Tag: fbi

FBI raids Dallas-based immigration attorney’s office, sources say

The FBI conducted multiple raids across Dallas and Collin counties as part of a federal investigation into a visa fraud and money laundering scheme on Thursday, May 22, sources told WFAA. 

Attorney D. Robert Jones, is alleged to have collaborated with a network of individuals to unlawfully obtain U.S. visas for Pakistani nationals through fraudulent means.

The operation reportedly involved the creation of shell companies to funnel illicit funds and facilitating the issuance of visas under false pretenses. The scheme is believed to have been active for several years.

Jones and the other defendants are accused of conspiring to defraud United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to the arrest affidavit.

“It was the purpose of the conspiracy for defendants…to wrongfully enrich themselves by receiving payments from visa seekers, submitting false and fraudulent applications and other documents to USCIS as part of the visa seekers’ application to obtain visas and to remain in the United States,” the affidavit alleges.

The affidavit accuses the defendants of using the bank accounts of Jones’ law office and another business, Reliable Ventures, to receive payments from visa seekers and then return part of the money back to them as purported payroll.

The defendants are also accused of making false and fraudulent statements in immigration documents and of money laundering.

According to the affidavit, each defendant agreed a conspirator “would commit at least two acts of racketeering activity in the conduct of the Enterprise’s affairs.”

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Neighbor of gunman who killed Israeli diplomat says ‘girlfriend’ vanished from their Chicago apartment weeks before shooting

The suspected pro-Palestine gunman who murdered two young Israeli diplomats in Washington DC lived with a ‘girlfriend’ at his modest apartment in Chicago, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, moved in with a woman whose last name is believed to be Oliver roughly two years ago, 71-year-old neighbor John Fry said.

But it appears she recently mysteriously vanished.

‘There was a young woman, although I haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks now. I can’t say exactly when she left,’ Fry added.

‘I’m guessing she was in her late 20s, about 5ft 3ins tall, dark hair. Nothing special about her build. Difficult to really describe her much after that.

‘I don’t know why she apparently hasn’t been around.’

He would not speculate that the couple could have fallen out before the murderous assault outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night – where Rodriguez shouted ‘Free Palestine’ after the killing spree.

‘They were a really quiet couple. Although in these apartment buildings people only tend to just say hi to each other, not much more than that,’ said Fry. ‘I didn’t exchange that many words with her.

Fry said he also had not seen Rodriguez – who allegedly unleashed 21 rounds from his H&K pistol to kill soon-to-be engaged Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim – for days either.

A small pair of women’s size black CAT sneakers remained outside the door of the couple’s second floor apartment today despite the FBI raid on the premises 24 hours earlier.

On the dark wood front door is a cardboard graphic of what appears to be a Hello Kitty Chinese New Year decal, with a male and a female version of the Sanrio mascot, linked together with Chinese characters, as revealed in exclusive DailyMail.com photos.

The apartment building is in the mixed Albany Park area of the city, where support is strong for Palestine following the October 7 Hamas atrocities and Israel’s military response in Gaza.

Fry said he too supported the Palestinian cause but added: ‘What he did was so wrong. And if I’d had any idea that he would do such a thing I believe I could have talked him out of it.

‘If he wanted to support Palestine, this is not the way to do it. What’s killing two people doing to do? It was so stupid, so counterproductive.

‘There’s a very strong Palestine support network in this neighborhood. And for him to do what he did, he did it because he had lost hope. I believe he just lost hope over the death and destruction. It pushed him over the edge.’

Fry also revealed the FBI did not seem particularly interested in the girlfriend. ‘I told them about her, but they didn’t appear to pick up on it,’ he said.

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FBI Says Global Operation Led to 270 Arrests Targeting Dark-Web Drug Trafficking

The FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced that 270 people were arrested and that hundreds of pounds of fentanyl were seized as part of an operation targeting drug traffickers on darknet websites.

The arrests were made in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States under “Operation RapTor,” according to the FBI. The name of the operation refers to the Tor software and browser that allows for anonymous web browsing and to access darkweb, or darknet, websites that are normally not accessible through standard browsers or search engines.

In a statement, the DOJ said that “more than $200 million in currency and digital assets, over two metric tons of drugs, 144 kilograms [317 lbs] of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, and over 180 firearms” were also seized in the operation.

FBI officials noted that one kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of fentanyl has the potential to kill up to 500,000 people. That drug has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States over the past decade or so, and it’s currently the leading cause of overdose deaths in the country, federal health officials say.

“By cowardly hiding online, these traffickers have wreaked havoc across our country and directly fueled the fentanyl crisis and gun violence impacting our American communities and neighborhoods,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Thursday. “But the ease and accessibility of their crimes ends today.”

An operation targeting an apartment in Los Angeles that was being used as a hub to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine on the dark web also led to the seizure of “large amounts of cash and suspected drugs,” the FBI said.

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NYT Reports FBI Closing FISA Office. FBI Denies It

FBI Director Kash Patel closed the agency’s surveillance watchdog unit, according to a Tuesday report by The New York Times (NYT).

The bureau’s Office of Internal Auditing ensured compliance with surveillance regulations, specifically concerning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), officials familiar told NYT.

“The FBI’s Office of Internal Auditing is not being shut down; it is being moved to the Inspection Division which is responsible for internal reviews of FBI policies, programs, and investigations to ensure they fully comply with our authorities. Oversight is important to the FBI, and we will continue to work with DOJ’s National Security Division for FISA review. The FBI is committed to ensuring that we are fully compliant with querying standards,” the FBI told the Daily Caller in a statement.

The assistant director of that department, Cindy Hall, has retired, according to the outlet. While a former official was informed she was “forced out,” another source familiar told NYT the FBI described her exit to Congress as “voluntary.”

Prior to the reported closure, Hall was working to onboard workers to expand the office’s operations, according to NYT.

The watchdog’s closure is part of a broader restructuring, people familiar told the outlet. The office’s functions, along with The Office of Integrity and Compliance, “have been absorbed by the inspection division,” NYT reported.

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Comey’s Recent Behavior Confirms He’s Our Worst FBI Director

James B. Comey posted on Instagram a photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47,” which could be interpreted as a threat against the 47th president. Comey has since denied that he intended violence; nonetheless the Secret Service is reportedly investigating. This posting may have been a lapse of judgment on Comey’s part or something more nefarious.

Comey’s conduct in this instance, however, fits well with his previous anti-Trump behavior and demonstrably poor judgment. His judgment has been a serious concern for many of us who were proud to serve in the FBI and care about the bureau’s credibility and reputation. In his book and elsewhere, he described the sole origin of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Trump’s first presidential campaign as based on a report “from an allied ambassador” of an encounter in London between a Trump adviser and “a Russian agent.”

That’s Comey’s characterization of George Papadopoulos’ meeting with Joseph Mifsud, a pan-European academic. Mifsud told the then-Trump aide the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Comey has piously huffed that it would have been “dereliction” not to proceed with a counterintelligence investigation based on that report. But to proceed with such an intrusive investigation on so little was an abuse.

A secondhand rumor should never be enough to justify opening a counterintelligence investigation of any American, much less a presidential candidate. This off-handed conversation initiated a counterintelligence case that disrupted Trump’s first term as president. Like directors before him, Comey should have said, “We need more probable cause” before moving forward with an investigation.

In the encounter Comey cited, there was no mention of emails. Only after the WikiLeaks disclosures was an assumption made by both Australian High Commissioner Alexander Downer, Comey’s “allied ambassador,” and Papadopoulos, that the “dirt” was in Hillary’s emails.

Comey’s indignant complaints about Trump are an effort to distract from the dangerous and faulty decisions made on his watch. His initiation of the counterintelligence investigation against Trump was an error of historical proportions.

Comey has tried to justify the spying — electronic surveillance — of Carter Page, a U.S. citizen, by writing that a federal judge granted “permission.” We now know the FISA Court was seriously misled by Comey’s FBI.

Comey grossly usurped the prosecutor’s role in virtually declining prosecution in the Clinton email investigation. That usurpation was spelled out in Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein’s memo justifying Comey’s firing. Comey also had further muddied the waters by announcing the reopening of the Clinton email investigation just days before the 2016 election.

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Kash and Bongino losing trust over Epstein

This past weekend on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, made a stunning declaration: Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide.  That was it.  Case closed.  Bongino even said he’s “seen the file,” as if that alone should convince the American people to move on.

But that’s not how this works.

I couldn’t tell if I was watching an interview or a hostage video.

The public doesn’t owe Patel and Bongino blind trust, especially not on a matter this explosive.  In fact, their appearance on Bartiromo’s show torpedoed their credibility.

Epstein wasn’t just another inmate.  He was a nexus of corruption, intelligence, and elite abuse — someone whose connections spanned elites, presidents, royalty, billionaires, and spies.  His death was either one of the most spectacular security failures in modern history — or something far darker.  And no number of official titles or vague references to secret documents should shut down public scrutiny.

Americans have good reason to be suspicious.  Epstein’s death was a hall of mirrors from the start.  There weren’t just a few oddities; there was an avalanche of contradictions and red flags.  Yet Bongino and Patel simply want you to trust what they say their eyes saw.

Nope.  Sorry.

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Trump’s Former Spokesperson Liz Harrington SLAMS FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino for Downplaying Trump Butler Assassination Plot

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is facing fierce backlash from conservatives after downplaying the chilling July 13th assassination attempt on President Donald J. Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally — and none other than Trump’s former spokesperson, Liz Harrington, is leading the charge.

During a recent appearance on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Bongino, who once earned grassroots praise as a fearless whistleblower of Secret Service failures, appeared to parrot the official FBI line, offering a stunning defense of the so-called “investigation” into the Trump rally attack.

Bongino: You know what, Maria? Kash is not kidding. We’ve been personally briefed extensively on every single detail, nugget, and tendril of this case. One is actively in court right now, so out of respect for the case, it’s probably more appropriate that I stay quiet on that.

However, I’m not going to tell people what they want to hear—I’m going to tell you the truth. And whether you like it or not is up to you.

If there was a big, explosive “there” there—given my history as a Secret Service agent and my personal friendship, as the Director does, with the President—give me one logical, sensible reason we would not have [told you]. If you can think of one… there isn’t.

In some of these cases, the “there” you’re looking for is not there. I know people… I get it. I understand. It’s not there. If it was there, we would have told you.

Liz Harrington, Trump’s former spokesperson and trusted ally, obliterated Bongino’s comments.

“I’m sorry, the investigation into J13 is closed? Who were you briefed by? The people who came in, hosed down the crime scene, cremated the body, stonewalled congressional investigators, and lawyered up the family?

There is a “there” there because we know NOTHING about Crooks, or who he was talking to.

If this is true, they need to come out with everything they know about why and HOW a 20 year old pulled that off.

The former FBI director just called for ANOTHER hit on President Trump. We must get serious about what is going on.”

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‘I call bullsh**’: Kash Patel and Dan Bongino hammered for claiming Epstein DID kill himself and downplaying Trump assassination attempts

FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino are facing fierce criticism for asserting convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein indeed killed himself in jail, and also downplaying concerns about the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Maria Bartiromo of Fox News on “Sunday Morning Futures” asked both officials why many Americans don’t buy the government assertion that Epstein committed suicide in a New York City holding facility.

“They have a right to their opinion,” Patel said, “but as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor who’s been in that prison system, who’s been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who’s been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was.”

Bongino said: “He killed himself. I’ve seen the whole file. He killed himself.”

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House investigators question FBI witness about James Comey using ‘honeypot’ spy on Trump campaign

House Judiciary Committee investigators have spoken to an FBI whistleblower about FBI Director James B. Comey’s alleged off-the-books spying on President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The whistleblower, a former supervisory special agent, previously said in a protected disclosure to the committee that Mr. Comey sent a “honeypot” to spy on the Trump campaign before launching the now-infamous Crossfire Hurricane operation.

A “honeypot” is an undercover operative who feigns sexual or romantic interest to obtain information from a target.

Mr. Comey, a fierce Trump critic who was booted from the FBI by the president, was also recently questioned by the Secret Service for a social media post widely interpreted as a threat against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Comey posted a photo on his Instagram account of seashells on the beach arranged to spell “86 47” with the comment, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

The numeral “86” can refer to removing or killing. Mr. Trump is the 47th president.

The whistleblower interviewed by the Judiciary Committee described the “honeypot” operation in a protected disclosure in October. The disclosure was delivered through whistleblower attorney Kurt Siuzdak, as The Washington Times first reported.

The FBI veteran said two female FBI undercover agents infiltrated Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign at high levels and were directed to act as “honeypots” while traveling with Mr. Trump and his campaign staff.

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FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie Jarrett’s Family

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files obtained by Judicial Watch reveal that the dad, maternal grandpa and father-in-law of President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, were hardcore Communists under investigation by the U.S. government.

Jarrett’s dad, pathologist and geneticist Dr. James Bowman, had extensive ties to Communist associations and individuals, his lengthy FBI file shows. In 1950 Bowman was in communication with a paid Soviet agent named Alfred Stern, who fled to Prague after getting charged with espionage. Bowman was also a member of a Communist-sympathizing group called the Association of Internes and Medical Students. After his discharge from the Army Medical Corps in 1955, Bowman moved to Iran to work, the FBI records show.

According to Bowman’s government file the Association of Internes and Medical Students is an organization that “has long been a faithful follower of the Communist Party line” and engages in un-American activities. Bowman was born in Washington D.C. and had deep ties to Chicago, where he often collaborated with fellow Communists. JW also obtained documents on Bowman from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) showing that the FBI was brought into investigate him for his membership in a group that “follows the communist party line.” The Jarrett family Communist ties also include a business partnership between Jarrett’s maternal grandpa, Robert Rochon Taylor, and Stern, the Soviet agent associated with her dad.

Jarrett’s father-in-law, Vernon Jarrett, was also another big-time Chicago Communist, according to separate FBI files obtained by JW as part of a probe into the Jarrett family’s Communist ties. For a period of time Vernon Jarrett appeared on the FBI’s Security Index and was considered a potential Communist saboteur who was to be arrested in the event of a conflict with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). His FBI file reveals that he was assigned to write propaganda for a Communist Party front group in Chicago that would “disseminate the Communist Party line among…the middle class.”

It’s been well documented that Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago lawyer and longtime Obama confidant, is a liberal extremist who wields tremendous power in the White House. Faithful to her roots, she still has connections to many Communist and extremist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Jarrett and her family also had strong ties to Frank Marshal Davis, a big Obama mentor and Communist Party member with an extensive FBI file.

JW has exposed Valerie Jarrett’s many transgressions over the years, including her role in covering up a scandalous gun-running operation carried out by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Last fall JW obtained public records that show Jarrett was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious, a disastrous experiment in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

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