Tag: United States Attorney

Raleigh, N.C. — Federal investigators from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced indictments this past week that outlined allegations of fraud and bribery against the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, a wealthy Durham businessman and two of his associates, one of them a chairman of the Chatham County Republican Party. While that investigation continues, so does a separate probe underway by investigators in the Eastern District of North Carolina into election improprieties in the 9th Congressional District. Five people have been indicted in that investigation, and more indictments are expected. That case involves election fraud, and one of the people indicted was running an absentee-ballot operation for Republican candidate Mark Harris. In the new case, Durham businessman Greg Lindberg is accused of trying to bribe Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to gain favorable treatment for one of his hundreds of insurance companies. Causey, however, had reported the overtures to the FBI and, according to the indictment, began assisting the FBI in its investigation. In the last three years, Lindberg has become the largest single political donor in North Carolina. Most of his contributions have gone to Republicans, but he also supported Causey's predecessor, Democrat Wayne Goodwin, who is now chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party. In a Sunday Special edition of TheWrap@NCCapitol, WRAL's Laura Leslie, Travis Fain and Cullen Browder take an in-depth look at the latest scandal to rock North Carolina politics.

Attorney Mark Geragos is the unnamed co-conspirator in the Avenatti criminal complaint Attorney Mark Geragos is the unnamed co-conspirator referred to in the Southern District of New York's criminal complaint against Michael Avenatti, a source familiar confirms to CNN. Nike says it "will not be extorted" Nike released a statement today after prosecutors in New York announced charges against attorney Michael Avenatti for attempting to extort more than $20 million from the company. When Nike became aware of this matter, Nike immediately reported it to federal prosecutors. When Mr. Avenatti attempted to extort Nike over this matter, Nike with the assistance of outside counsel at Boies Schiller Flexner, aided the investigation. Nike firmly believes in ethical and fair play, both in business and sports, and will continue to assist the prosecutors.” Avenatti's alleged scheme against Nike was "an old-fashioned shakedown," US attorney says Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, laid out the timeline of attorney Michael Avenatti's alleged extortion scheme, which Berman said played out over a course of less than a week. The FBI monitored and recorded Avenatti's threats against Nike The Southern District of New York tweeted a timeline of the Avenatti case on Monday afternoon, outlining the events from March 19 to 21. According to the timeline, Avenatti made the initial threats to Nike on March 19. Shortly afterward, Nike informed federal prosecutors in New York of the threats. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged Avenatti for attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike. Meanwhile, prosecutors in California charged him for wire and bank fraud.

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia are expected on Wednesday to announce criminal charges against Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the labor union’s leader, John Dougherty, closing a years-long corruption investigation into his business and personal dealings, according to federal law enforcement officials close to the probe. Dougherty has been under investigation for more than two years by federal authorities. In 2016, the FBI raided his home, the union’s headquarters, the South Philly bar he owns, and a number of other locations, including the office of City Councilman Bobby Henon, the union’s former political director. Dougherty’s brother, Kevin, is a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice elected in 2015 with major support from Local 98. When reached by phone, Dougherty, widely known as “Johnny Doc,” said if he is charged on Wednesday, it would be news to him. “I haven’t heard anything,” he said, mentioning that he was watching television with his wife. “Listen, nobody has told any of us as of date. The government’s court documents never mentioned Dougherty, instead referring to Local 98 “Official 1.” It marked the first charges brought by federal prosecutors in its investigation into Dougherty and Local 98, but the court documents suggested Peltz did not provide information to authorities that would have assisted their wider examination of Dougherty and Peltz has not agreed to be used as a government witness in the case against the politically powerful labor union. Prosecutors say Local 98 donated the money to a nonprofit Moylan controlled, but instead of devoting it to charity, Moylan allegedly spent the money on his mortgage and “meals, travel and golf,” authorities say. The paper reported that the payment, discovered in a late-filed statement to the U.S. Department of Labor, occurred just as federal investigators began closing in on questions over whether Dougherty and Local 98 have been improperly using union money.

Washington (CNN)Former US Attorney Preet Bharara said President Donald Trump's political allies are clearly receiving a message from his presidential pardons. "I don't know if he is trying to send a message, but they are clearly getting a message," Bharara, who is a CNN legal analyst, said Sunday in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." Bharara added, "He's making it very clear he is prepared to pardon anyone for any reason without any review. It was suggested that he reviewed the case; I don't think Donald Trump did anything of the sort." The former New York federal prosecutor said that there's a specific process presidents should follow for presidential pardons "so people understand that that power is being exercised fairly and on the merits and not because of whim or spite or partisan advantage." Trump recently granted a full pardon to conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating federal campaign finance laws, and floated the idea of pardoning Martha Stewart and commuting former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's sentence, both of whom appeared on "The Apprentice" reality TV series. "He decides in the moment to take a political action, and that is what he did in this case," Bharara told CNN on Sunday. "I think he is going to keep doing it." A Justice Department spokesman told CNN last week that Trump did not run D'Souza's pardon through the department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which was also the case for Trump's controversial pardons of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in an investigation into leaking the identity of a CIA officer, and former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt in a case related to his hardline tactics with undocumented immigrants.