Jerry Seper

Justice Dept.: Exempted Indian tribes can use eagle feathers, parts

While federal wildlife laws criminalize the killing of eagles and other migratory birds for their feathers, the Justice Department on Friday exempted members of federally-recognized Indian tribes from the law, saying the use of eagle feathers was both "religious and cultural."

October 12, 2012

U.S. targets violent street gang MS-13

The violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was designated Thursday by the Treasury Department as a transnational criminal organization, meaning the government can freeze its U.S. assets, seize its property or interests in this country, and make it illegal for anyone in the U.S. to do business with the gang.

October 11, 2012

Mexican officials arrest head of drug cartel in U.S. citizen’s death

Mexican military officials have arrested a regional leader of the brutal drug cartel Los Zetas in the 2010 killing of a U.S. citizen who was fatally shot after being ambushed by six Mexican pirates in two boats on Falcon Lake near Zapata, Texas.

October 8, 2012

Feds team up with Amtrak to fight human trafficking

A federal partnership was unveiled Thursday involving the Departments of Homeland Security and Transportation, along with Amtrak, that will seek to combat human trafficking by training more than 8,000 front-line transportation employees and Amtrak police officers to identify trafficking victims and perpetrators and report suspected cases.

October 4, 2012

91 charged in Medicare fraud scheme

A federal Medicare Fraud Strike Force has brought charges against 91 people in seven cities — including doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals — in suspected Medicare fraud schemes that bilked the government of more than $429 million in false billings.

October 4, 2012

Gunrunning’s collateral damage: Mexican teens

Fourteen teenagers slaughtered at a birthday party in Mexico with weapons purchased during the now-discredited Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation are the faces of a "reckless" operation that allowed hundreds of illegally purchased guns to be transported south of the border.

October 3, 2012

Holder pressed on source of guns from 2011 killing

A senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee called on Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday to immediately make public any information the Justice Department has on the existence of federal gunrunning operations in Texas and to reveal the source of weapons found at the February 2011 murder scene of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata.

October 2, 2012

Grassley: ‘No more excuses’ after ‘Fast and Furious’ report

The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican, who began the investigation into the "Fast and Furious" gunrunning probe nearly two years ago, says it's time those responsible for the botched operation were disciplined.

September 26, 2012

Swiss company Tyco to pay $26M in U.S. corruption probe

Tyco International Ltd., along with a subsidiary that pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has agreed to pay more than $26 million to resolve allegations brought by the Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

September 24, 2012

Management failures cited in ‘Fast and Furious’ report

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Wednesday blamed the failure of Operation Fast and Furious on a series of "misguided strategies," but found no evidence that Attorney General Eric. H. Holder Jr. knew of the misguided gunrunning investigation before its public unraveling in January 2011.

September 19, 2012

Justice Dept. blamed in ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-trafficking operation

Nearly two years after weapons purchased during the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning investigation were found at the scene of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, a Justice Department report on Wednesday outlined a "pattern of serious failures" in the handling of the operation by both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. attorney's office in Arizona.

September 19, 2012

Justice Dept. fails to meet 60-day requirement for employee background checks

The Justice Department has failed to meet the required 60-day guideline for processing background checks for new employees who require national security clearances and, as a result, some key positions within the department — including agents, intelligence analysts and linguists — go unfilled for extended periods, a new report said Thursday.

September 13, 2012

At Qatar forum, Holder confirms FBI probe of Libya envoy killings

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told members of the Arab Forum in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday the United States was shocked and saddened by the "senseless and brutal" attacks Tuesday in Libya and Egypt, condemning "in the strongest possible terms the deplorable and savage acts of violence" that claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

September 13, 2012

Hezbollah tied to seized cash

Federal authorities Monday seized $150 million in connection with a civil money laundering and forfeiture complaint charging that a massive, international scheme in which entities linked to Hezbollah, including the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank, used the U.S. financial system to launder narcotics trafficking and other criminal proceeds through West Africa and back into Lebanon.

August 20, 2012

Hail of bullets? National Weather Service says ammo request was ‘clerical error’

The National Weather Service says it is not intending to arm its forecasters with high-powered weapons and ammunition — no matter how hot, cold, wet or windy it may get.

August 14, 2012

GOP sues to force Obama, Holder compliance on Fast and Furious

A civil lawsuit filed Monday by House Republicans asks a federal court to enforce a congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in his refusal to turn over documents sought in an investigation by a House committee into the failed Fast and Furious gunrunning operation.

August 13, 2012

ATF whistleblower’s revenge case settled

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent who blew the whistle on the botched Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation and, according to lawmakers, was threatened with losing his job has successfully resolved a retaliation claim.

August 7, 2012

Report: 5 ATF officials blamed in botched ‘Fast and Furious’ operation

House and Senate investigators singled out five ATF officials Tuesday for blame in the failure of the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation that led to the transfer of more than 2,000 illegally purchased weapons to drug smugglers in Mexico.

July 31, 2012

Justice Department IG criticizes division’s practice of nepotism

Eight current and former officials in the Justice Management Division of the Justice Department, who advise senior management executives on basic policy for finances, personnel and training, violated federal guidelines and regulations in seeking to hire their own relatives to positions within their offices, a report released Thursday says.

July 26, 2012

GOP senators feeling bad Karma

Two senior Republican senators have questions about the Obama administration's approval of more than a half-billion dollars in taxpayer funds to help a California automaker build hybrid subcompact cars in Finland that will cost buyers more than $100,000 each.

July 24, 2012