Tag: u.s. department of justice

  • DOJ Seeks 6 Month Jail Sentence For Steve Bannon

    The Division of Justice is recommending a six-month jail sentence and $200,000 advantageous for Steven Bannon for defying a subpoena to look prior to the Space committee investigating the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol.

    The previous Trump White Space adviser was once convicted of 2 counts of prison contempt of Congress in July after ignoring the subpoena.

    “For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant will have to be sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment ― the highest finish of the Sentencing Tips’ vary ― and fined $200,000 ― according to his insistence on paying the utmost advantageous fairly than cooperate with the Probation Place of job’s regimen pre-sentencing monetary investigation,” federal prosecutors wrote of their court docket submitting on Monday.

    Bannon claimed he was once avoided from attesting as a result of former President Donald Trump had asserted govt privilege, which federal prosecutors stated would no longer observe to Bannon if Trump had.

    When his trial date grew close to, Bannon reversed route and stated that Trump waived this proper and that he was once certainly unfastened to cooperate. U.S. Lawyer Matthew Graves known as this an unsuccessful, last-minute try to get his prison prosecution disregarded.

    “When his quid professional quo try failed, the Defendant made no additional try at cooperation with the Committee — talking volumes about his dangerous religion,” Graves stated within the submitting.

    Bannon is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, which prosecutors famous is 365 days to the day after he was once held in contempt through the Space.

    This can be a growing tale. Test again for updates.

    Learn the sentencing memo under:

  • 305 Canine Rescued In ‘Largest Takedown’ Of South Carolina Dogfighting Ring Ever

    Greater than 300 canine have been rescued in South Carolina over the weekend in what the Division of Justice known as the “greatest takedown” of a dogfighting ring within the state’s historical past.

    South Carolina government interrupted a dogfight within the capital of Columbia on Saturday, and in a joint operation with the DOJ, served 23 warrants Sunday in Richland, Clarendon, Lee, York, Sumter and Orangeburg counties to rescue 305 canine, the federal company stated in a press liberate Monday.

    “A joint group of greater than 60 federal prosecutors and state regulation enforcement officials performed just about two dozen warrants for more than a few homes within the Midlands house in what is assumed to be the most important takedown of a dogfighting operation in South Carolina historical past,” the discharge stated.

    The Justice Division stated 275 of the rescued canine have been most probably compelled into fights and that the warrants have been served at recognized dogfighting kennels or addresses related to the unlawful game. The Humane Society of the US assisted in dealing with and sheltering canine upon their rescue.

    The Humane Society stated most of the canine have been troublingly skinny and located chained or caged out of doors with out get right of entry to to water or meals, in spite of the nice and cozy climate. Many have been scarred or had open wounds and needed to be handled in an instant, in step with the crowd.

    Many of the dogs had to be treated for open wounds.
    Most of the canine needed to be handled for open wounds.

    Meredith Lee/The Humane Society of the US

    Government additionally confiscated about 30 weapons and $40,000 in money all over those raids and positioned greater than 20 other people underneath arrest “for state fees when it comes to animal cruelty and dogfighting,” the Justice Division stated.

    The observation stated possessing, coaching, promoting, purchasing, handing over, receiving or transporting canine for dogfights is a legal punishable via as much as 5 years in jail underneath the Animal Welfare Act — and that those raids may well be a prelude to additional fees.

    “To drive canine to struggle, frequently to the loss of life, for the joy of others is not just a federal crime, it is usually merciless, sadistic, and will create a haven for different illicit actions involving medication and firearms,” U.S. Lawyer Adair F. Boroughs stated.

    Authorities believe 275 of the 305 dogs had been forced to fight.
    Government imagine 275 of the 305 canine were compelled to struggle.

    Meredith Lee/The Humane Society of the US

    Possibly maximum heartbreaking have been accounts from Humane Society responders on the scene, who witnessed best one of the vital canine greeting their saviors with wagging tails — whilst the remaining remained hunched over and terrified of human interplay.

    Dogfighting, which starts with running shoes breeding the animals and conditioning them into competitive habits, results in critical accidents together with bruising, damaged bones and deep punctures. Those may also be deadly, whether or not via blood loss, surprise, exhaustion or an infection.

    “It’s in reality distressing to return upon canine who’re seriously injured but chained to bushes or left to languish in a pen as an alternative of having the care they desperately want,” stated Adam Parascandola, vp of the animal rescue group for the Humane Society. “Due to the entire businesses who intervened on behalf of those canine, that is the final day they’re going to need to are living like this.”

  • Justice Division Probe Properties In On Trump’s Efforts To Keep In Energy, Overturn Vote: Document

    The Division of Justice is investigating former President Donald Trump and his efforts to stay in place of job after he misplaced the 2020 election, with prosecutors asking witnesses detailed questions on his habits and conferences he held to overturn the election, The Washington Submit reported on Tuesday.

    The file, bringing up other folks aware of the Justice Division’s inquiry, displays the rising scope of the company’s investigation into the occasions main as much as and all over the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol. Two most sensible aides to former Vice President Mike Pence had been showed this week to have spoken to a grand jury convened through the Justice Division. The 2 are the highest-ranking contributors of the Trump management to cooperate within the investigation up to now.

    It is a growing tale, take a look at again for updates.

  • Blatter, Platini cleared of corruption fees at FIFA trial

    Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France footballing legend Michel Platini had been each cleared of corruption fees via a Swiss courtroom on Friday. Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was once cleared of fraud via the Federal Felony Courtroom within the southern town of Bellinzona.

    Platini, a former France nationwide staff captain and supervisor, was once additionally acquitted of fraud.
    The 2, as soon as a few of the maximum robust figures in world football, had denied the fees towards them. Prosecutors had accused Blatter, a Swiss who led world football frame FIFA for 17 years, and Platini, of unlawfully arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman two million Swiss francs ($2.06 million) in 2011.

    The case intended Blatter ended his reign as FIFA president in shame and it wrecked Platini’s hopes of succeeding him after he was once banned from soccer when the affair got here to gentle. Blatter, 86, had stated the two-million franc cost adopted a “gents’s settlement” between the pair when he requested Platini to be his technical adviser in 1998.

    Platini, 67, labored as a expert between 1998 and 2002 with an annual wage of 300,000 Swiss francs — probably the most FIFA may just find the money for as a result of cash troubles the organisation had on the time, Blatter has informed the courtroom.

    The remainder of Platini’s 1,000,000 in step with 12 months wage was once to be settled at a later date, Blatter stated. Motives for the cost had been unclear, even though the 2 males met in 2010 and mentioned the approaching elections for the FIFA presidency in 2011. When Blatter authorized the cost, he was once campaigning for re-election towards Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Platini, then president of Eu football affiliation UEFA, was once noticed as having sway with Eu contributors who may just affect the vote.

    The cost emerged following an enormous investigation introduced via the U.S. Division of Justice into bribery, fraud and money-laundering at FIFA in 2015, which caused Blatter’s resignation. Each officers had been banned in 2015 from football for 8 years over the cost, even though their bans had been later decreased.

    Platini, who additionally misplaced his task as UEFA president following the ban, stated the affair was once a planned try to thwart his try to turn out to be FIFA president in 2015. Platini’s former common secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, entered the FIFA race and gained the election in 2016.