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☆ 2 Chinese agents tried to bribe an undercover FBI agent with $61,000 in Bitcoin in an attempt to steal classified information: DOJ
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Federal prosecutors say two Chinese agents tried to bribe a government worker to steal information. The duo wanted to obtain secrets about an investigation into a Chinese telecommunications firm. The person they tried to bribe was an undercover FBI agent. He Guochun and Wang Zheng offered an unnamed government employee $61,000 in Bitcoin for secret information regarding the prosecution of a big Chinese telecommunications firm, prosecutors said. He is also charged with two counts of money laundering because of the $61,000 bribe, the complaint said.

☆ Fake billionaire, Harvard MBA grad Justin Costello denied bail after judge calls him 'economic danger' to public
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"The weight of the evidence is strong," Butcher wrote in his detention order in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Source: FBIButcher wrote that the evidence itself is the least important factor in his decision to keep Costello in jail. Costello, who has ties to Washington, Las Vegas and California, is due in San Diego court later Tuesday for another hearing related to his expected transfer to Washington state to face trial. But he never showed up as agreed at the FBI's office in San Diego, and went on the lam. Cash and gold bars as detailed in court filing in US District court in San Diego in case of former fugitive Justin Costello.

☆ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suffers large financial loss one year after buying stock in a company that's trying to merge with Trump's 'Truth Social' platform
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One year ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene invested between $15,001 and $50,000 in a SPAC that wants to merge with Trump's "Truth Social" platform. It's been a tumultuous year for Truth Social and Digital World Acquisition Corp. since Greene and Bucshon invested. Trump — still banned from Twitter — uses Truth Social to post statements and screeds, and Google this month added the Truth Social app to its Google Play Store. But Truth Social usage is underwhelming, even after an uptick in downloads following the FBI's raid in August on Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. An Insider analysis previously found Perry Greene invested hundreds of thousands into corporations that openly champion social causes Marjorie Taylor Greene opposes.

☆ Suspicious packages, white powdery substances, and a 'swatting': Inside the threats federal judges are facing across the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The US Marshals Service has been responding to a remarkable rise in threats against federal judges. At least three times this year, the federal court in Washington, DC, received suspicious packages. Arriving just months apart, the packages sent to DC's federal courthouse served as reminders of threats judges are increasingly facing across the country. Lawmakers have blamed Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, for blocking legislation to help protect federal judges. Greg Nash/AP ImagesCongressional solutionsCongress has approved additional funding for bolstering the security of federal judges.

☆ A New York lawyer who once filed 9/11 conspiracy theory lawsuit is charged with assaulting police at Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A New York attorney was arrested this week on several January 6 charges. Prosecutors used facial recognition technology to identify John O'Kelly in photos from the siege. In 2019, O'Kelly filed a lawsuit on behalf of the group against the Justice Department in an effort to present the organization's conspiracy theory to a grand jury. Online sleuths had come to know the yet-identified O'Kelly as "MidWhiteCrisis," according to NBC, due to his inclusion on the FBI's Capitol Violence page. More than 900 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack and more than 400 have pleaded guilty thus far.

☆ DOJ says it needs more money for the Jan. 6 probe. The next spending bill may be its last chance.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Sahil-Kapur-Headshot.Jpg | Sahil Kapur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says it is in critical need of more money to bring the Jan. 6 rioters to justice. The Justice Department has told Congress that more than $34 million in funding is "critically needed" to fund the investigation. “The cases are unprecedented in scale and is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” the Justice Department wrote to the legislative branch. Before they broke for recess, lawmakers involved in the talks told NBC News that the fate of the Justice request was still unsettled. I don’t have any problem giving the Justice Department the resources it needs to do that,” he said.

☆ U.S. charges 7 in alleged plot to repatriate U.S. resident to China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States unsealed criminal charges on Thursday against seven Chinese nationals accused of waging a surveillance and harassment campaign against a U.S. resident and his family, in a bid by the Chinese government to repatriate one of them back to China. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe lead defendant, Quanzhong An, and his daughter were arrested on Thursday morning. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with China. The man and his son are identified only as "John Doe-1 and John Doe-2." As part of the plot, the defendants allegedly coerced a relative of the family to travel from China to the United States in a bid to convince John Doe-1 to return to the country.

☆ Former FBI official says the FBI is facing a 'crisis of credibility' over questions of how much its senior officials knew leading up to the Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi says the FBI is facing a "crisis of credibility." Figliuzzi said the agency was not being transparent about what it knew about the Capitol riot. During an appearance on MSNBC's "Deadline" on Monday, Figliuzzi said the FBI's most senior leaders are not grasping the "gravity" of the situation. Information is now trickling out about what the FBI's officials knew leading up to the riot, he added. Figliuzzi also referenced FBI Director Christopher Wray's testimony to Congress in June 2021.

☆ A Trump aide seen moving boxes around Mar-a-Lago before the FBI raid is a former White House staffer, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reports identified a Trump aide who was seen moving boxes around Mar-a-Lago before the FBI raid. The footage helped to prompt the FBI's August 8 Mar-a-Lago raid. Nauta was a Navy veteran who worked as a culinary employee at the White House from White House from 2012 to 2021, CBS News reported. The Post reported that Nauta was also a White House valet, and that he moved to work as a personal aide to Trump at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office. The Times said that Nauta is a former military aide who worked at the White House, and then left to work for Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A Russian researcher who contributed explosive details to the "Steele dossier" that alleged ties between former President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia was acquitted on Tuesday on charges he lied to the FBI about the sources of his intelligence. "While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service," Durham said in a statement. The decision marks the second defeat for Durham and his team of prosecutors. Earlier this year, a jury in Washington, D.C., acquitted Michael Sussmann, an attorney for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, of charges he lied to the FBI when he passed along a later discredited tip about possible communications between Trump's business and a Russian bank. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Tim AhmannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal appeals court to vacate an order appointing a special master to review documents seized during the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Florida estate — and to throw out Trump's legal challenge altogether. The 11th Circuit also blocked the special master and Trump's lawyers from being able to review those classified documents, citing the DOJ's national security concerns. The Justice Department also said that Trump's team has not provided any evidence the documents were wrongly seized or that the former president has any need for their return. Trump's team is scheduled to file its response in the case on Nov. 10. Trump's team had sought to allow the special master, federal Judge Raymond Dearie, to review the more than 100 documents taken from Mar-a-Lago that were marked classified.

☆ Gay couple beaten and bloodied outside of Connecticut gay bar
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Matt Lavietes | Matt Lavietes Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A gay couple was beaten and bloodied in front of the Connecticut gay bar they own. Fitzpatrick said the assault amounted to a hate crime and that the incident is "being mishandled" by the Norwalk Police Department. The man then made disparaging remarks about the bar and the people inside it using anti-LGBTQ slurs, Fitzpatrick recounted. Fitzpatrick and Ruiz did not respond to NBC News' multiple requests for comment on Wednesday. The Norwalk incident is the latest in a slew of violent threats and attacks against LGBTQ people throughout the country this year.

☆ Anna Sorokin, of 'Inventing Anna' fame, goes out and about for the first time since release from jail
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Anna Sorokin was released from ICE custody Friday and went out for the first time Wednesday to see her parole officer. Although she is under house arrest and banned from social media, Sorokin says 'wait and see' what's next for her. Sorokin's exploits prompted a Netflix series, "Inventing Anna," released in February 2022. She was taken to the FBI's lower Manhattan headquarters to complete paperwork before arriving at a residential building in the East Village, the New York Post reports. Sorokin gained infamy thanks to a 2018 New York Magazine piece detailing her crimes, which was followed by a 2022 Netflix series titled "Inventing Anna."

☆ Fake billionaire fugitive Justin Costello had gold bars, $60K in cash, Mexican pesos and phony ID when FBI nabbed him
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

An FBI SWAT team caught the fugitive, Justin Costello, in a remote area near San Diego on Oct. 4. He was carrying a backpack loaded with six one-ounce gold bars worth $12,000, U.S. currency worth $60,000, another $10,000 in Mexican pesos and banking cards and checkbooks, prosecutors said in a court filing. Cash and gold bars as detailed in court filing in US District court in San Diego in case of former fugitive Justin Costello. Instead, he "became a fugitive," prosecutors wrote. When agents arrested him, Costello "stated he was surprised agents had found him because he turned his phone off."

☆ Over 40 FBI agents involved in search for Quinton Simon, missing Georgia toddler
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Mirna Alsharif | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

More than 40 FBI agents and personnel are on the ground in Georgia assisting in the search for 20-month-old Quinton Simon, who has been missing since last week, according to police. The toddler was reported missing Wednesday morning from his home in an unincorporated part of Chatham County near Savannah. The Chatham County Police Department requested the FBI's help the day the toddler was reported missing, Chief Jeffrey Hadley said at a news conference on Monday. "We understand that people far beyond Chatham County have become emotionally invested in this incident and the search for Quinton and they want answers. Members of the FBI assist the Chatham County Police Department in the search for toddler Quinton Simon in Georgia, on Monday.

☆ Michael Cohen says the DOJ should look into whether Trump is keeping photocopies of classified documents
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Michael Cohen is urging the DOJ to investigate if Trump kept photocopies of top-secret files. Cohen accused Trump of using "Art of the Deal" tactics to trade these files for other documents. Cohen also wondered aloud why Trump — after being president for four years — didn't attempt to get the documents while he was in office. During its search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, the FBI seized classified documents, including some marked "top secret." The DOJ is investigating whether Trump broke three federal laws — including the Espionage Act — by keeping the files at his Florida residence.

☆ Trump gave conflicting defenses about the Mar-a-Lago raid, claiming both that all the documents are 'mine,' and that some were planted
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former President Donald Trump addressed the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid at an Arizona rally. Trump has baselessly sought to portray the raid as part of a plot against him. Scores of government records were recovered in the Mar-a-Lago raid, and Trump at the rally gave offered no argument for why they should be returned. Trump's lawyers have offered no evidence to back his claim that evidence was planted in the raid. Trump was campaigning Sunday for Blake Masters and Kari Lake, Republican candidates he's endorsed in Arizona's senate and governor races.

☆ Republican challenger in Nevada Senate race refuses to back FBI, calls it 'far too political'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Natasha Korecki | Natasha Korecki Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

But after the event, Laxalt, a Republican who was once Nevada's top law enforcement official, refused to support the FBI. "We just can't afford to have our top law enforcement agency that politicized." Laxalt made his most recent remarks after a campaign event with Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who was the U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration. Both Haley and Laxalt lobbed attacks on Cortez Masto and highlighted law enforcement endorsements of Laxalt, who said "95% of police in this state are supporting me." More than 850 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and over 350 have pleaded guilty.

☆ The DOJ is pushing back against Trump's claim the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago, as he comes under pressure to provide evidence
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The DOJ pushed back against Donald Trump's claim the FBI planted evidence. Neither Trump nor his attorneys have backed his planting claim with evidence. Trump, his allies, and some of his attorneys have for weeks in media interviews been pushing the conspiracy theory that evidence was planted at Mar-a-Lago. They have also not presented evidence for his claim that he declassified swaths of top secret documents retrieved by the FBI in the search. Trump's lawyers went to court to get the appointment of a special master in the case, which delayed the FBI's probe.

☆ Michael Cohen says Trump's downfall will resemble Al Capone's: 'You're not going to get them on murder, extortion, or racketeering. You're gonna get them on tax evasion.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Michael Cohen said he thinks Trump will get indicted on tax charges. Speaking to MSNBC, Cohen predicted Trump would face the "Al Capone effect." Capone, a notorious gangster, was indicted in 1931 on tax evasion charges. "Like the Al Capone effect, you're not going to get him on murder, extortion, racketeering. During his MSNBC appearance, Cohen commented on Trump's legal troubles and predicted that the former president would use a "playbook" — which Cohen helped create — in response to them.

☆ A judge rebuked Republicans over warnings of violence if an investigation into Trump 'doesn't go his way'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A federal judge said patriotism is not standing up for a man "who knows full well that he lost." Judge Amy Berman Jackson noted the recent increase in threats to law enforcement officials. Her comments came as she sentenced a Capitol rioter to more than seven years in prison. For one federal judge, that rhetoric merited a message of deterrence on Tuesday. At the sentencing of a Capitol rioter, Judge Amy Berman Jackson rebuked Republican leaders for "cagily predicting or even outright calling for violence in the streets if one of the multiple investigations doesn't go his way."

☆ Lawsuit filed after FBI agents raided 1,400 deposit boxes at a US Private Vaults branch claims owners' items have still not been returned
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The agency raided US Private Vaults and seized the contents of 1,400 safety deposit boxes. A lawyer involved in the class-action said the FBI raid was the "largest armed robbery in US history." The FBI requested and obtained warrants to seize US Private Vaults' business property. US Private Vaults has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money, and the investigation was continuing, Eimiller added. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit have asked for the FBI raid to be deemed unconstitutional by a district judge, the LA Times reported.

☆ Special master in the Mar-a-Lago case is testing Trump's lawyers to see if they will lie in court, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The special master in the Mar-a-Lago case has asked Trump's lawyers to back up some of his claims. CNN's legal analyst saw this as a test of whether they were prepared to lie for him in court. Trump's lawyers have argued that defending his declassification claims at this stage could damage their defense in a potential trial, drawing an unimpressed response from Dearie. Trump's legal team spent weeks persuading federal court judge Aileen Cannon to appoint a special master to review the documents, a move that stalled the FBI's investigation and which the Department of Justice opposed. The special master has until November 30 to complete the review of the documents, and will hand back to Trump any that are shielded under executive privilege rules.

☆ The special master Trump requested is calling for extra help to review the seized Mar-a-Lago documents — and will be billing Trump $500 an hour for it
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Judge Raymond Dearie is calling for help to get through the documents the FBI seized. He nominated a retired judge, James Orenstein, to aid him — at the cost of $500 per hour. This bill will be footed by Trump, who has been asked to pay for the special master he requested. During its raid on Mar-a-Lago, the FBI seized batches of classified documents, including some marked "top secret." In the filing, Dearie asked that Orenstein, who is retired, be "compensated at the hourly rate of $500."

☆ Spurred by USA Gymnastics scandal, senators roll out bill to reform the FBI's handling of child abuse victims
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Sarah Fitzpatrick | Sarah Fitzpatrick Is A Supervising Investigative Producer For Nbc News. She Previously Worked For Cbs News | Minutes. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A bipartisan group of senators is introducing new legislation Thursday aimed at improving the way the FBI interacts with underage victims and witnesses in sex abuse and trafficking cases. The Respect for Child Survivors Act is the latest effort by Congress to address the FBI’s failures in its handling of the Larry Nassar investigation. The former USA Gymnastics doctor is serving decades in prison for abusing underage athletes over several years. "They had legal, legitimate evidence of child abuse and did nothing," McKayla said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2021. It was written with input from child welfare groups, including the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, the National District Attorneys Association, Army of Survivors and the National Children’s Alliance.

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