneys to resign and have the power to fire them. But Trump asked Bharara to stay in his job when they met in November at Trump Tower, as Bharara announced after the meeting.

In early March, Trump reversed himself. He asked all the remaining U.S. attorneys to resign, including Bharara. Bharara, a telegenic prosecutor with a history of taking on powerful politicians, refused and was fired March 11.

As ProPublica previously reported, at the time of Bharara’s firing the Southern District was conducting an investigation into Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Tom Price…

❝ The Southern District of New York conducts some of the highest profile corporate investigations in the country. According to news reports…the office is…looking into Russian money-laundering allegations at Deutsche Bank, Trump’s principal private lender…

❝ …More than three months after Bharara was fired, Trump has not nominated anyone to fill the Southern District job or most of the other U.S. attorney positions.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone, either.

Pyramid scheme conman didn’t trust banks — $20 million hidden in his mattress

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telexfree-mattress

❝ US authorities have seized $20m in cash discovered in a bed frame under a mattress in a Massachusetts flat…The cash is believed to be linked to a $1bn pyramid scheme involving TelexFree, a company that claimed to provide internet phone services.

Investigators uncovered the cash while following a Brazilian man, who was charged in connection to the haul.

❝ Federal prosecutors say the defunct company swindled almost a million people worldwide out of about $1bn.

The US attorney’s office in Massachusetts tweeted a photo of the windfall of cash, which was found at the flat of Brazilian national Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Mr Rocha was arrested and charged with conspiring to commit money laundering.

A judge…ruled that Mr Rocha was a flight risk and held him without bail…

Crooks always think everyone else is a crook, too. 🙂

Native American teenager confronts a year in prison for possessing one gram of weed

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Maybe the Feds want Chemawa students to live like this – again

❝ An Oregon teenager could be sentenced to a year in prison for possessing about one gram of marijuana in a federal case that has sparked widespread outrage about the ongoing “war on drugs” – even in US states that have fully legalized cannabis.

Devontre Thomas, a Native American 19-year-old, is accused of possessing a small amount of weed – enough for about one joint – and will face a federal trial that advocates say is a waste of resources and a stark reminder that US law enforcement agencies continue to target people of color for low-level pot offenses.

❝ The one-count charge brought by the US attorney’s office – which could also result in a $1,000 fine – is the latest illustration of growing tensions in US laws on marijuana. The drug is sold recreationally in four states but remains outlawed at the federal level.

The government’s decision to file charges against Thomas, which criminal justice experts say is a perplexing move that directly contradicts federal guidelines, has also raised questions about how the US Department of Justice enforces laws on Native American territories…

❝ Thomas’s public defender, Ruben Iñiguez, told the local paper Willamette Week that the charge was for “about a gram” of weed and that the case stemmed from an incident at Chemawa Indian school, a boarding school operated by the federal bureau of Indian education.

Thomas, a member of the Warm Springs tribe, did not actually have weed on him at the school – which is located in Salem, Oregon’s capital – but he may have been involved in a $20 sale of marijuana, Iñiguez told local news station KGW-TV.

It’s unclear how or why US law enforcement officials got involved, but more than a year after the alleged incident, prosecutors pushed forward with a charge that carries a maximum sentence of one year behind bars.

Folks have been told time and again – in the face of a groundswell of legalization and decriminalization – that minor busts like this were over. Folks in states with updated laws would not be affected by out-of-date laws. We have been promised at a minimum the Feds would back off from the travesty of using the so-called War on Drugs to destroy the lives of the young and innocent.

Someone in Washington must have noticed that Native Americans may as well be Black or Hispanic in the eyes of law as practiced in America.

Political family values in New York state — father and son charged in bribery plot

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A Family that preys together…

Within days of taking over as New York Senate majority leader in January, prosecutors say, Dean Skelos was basking in his newfound power, announcing to his son Adam: “I’m going to control everything.”

“I’m going to control who gets on what committees, what legislation goes to the floor, what legislation comes through committees, the budget, everything,” Skelos allegedly said on a phone call with Adam, not knowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation was listening.

Father and son, both of Rockville Centre in New York’s Long Island, were arrested Monday and charged with running a scheme dating back to 2010 in which Skelos, 67, used his position first as a co-leader of the Senate and then as majority leader to obtain more than $200,000 in payments for his 32-year-old son in exchange for favorable treatment in the Legislature.

Real estate developers and an environmental technology company are among those who were expected to pay Adam Skelos, prosecutors said in announcing their case, which was built using phone taps, e-mails and two cooperating witnesses who recorded conversations for federal investigators.

While undeterred by the January arrest of New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges, Skelos, a Republican, and his son did take steps to conceal their actions, using code words and disposable “burner” phones to pursue their plans, prosecutors said in a six-count criminal complaint against the two…

The arrest of Dean Skelos, just months after Silver, a Democrat, was forced to resign his post, promises to further roil the state Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has been outspoken in his criticism of the political culture in Albany, where the leaders of the two legislative chambers exert enormous control over budgets, contracts and regulations.

The lengthy complaint against Skelos describes a lawmaker who threw his support behind projects based “not on what was good for his constituents or good for New York, but rather on what was good for his son’s bank account,” Bharara said at a press conference…

RTFA for all the sleazy details. I know you’re probably not shocked or amazed; but, it’s worthy to express your outrage everywhere you get to speak your mind. Sooner or later, we will succeed in shoving scum out of public office.

Maybe not all of them at any one time; but, we keep on keepin’ on.

Sprint to reimburse $15.5 million to snooping coppers

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The office of U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag announced Thursday that Sprint Communications has agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle allegations that it overcharged law enforcement agencies for carrying out court-ordered wiretaps and other surveillance activities.

Lawyers from Haag’s office sued Sprint in March, alleging that from 2007 to 2010 the telecommunications giant overcharged law enforcement agencies to the tune of $21 million. They were seeking triple-damage compensation and additional civil penalties under the U.S. False Claims Act.

Telecommunications companies are permitted under federal law to bill agencies for “reasonable” expenses incurred in accomplishing a court ordered wiretap.

Under the Communications Assistance in Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), however, telecom companies are required to cover the finance of upgrading their equipment and facilities to ensure that they’re “capable of enabling the government … to intercept and deliver communications and call-identifying information,” according to the U.S. Attorney.

WTF?

Sprint allegedly defrauded federal law enforcement agencies by billing them for those expenses while recovering the otherwise legitimate costs of carrying out court-ordered wiretaps — which was prohibited by a 2006 ruling from the Federal Communications Commission, according to the U.S. Attorney.

So, bad enough our government uses the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, every other war popular with politicians to snoop on us. They require the communications companies they order to snoop – to upgrade their equipment to do the best possible job of snooping.

Sprint tried to sneak the cost into charges for individual snooping jobs – whether court-ordered or “other surveillance activities”. The Feds bagged ’em for it.

Either way, we’re screwed.

U.S. Attorney nails NY State “3 men in a room” culture – with an indictment

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Two of the “3 men in a room” — NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver

One day after charging one of New York’s leading lawmakers with exploiting his office to obtain millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York delivered a stinging condemnation of the culture of corruption in Albany and said the system was set up to breed misdeeds.

The prosecutor, Preet Bharara, speaking at the New York Law School on Friday, castigated how deal-making has long been done in Albany — by “three men in a room” (the governor, the State Assembly speaker and the State Senate majority leader), who work in secret and without accountability to decide most vital issues.

For decades, state government has essentially been controlled by the three leaders. When they emerge from their private meetings, issues are usually settled, with no cause for public debate.

Mr. Bharara said this structure could lead to the kind of corruption outlined in the criminal complaint unveiled on Thursday against Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who has been the Assembly speaker for two decades.

If the charges are proved true, he said, then “at least one of the proverbial three men in a room is compromised.”

If that is the case, he said, “then how can we trust that anything that gets decided in Albany is on the level?”

By concentrating power in the hands of so few, he said, good people are discouraged from running for office because they know they will have little influence on important matters…

…Mr. Bharara compared the culture in Albany to Wall Street, where he has aggressively pursued insider trading prosecutions.

Rather than trying to work for a greater good, he said, many people focused on where the line is between legal and illegal, and then steered as close as possible to that border without crossing over.

Such a mentality, he said, is a recipe for trouble…

…He urged voters to get angry, to demand change. “My hope is that in bringing the case,” he said, “there will be reform.”

“That almost happened with the Moreland Commission,” Mr. Bharara said, referring to the anticorruption panel established by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that was looking at lawmakers’ behavior when the governor shut it down…

And that governor, Andrew Cuomo was one of those “3 men in a room”. Which just may have provided his reason for shutting down the commission investigating New York State corruption.

I doubt he counted on Preet Bharara getting a court order requiring everything from the Moreland Commission to be turned over to the US Attorney — much less carrying the investigation through to the indictment of the man who has been State Assembly speaker for more than 20 years, Sheldon Silver.

14 members of Gambino crime family sentenced in NYC

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Fourteen mobsters from New York’s Italian-American mafia have been sentenced as part of a wide-ranging assault by the authorities on the Cosa Nostra…

The 14 ranged from former Gambino crime family boss, Daniel Marino, to so-called soldiers or thugs carrying out beatings to enforce Gambino extortion activities, the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan said. Nine were sentenced this week and five over recent months.

Illustrating the authorities’ principal strategy against secretive mafia groups in New York, the 14 were handed light sentences after they admitted guilt. Mafia members in plea bargains with prosecutors are often handed reduced punishments in return for cooperation with investigators against former comrades, including testifying against them in court…

US Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The successful prosecutions of Daniel Marino and his cronies dealt a significant blow to the Gambino Family — a family that will stop at nothing to wield power, extract illegal profits, and exact revenge against its enemies.”

“We are far from finished,” Bharara said.

Preet Bharara is becoming my new hero copper. Between flushing mafaioso soldiers [and Capos] down the toilet and doing the same to Wall Street Barons convinced they’re as much above the law as La Cosa Nostra, Bharara is establishing a new legend in New York City of an east coast Untouchable [that’s American slang btw].

Bully online retailer arrested by Feds

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A Brooklyn cyber-merchant who recently drew attention by boasting that he used unusually bad customer service to boost his business was due in federal court in Manhattan Monday, following his arrest for allegedly threatening customers and other violations.

Vitaly Borker was charged with cyber-stalking, the making of interstate threats and both mail and wire fraud.

“Vitaly Borker, an alleged cyber-bully and fraudster, cheated his customers, and when they complained, tried to intimidate them with obscenity and threats of serious violence,” said Manhattan US Attorney Pheet Bharara in a press release. “Especially during this holiday shopping season, today’s arrest should send a message that we will protect online consumers and that victims of people like Borker are not alone.”

In a Nov. 26 article in the New York Times, Borker told a reporter that securing many online reviews, regardless of what they say, is part of his strategy to generate business for his site, DecorMyEyes.com, which sells high-end eyeware…

Google announced last week that it changed the methodology behind how it ranks search results in order to make it harder for unscrupulous merchants to appear prominently in searches…

The complaint spells out details of the offenses, in which Borker’s firm sent customers defective and counterfeit eyeglasses, refused to give refunds and threatened customers physically.

According to the complaint, Borker told one customer, known as Victim 4, “I know where you live” and “I can hurt you,” after the victim threatened to file a complaint against the merchant with the Federal Trade Commission.

I read the article in the Times, last weekend. Didn’t post about it, then, because I felt it wasn’t productive to introduce some other lowlife bastard to the same stunt.

But, Google has repaired the fault – and the Feds will hopefully throw this creep in jail.