Justice Department

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Oil Rig Owner to Pay $1.4B Over Gulf Spill

Transocean settles with US over Deepwater Horizon disaster

(Newser) - The Justice Department reached a $1.4 billion settlement today with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed settlement resolves the department's civil and criminal probes...

Judge's Reluctant Ruling: Awlaki Memo to Stay Secret

Classified document outlined the legal justification for targeted killing

(Newser) - The Justice Department can keep secret the classified memo that gave the legal go-ahead to kill US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, ruled a federal judge yesterday—with reluctance. The New York Times , which itself filed the lawsuit seeking access to the memo under the Freedom of Information Act, shares portions of...

Justice Department Opens Inquiry Into HP Unit

Autonomy's bookkeeping under investigation

(Newser) - Hewlett-Packard says the Justice Department is investigating HP's business software unit Autonomy, which the computer maker has accused of fudging its accounting . HP revealed the investigation in an SEC filing yesterday. The technology company also said it provided information to the UK Serious Fraud Office and the SEC about...

Source of Leak to Makers of Zero Dark Thirty Investigated

Vickers rumored to succeed Petraeus

(Newser) - Michael Vickers, a senior Defense official rumored to be a possible replacement for David Petraeus at the CIA, has been referred to the Justice Department after Pentagon investigators concluded that he leaked restricted information about the Osama bin Laden raid to Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers, two senior US officials tell...

Gun-Control Plan? That Got Shelved

Proposal could fortify FBI background-check system

(Newser) - The Justice Department developed a new gun-control initiative after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting last year but shelved it in the heat of a presidential election campaign, the New York Times reports. Whether President Obama will revive it in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting is unknown. But the basic...

Consumer Reports Slams Ford Hybrids' Mileage

Test finds huge gap between EPA estimates and real figure

(Newser) - If the 47mpg rating on Ford's 2013 Fusion and C-Max models sounds too good to be true, well, there's a reason for that. The two hybrids perform drastically worse than advertised, Consumer Reports has concluded, clocking their actual performance at 39 mpg for the Fusion and 37 mpg...

White House Considers Legal Fight Over Pot

It might sue Colorado and Washington over legalization: NYT

(Newser) - Top Justice Department and White House officials are meeting to figure out how to respond to marijuana initiatives that decriminalized possession in Washington and Colorado states, reports the New York Times . Options for the feds include bringing cases against low-level users, filing lawsuits against states to prevent them from setting...

Official Targeted in Fast, Furious Probe Resigns

Darrell Issa says it's high time Gary Grindler left

(Newser) - House Republicans appeared to claim a scalp today in their battle over the Fast and Furious case, as Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler announced his resignation. The administration says Grindler's departure was little more than standard second-term turnover, but Grindler came under harsh criticism in Darrell Issa's investigation,...

Lawyers in Settlement Talks on 'Fast and Furious' Suit

Republicans have sued Eric Holder for documents

(Newser) - Lawyers for the Justice Department and Darrell Issa's House Oversight panel are trying to settle a Fast and Furious lawsuit themselves in new negotiations, reports CNN and Reuters . Issa's GOP-led committee sued Eric Holder in August to try to force him to hand over documents related to the...

US Sues Bank of America for $1B in 'Hustle' Scheme

Prosecutors says bank foisted bum mortgages on Fannie, Freddie

(Newser) - The Justice Department has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Bank of America over an alleged mortgage scheme known as the "Hustle" invented by its Countrywide unit. According to Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, Bank of America and Countrywide developed a procedure to rapidly generate thousands of toxic loans...

Feds Sue JPMorgan for Mortgage Bond Fraud

Suit: Bear Stearns ignored problems

(Newser) - The mortgage task force of the Justice Department, including New York's attorney general, has launched its first lawsuit—against JPMorgan, charging wide-scale misconduct by Bear Stearns in the selling of mortgage securities. The complaint accuses Bear Stearns, bought by JPMorgan Chase in 2008, of defrauding investors who purchased mortgage...

FBI Agent Spent Thousands on Brothels: Court Filing

He allegedly spent $1.6K on single night in club that hires underage girls

(Newser) - An undercover FBI agent spent "thousands of dollars" on brothels and clubs frequented by prostitutes, including places that hired underage girls, a lawyer charged in court documents yesterday. The agent was reimbursed $14,500 for entertainment, cocktails, and tips over a period of less than a year in 2010...

Report on Botched Sting Clears Eric Holder

But 2 are out and more than a dozen face discipline over 'Fast and Furious'

(Newser) - The Justice Department's internal watchdog today faulted the agency for misguided strategies, errors in judgment, and management failures during a bungled gun-trafficking probe in Arizona that resulted in hundreds of weapons turning up at crime scenes in the US and Mexico. The report did not criticize Attorney General Eric...

DOJ: NC Sheriff Targeted Latino 'Taco Eaters'

He's under investigation for illegally targeting Latinos to have them deported

(Newser) - North Carolina's Alamance County Sheriff Terry S. Johnson is a the center of a scathing Justice Department report, which alleges that he and his deputies routinely targeted Latinos at traffic stops in a "deeply rooted" culture of discrimination, reports Fox News . According to the report, Johnson told his...

Holder: We Won't Prosecute Harsh Interrogations

Attorney general closes last two cases from Afghan, Pakistan

(Newser) - It's official: The US won't level any criminal charges over harsh interrogation techniques. Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday closed the final two cases involving the deaths of prisoners in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2002 and 2003, the New York Times reports. The move brings a three-year Justice department...

Federal Court Shoots Down Texas Voter ID Law

Says it puts 'strict unforgiving burdens on the poor'

(Newser) - Three federal judges unanimously rejected Texas' voter ID law today, saying that it imposes "strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor." Since racial minorities are more likely to be poor, the judges ruled that the law violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The judges, who were appointed by...

Charges Unlikely in MF Global Collapse

Investigators decide loss was caused by recklessness, not fraud

(Newser) - If you're holding your breath waiting for criminal charges in the MF Global case, you're probably never going to breathe again. Heading into the home stretch of their probe into the collapse, criminal investigators have all but concluded that while the firm may have been reckless, it didn'...

New Sandusky Allegation: Child Porn

Feds reportedly find images on his computer

(Newser) - As if the Jerry Sandusky child-rape scandal were not bad enough, now the US Postal Service and Justice Department are investigating whether the former Penn State assistant coach was involved in a child-porn ring, reports CBS News . Investigators have apparently dug up child pornography on Sandusky's computer, although they...

Watchdog Slams Justice Dept. 'Nepotism'

Single division cited 3 times in 8 years: inspector general

(Newser) - Workers at a division of the Justice department have been hiring based on nepotism, the department's inspector general says. In a new report, eight employees—career workers, not political appointees—are cited for seeking jobs for their kids and other relatives, according to NPR . The Justice Management Division, the...

New Orleans, Feds Unveil Sweeping Police Reforms

Justice Department will watch NOLA for four years

(Newser) - The Justice Department and the city of New Orleans yesterday unveiled an $11 million, 492-point plan to clean up the city's notorious police department, in what Eric Holder called the most sweeping such reform the federal government had ever been involved with. For the next four years, the NOPD...

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