US Attorney's Office news stories on Newser

2 Busted in Mass iPad Hack

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:21:17 CST

A pair of ingenious hackers have been arrested for busting into AT&T servers to steal information on 120,000 iPad users , including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Defense Department staffers. Daniel Spitler, 26, of San Francisco, and Andrew Auernheimer, 25,...

Loughner Ordered Held Without Bail

Polly Davis Doig — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:49:53 CST

Jared Loughner got his first appearance in court today, sporting what the Arizona Republic calls a shaved head, "a smirk on his lips and a red strawberry bruise." The US magistrate appointed Judy Clarke—whose clients have included Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski—his defense attorney. Highlights from the...

Blagojevich's Brother Gets Off

Kevin Spak — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:58:09 CDT

Prosecutors have dropped all charges against Robert Blagojevich, brother of Rod Blagojevich. An assistant US attorney said the feds were giving up on Robert, who had been charged with two counts of extortion conspiracy and one count of wire fraud and extortion, because of the “disparity in the roles” between...

Feds Open Criminal Probe Into Goldman Trades

John Johnson — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:46:00 CDT

Goldman's legal troubles are deepening. Federal prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan have opened a criminal probe into the Wall Street giant's mortgage trading, reports the Wall Street Journal . Prosecutors are looking for evidence of securities fraud but haven't decided whether to bring charges. The SEC, which has...

Madoff's Claim He Acted Alone 'Preposterous'

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:19:22 CST

Fraud experts following the Bernard Madoff probe say his claim that he alone executed a Ponzi scheme that fleeced investors out of some $50 billion is “preposterous,” reports Reuters. "The amount of transactions, the number of dollars that are involved in the Ponzi, I just don't see any way he...

Man Tried to Blackmail Giants Coach: Feds

Lev Weinstein — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:03:01 CDT

A Philadelphia man faces federal extortion charges and 2 years in prison after confessing to attempting to blackmail Giants coach Tom Coughlin, the New York Daily News reports. The coach received letters purportedly from two women 2 weeks ago and notified the NFL, which passed along the evidence to the...

IBM Banned from Gov't Contracts

Zach Samalin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:36:00 CDT

A US Attorney in Virginia has temporarily barred IBM from pursuing new government contracts while it investigates three 2006 IBM contracts with the EPA, MarketWatch reports. "The basic issue is whether certain information concerning a contract should have been provided to IBM employees by an EPA employee," said an IBM...

Grand Jury Probes Copperfield

Kevin Spak — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:01:38 CDT

A federal grand jury is considering bringing rape charges against David Copperfield, unidentified law enforcement officials told the Seattle Times . A 21-year-old aspiring model told police that Copperfield, 51, lured her to his private island and raped her, then threatened her to keep quiet. Copperfield's attorney chided law enforcement for...

Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters

Wesley Oliver — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:15:00 CDT

The EPA has taken a decidedly less aggressive tack in criminal cases, the Washington Post reports, a trend advocates fear will embolden polluters. The number of prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions have all dropped by more than a third. One ex-official, who resigned in protest, blamed the Bush administration,...