FBI – News Stories About FBI - Page 56

FBI Targets 14 Firms in Subprime Fraud Probe

Jan 30, 2008 6:26 AM CST

FBI Targets 14 Firms in Subprime Fraud Probe

Suspected cases of mortgage fraud up in two years

(Newser) - The FBI is investigating 14 companies linked to the subprime mortgage crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bureau is pursuing allegations including accounting fraud and insider trading, said a bureau spokesman. An investigation into the complex secondary mortgage market could implicate major firms that have lost billions of investor...

FBI Revolutionizes DNA Tech

Jan 28, 2008 6:01 PM CST

FBI Revolutionizes DNA Tech

The FBI has a host of new toys to make analysis easier

(Newser) - New DNA analysis techniques are allowing the FBI to solve more cases faster using samples no bigger than a pinprick. Equally important, jury members steeped in police-procedural TV shows see the genetic evidence they've come to expect. NPR visits the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., where banks of robots process...

Woman Seeks $5K
Hit Man on Craigslist

Jan 27, 2008 5:32 PM CST

Woman Seeks $5K Hit Man on Craigslist

Advertised 'freelance' job was to 'eradicate' wife of woman's lover

(Newser) - A Michigan woman posted a job on Craigslist last year to murder her lover's wife, the FBI announced yesterday. Ann Marie Linscott, 49, put up a generic "freelance" ad but asked responders to "eradicate a female living in Oroville, California" for $5,000. "I've seen some screwy...

Would-Be Teen Hijacker
Was Suicidal, Cops Say

Jan 25, 2008 3:14 PM CST

Would-Be Teen Hijacker Was Suicidal, Cops Say

Boy had handcuffs, other items aboard flight from LA to Nashville

(Newser) - A California teenager who planned to hijack a flight from Los Angeles to Nashville is in state custody in Tennessee, the Tennessean reports. The 16-year-old had handcuffs and other suspicious items when he was detained, and authorities believe he was suicidal. The FBI dismissed reports he planned to crash the...

Saddam Faked Nukes to
Scare Iran, Not US: Agent

Jan 25, 2008 5:18 AM CST

Saddam Faked Nukes to Scare Iran, Not US: Agent

Did not believe US would invade over weapons of mass destruction

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein revealed in FBI interrogations that he had no nuclear or biological weapons of mass destruction, but hid that fact to avoid invasion by Iran—and was stunned when the US invaded. "For him, it was critical that he was seen as the strong, defiant Saddam to prevent...

Wanted Marine May Be in Mexico: FBI

Jan 16, 2008 6:19 PM CST

Wanted Marine May Be in Mexico: FBI

Laurean wrote wife that pregnant colleague committed suicide

(Newser) - The Marine charged in North Carolina with the murder of a pregnant colleague might have fled to his native Mexico, the FBI said today. US officials have teamed with Mexican authorities to catch Cpl. Cesar Laurean, who wrote a letter to wife claiming he buried Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach’s...

FBI Develops Global Police Net

Jan 15, 2008 10:50 AM CST

FBI Develops Global Police Net

High-tech global database will track suspects

(Newser) - FBI officials are holding key talks with international law enforcement authorities to develop a high-tech database of suspected criminals and terrorists. The "Server in the Sky" system, which uses sophisticated biometric data such as iris prints, could transform international policing. But it may be a hard sell in some...

Doctor Sues
3 Officials in Anthrax Case

Jan 13, 2008 5:02 PM CST

Doctor Sues 3 Officials in Anthrax Case

Claims they leaked info, caused 'severe emotional distress'

(Newser) - A former army doctor identified as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks is suing three US officials for leaking information about him, the Los Angeles Times reports. In his five-year-old suit, physician Steven Hatfill claims the case caused him "severe emotional distress" and hindered his...

FBI Wiretaps Hung Up by
Late Phone Bills

Jan 10, 2008 6:53 PM CST

FBI Wiretaps Hung Up by Late Phone Bills

Bureau admits its accounting system is inadequate

(Newser) - You’re not alone: The FBI apparently has trouble paying its bills on time, too. A Justice Department audit released today shows that, in general, the FBI handled money earmarked for use in undercover operations poorly, and cited instances in which a phone line used to deliver surveillance information to...

FBI: Violent Crime Down

Jan 7, 2008 4:53 PM CST

FBI: Violent Crime Down

First 6 months of 2007 saw reversal of upswing

(Newser) - Rates of violent crime, including murder, fell during the first six months of 2007, reversing a recent trend, a preliminary FBI review shows. An overall decline of 1% in murders, including a 6.5% drop in the nation’s largest cities, accompanied a 2% dip in violent crime and drops...

FBI Reignites DB Cooper Case

Jan 2, 2008 10:06 AM CST

FBI Reignites DB Cooper Case

New revelations as feds appeal for help

(Newser) - The FBI is again seeking help solving the intriguing 36-year-old mystery of DB Cooper, last seen parachuting from a hijacked Northwest Airlines jet over southwest Washington with a $200,000 ransom. He appears to have vanished into thin air—if he survived the daring jump. But now the FBI has...

Al-Qaeda
Killed Bhutto,
Pakistan Says

Dec 28, 2007 11:27 AM CST

Al-Qaeda Killed Bhutto, Pakistan Says

Reported causes of ex-PM's death include shrapnel, blow to head

(Newser) - The suicide bomber who killed Benazir Bhutto belonged to a militant group with links to Al-Qaeda, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry told GEO-TV today, fingering Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni group blamed for hundreds of killings.The US State Department considers the group a terrorist organization with links to the Taliban. The...

Gulags in America?
Hoover Tried

Dec 22, 2007 5:56 PM CST

Gulags in America? Hoover Tried

He sought approval to jail 12,000 'disloyal' citizens without trial

(Newser) - J. Edgar Hoover wanted to round up 12,000 Americans he deemed disloyal in 1950, suspend habeus corpus, and lock them up in military and federal prisons, the New York Times reports. In a newly declassified letter, the FBI chief urges President Truman to approve the plan and tell the...

FBI Plans Huge Biometric Index

Dec 22, 2007 12:29 PM CST

FBI Plans Huge Biometric Index

On project 'Next Generation Identification'

(Newser) - The FBI is planning a $1 billion database of “biometric” information—face shapes, iris scans, palm patterns, and even gait patterns—to enhance investigations, the Washington Post reports. Critics fear that the plan, called Next Generation Identification, will further erode individual privacy as the body becomes a de facto...

On Tape, Sharpton Cuts
Deal for Campaign Cash

Dec 15, 2007 5:53 PM CST

On Tape, Sharpton Cuts Deal for Campaign Cash

FBI video shows then-candidate agreeing to grease business wheels for donor

(Newser) - Someone should have told Al Sharpton he was on candid camera. When the then-presidential candidate agreed to land a multimillion-dollar contract for fundraiser Ronald White in 2003, the FBI was filming the whole thing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Now Sharpton is under investigation for possible tax fraud and campaign finance...

Iraq Watchdog
Gets His
Own Probe

Dec 14, 2007 6:42 AM CST

Iraq Watchdog Gets His Own Probe

Charges of inflated OT, email snooping and hexes by wiccan deputy

(Newser) - The tables have turned on the federal watchdog who has spent the past four years investigating waste and fraud in Iraq—he's now the target of an FBI probe of his own alleged overspending and mismanagement. Former employees claim that Inspector General Stuart Brown paid some employees inflated six-figure overtime,...

Peterson Starts Defense Fund

Dec 12, 2007 4:48 AM CST

Peterson Starts Defense Fund

'Sensationalism' causing family hardship, says wife-killer suspect

(Newser) - The suburban Chicago ex-cop who is a murder suspect in the death of one wife and the disappearance of another has launched a legal defense fund on the Internet. Drew Peterson's website, DefendDrew.com, takes donations via PayPal. He blasts "media sensationalism" for causing his family hardship, and claims...

Vegas to Build Mob Museum

Dec 11, 2007 11:03 AM CST

Vegas to Build Mob Museum

Attraction will display history of crooks who helped build the city

(Newser) - Las Vegas will create a museum showcasing the Mob's role in turning a tiny desert settlement into America's gambling mecca. The $50 million project is slated to be completed in 2010. "Let's be brutally honest, warts and all. This is more than legend. It's fact," said the mayor....

Bad Credit?
Buy a Piece of Someone Else's

Dec 8, 2007 8:22 PM CST

Bad Credit? Buy a Piece of Someone Else's

Company boosts scores by adding names to paid-off loans

(Newser) - Americans struggling with bad credit records may have a new route to a better score: For as little as $1,199, a San Diego company is offering the chance for customers to add their names to already-paid-off loans in order to boost their rating, the Los Angeles Times reports. The...

Teen Nabbed for $26M
'Net Heist

Dec 1, 2007 5:39 PM CST

Teen Nabbed for $26M 'Net Heist

18-year-old Kiwi's ring robbed IDs with 'spybot' program

(Newser) - The computer ace behind a $26 million worldwide identity theft heist is only 18, police said today, after nabbing New Zealander Owen Whyte. The teen allegedly wrote a ‘spybot’ program which stole financial data from more than a million computers. Police called him “one of the most skilled...