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☆ Justice Department Conducts Planned Search of Biden’s Delaware Beach House
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is searching President Biden’s Rehoboth, Del., beach house on Wednesday, Mr. Biden’s lawyer said, as the investigation into why classified materials ended up at his primary home and former office advances. “Today, with the president’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” the lawyer, Bob Bauer, said.

The Justice Department has been urged by representatives of a U.S. national-security panel to consider economic-espionage charges against leaders of TuSimple Holdings Inc., an American self-driving-truck company with ties to China, according to people familiar with the matter. The recommendation for criminal charges, made late last year, stemmed from concerns that two founders and the current chief executive of the San Diego-based company were improperly transferring technology to a Chinese startup, the people said. The concerns were based on material gathered as part of a national-security review of TuSimple launched earlier last year.

☆ FBI Searched Biden’s Former Think-Tank Office in November
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched President Biden’s former office at a Washington think tank for classified documents in November, people familiar with the matter said, shortly after his aides earlier that month found such material and surrendered it to the National Archives. The search came after Mr. Biden’s lawyers agreed to let agents search his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, where aides on Nov. 2 discovered roughly a dozen documents marked classified. It couldn’t be determined whether investigators found any additional items in the search, which was reported earlier by CBS News.

☆ Justice Department Finds No Classified Documents in Biden’s Beach Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department found no documents with classified markings during a Wednesday search of President Biden’s beach house in Rehoboth, Del., Mr. Biden’s lawyer said, but took some materials and handwritten notes that appeared to relate to his tenure as vice president. The search lasted from 8:30 am to noon, said the lawyer, Bob Bauer.

☆ FBI Disrupts ‘Hive’ Ransomware Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Dustin Volz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities seized the servers of the notorious Hive ransomware group after entering its networks and capturing keys to decrypt its software, the Justice Department said on Thursday, calling its effort a “21st-century cyber stakeout.”The group linked to Hive ransomware is widely seen by authorities and cybersecurity experts as one of the most prolific and dangerous cybercriminal actors in recent years. They have been linked to attacks on more than 1,500 victims including hospitals and schools—and have extorted more than $100 million in ransom payments, the Justice Department said.

☆ U.S. Disrupts ‘Hive’ Ransomware Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Dustin Volz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ U.S. Disrupts ‘Hive’ Ransomware Group, Seizes Its Servers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Dustin Volz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON–U.S. authorities seized the servers of the notorious Hive ransomware group after entering its networks and capturing keys to decrypt its software, the Justice Department said on Thursday, calling its effort a “21st-century stakeout.”(This article will be updated as news develops))

☆ String of Classified Document Discoveries Seen Tarnishing White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Annie Linskey | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Secret Service personnel park vehicles in the driveway leading to President Biden’s house after classified documents were reported found there. WASHINGTON—Democrats expressed concern Sunday that multiple discoveries of classified documents at President Biden’s private home and a former office will overshadow his agenda and open the door to more Republican-led investigations in the House as lawmakers return to Washington. The Justice Department searched Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del., for more than 12 hours Friday, an examination that caused authorities to take possession of additional items with classified markings and some related materials, according to a statement released late Saturday by Mr. Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer.

WASHINGTON—Weeks after adding the National Football League as a client, former prosecutor Robert Hur received a call from Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to serve as the special counsel overseeing the investigation into classified documents found at a home and former office of President Biden. It was a request Mr. Hur told associates he didn’t feel he could refuse, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Hur accepted the appointment clear-eyed about the reputational risks of taking on an investigation into a sitting president, according to people familiar with his considerations, especially as a separate special counsel investigates former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents found at his South Florida residence and private club, Mar-a-Lago.

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter. After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he used at a Washington-based think tank on Nov. 2, the Justice Department opened an inquiry into why and how they got there. Mr. Biden’s legal team prepared to search his other properties for any similar documents, and discussed with the Justice Department the prospect of having FBI agents present while Mr. Biden’s lawyers conducted the additional searches.

WASHINGTON—Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday named Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, as special counsel to examine why classified documents were found at President Biden’s home and office, intensifying scrutiny of Mr. Biden’s actions after he left the vice presidency in 2017. The appointment came after Mr. Biden’s lawyer said aides found classified records, likely dating from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president, at his Wilmington, Del., garage and at an office he used at a Washington-based think tank that bears his name. It heightens political pressure on the White House and sets up the unusual prospect of three concurrent Justice Department special counsels, two of whom are investigating the actions of the president or his chief rival for office. Lawmakers from both parties in Congress have also demanded details on the discovery of the documents.

☆ Ample Jan. 6 Evidence Helps Secure High Conviction Rate in Capitol Riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—In the two years since a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from more than half the rioters they have charged, helping lead to a 99.8% conviction rate. Dustin Thompson tried to beat those odds. The 38-year-old Ohioan pleaded not guilty and took the stand to say he was only answering President Trump’s call that day to supporters to “fight like hell.” Now he is serving a three-year sentence after jurors convicted him on a number of charges, talking to his wife twice a day from a jailhouse iPad.

TikTok is used by more than 100 million Americans, and businesses see it as a way to connect with customers. Security concerns over TikTok have led some Biden administration officials to push for a sale of the Chinese-owned company’s U.S. operations to ensure Beijing can’t harness the app for espionage and political influence, according to people familiar with the situation. The proposal for a forced sale has arisen in discussions by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., an interagency government panel that has been negotiating with TikTok for more than two years on a way to wall off the company’s data and operations from the Chinese government, the people said.

☆ Justice Department Has Sharp Eye on Crypto Sector, Top Official Says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the Justice Department is coordinating cryptocurrency enforcement efforts through a 25-member national team. WASHINGTON—A surge of Justice Department resources into cryptocurrency investigations more than a year ago helped prosecutors quickly charge FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and augurs a spate of aggressive enforcement ahead, according to the department’s second-ranking official. “You should expect more,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal about the agency’s efforts to combat corporate crime. “Those investments are paying off in the prosecutorial firepower you are seeing.”

☆ FBI Warns About Extortion Schemes Targeting Boys
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

More than 7,000 reports of such plots have been made to law enforcement over the past year, the FBI said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a significant uptick in extortion scams aimed at thousands of children and teenagers, prompting an unusual public safety alert Monday warning of the potential for more Americans to be targeted over the holidays. The scheme involves coercing minors into sending explicit photos of themselves online, according to the FBI. Those behind the so-called financial sextortion then threaten to release the images unless the victim sends money or gift cards.

☆ How Republicans are 'playing to the Fox News crowd' with attacks on TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Republicans are escalating their attacks on TikTok. “It’s playing to the Fox News crowd,” a person close to TikTok, who requested anonymity because they were not publicly authorized to speak on the matter, said on Tuesday. The posturing comes at a pivotal moment in the years-long negotiations between TikTok and the US government on a potential deal that aims to address national security concerns and allow the app’s continued use in the US. But, as The WSJ recently reported, the national security talks have hit a snag as pressure mounts on the company. But the type of action being taken by Republicans seems more geared toward playing to their base than anything else.

☆ U.S. Reluctantly Embraces New Era of Hostage Diplomacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | James T. Areddy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This week’s prisoner exchange that freed American basketball star Brittney Griner brings to at least 12 the number of U.S. citizens and residents who have been freed during the Biden administration in confirmed or apparent prisoner trades. That number reflects reflect a striking shift: More Americans in recent years have been detained by foreign governments than have been taken captive by terrorist groups or criminal gangs, according to U.S. authorities and private assessments.

☆ Brittney Griner Deal Is Latest in U.S. Embrace of Prisoner Swaps
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | James T. Areddy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Fabergé or Fauxbergé? The Justice Department Battles Experts Over Seized Russian Egg
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Stu Woo | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When a U.S. Justice Department official said in July the agency might have seized a Fabergé egg on a Russian yacht, the world’s Fabergé experts had one reaction:We’ll believe it when we see it.

WASHINGTON—A potential deal between the Biden administration and TikTok—once expected around year-end—has run into more delays, according to people familiar with the situation, as worry grows over national-security concerns that U.S. officials say the popular app poses. The review has dragged on amid a range of concerns, including how TikTok might share information related to the algorithm it uses to determine what videos to show users, and the level of trust Washington would need to place in the company, these people said. U.S. officials haven’t returned to TikTok with additional demands to address the recent concerns, some of the people said, leaving the path forward unclear.

☆ Jack Smith Brings Broad Resume, Low Political Profile to High-Visibility Post
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—When John L. “Jack” Smith surfaced on Attorney General Merrick Garland ’s radar as a prospect to serve as special counsel overseeing investigations connected to former President Donald Trump, he had several things working in his favor. Mr. Smith had a wide-ranging prosecutorial career on the local, national and international levels, handling a range of complex investigations that involved some of the most serious offenses committed by government officials, including corruption and war crimes.

☆ Jack Smith Named Special Counsel to Lead DOJ Probes of Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a former federal and international war-crimes prosecutor as special counsel on Friday to oversee Justice Department investigations into former President Donald Trump. Jack Smith, who once led the Justice Department unit that investigates public corruption and since 2018 was the chief prosecutor at The Hague investigating war crimes in Kosovo, will be the third special counsel in five years to examine issues involving Mr. Trump.

☆ Donald Trump’s Fate in Justice Department Probes Headed for Special Counsel
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When the National Archives said in early February it had retrieved boxes of government records from Donald Trump’s home the month before, the former president had his lawyers ask for a favor: Get the agency to explicitly say that there had been no raid on his Florida estate, according to people familiar with the matter. The next day, the archives issued another statement saying it had “obtained the cooperation of Trump representatives” and that its officials “did not visit or ‘raid’ the Mar-a-Lago property.”

☆ Credit Suisse Faces Fresh Pressure Over Untaxed Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Margot Patrick | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Credit Suisse said it would cut 9,000 jobs, spin off its investment bank and sell whole business lines. Credit Suisse Group AG pleaded guilty in 2014 to conspiring to help thousands of Americans cheat on their taxes. Eight years later, a set of problematic customer accounts still haunts the bank. U.S. Justice Department officials have found deficiencies in the bank’s handling of its 2014 plea agreement, according to people familiar with the case. In a sign of the seriousness the bank places on the tax case, new general counsel Markus Diethelm attended recent meetings with the DOJ to give personal pledges toward reaching a resolution.

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