Tag: fbi

FBI to pay more than $22 million to 34 women who claimed sexual harassment at training academy

The FBI has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit by paying more than $22 million to 34 female recruits alleging they were sexual harassed and dismissed from the agency’s Quantico, Virginia, training facility, according to news reports Monday.

They women allege having been routinely harassed by instructors with sexually charged comments about their breast size, false allegations of infidelity and the need to take contraception “to control their moods,” according to the Associated Press. 

The settlement is still subject to approval by a federal judge. But if the payout is approved, it would be among the largest lawsuit settlements in the history of the FBI, the wire service also reports.

“These problems are pervasive within the FBI and the attitudes that created them were learned at the academy,” said David J. Shaffer, the lawyer for the women. “This case will make important major changes in these attitudes.”

The suit was filed in 2019 and also contends the female recruits were judged more harshly than their male peers and “excessively targeted for correction and dismissal in tactical situations for perceived lack of judgment” and subjective “suitability” criteria.

The FBI did not immediately comment on the settlement. However, mny of the allegations in the lawsuit were confirmed in a 2022 internal watchdog report. 

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FBI Seeks Options for “Clearview AI” Type Facial Recognition Searches

The FBI has put out a request for information regarding (RFI) open-source facial recognition capabilities which it hopes to acquire in the future. The technology they are desiring would function similar to what is offered through companies like Clearview AI and PimEyes, both of which have been heavily scrutinized and sued for privacy violations.

Biometric Update reports that:

The agency explains the motivation behind its RFI as relating to major criminal, counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations: “Investigative leads are often derived from open-source images posted on social media profiles, Internet sites, and the dark web; for example, individuals often use social media to communicate, coordinate, and conduct criminal activity.”

Criminals wanted by the FBI and its partners are not always American residents with driver’s licenses, passports or criminal histories that would make their face biometrics available for searching.

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More Than 200,000 People Were Arrested Over Marijuana Last Year In The U.S., The Vast Majority For Possession, New FBI Report Shows

Even as more states continue to legalize marijuana, new FBI data shows that at least 200,000 people were arrested over cannabis in 2023—and simple possession again made up the vast majority of those cases. Those figures are likely understated, however, given inconsistencies in the federal data and ongoing questions about the agency’s methodology.

At a time when the public and both major party presidential nominees find themselves aligned in their opposition to criminalizing people over low-level marijuana offenses, advocates say the federal data released on Monday further underscores the need to urgently change course.

The 2023 data, according to FBI, comes from more than 14 million criminal offenses reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which is submitted by over 16,000 state, local and tribal agencies whose jurisdictions comprise more than 94 percent of the country’s population. That’s slightly more data coverage compared to the FBI’s crime report from the prior year.

Because not all agencies provide data for the complete reporting periods, FBI has explained that the bureau calculates estimated crime numbers, essentially extrapolating “by following a standard estimation procedure using the data provided.” In terms of total reported arrests for “drug/narcotic,” for example, FBI said there were 879,118 arrests.

Those numbers, however, aren’t consistent throughout the FBI report. In a section on arrests by region, FBI said there were 746,292 total drug arrests in 2023. In a separate analysis of  historical trends, meanwhile, FBI reported just 635,066 drug arrests last year. Another section on racial breakdowns says there were 726,623 drug abuse violations.

The agency further reported that there were 1,544,907 crimes involving a person’s suspected use of drugs other than alcohol in 2023.

Using the agency’s estimated numbers, the 870,874 arrests for drug abuse violations account for about 12 percent of the approximately 7.5 million estimated arrests nationwide in 2023, according to one section of the report.

Of all total drug-related arrests in the new report, FBI said, 23 percent were for marijuana possession—more than for possession of any other listed substance. Arrests for selling or manufacturing cannabis, meanwhile, made up 2 percent of total drug arrests.

According to the data, 200,306 estimated arrests occurred for marijuana possession and another 16,844 estimated arrests were for cannabis sales or manufacturing in 2023. The numbers are down from 2022, but advocates say the continued criminalization at the current scale remains unacceptable, especially in the face of growing public consensus in favor of legalization.

At the same time, frustrations over FBI’s inconsistent data reporting on cannabis and other drug arrest trends have persisted.

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New Film Commemorates Legacy Of Lawyer Who Exposed Conspiracy To Murder MLK

 Conventional wisdom holds that James Earl Ray was a deranged white supremacist who killed Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968.

Research carried out by King family attorney William F. Pepper determined, however, that King was really killed in a conspiracy coordinated by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Pepper died in April. He is the focus of a new film by John Barbour, with Len Osanic, A Tribute to William Pepper, that was screened on July 30 at American University at the 12th Annual Whistleblower Summit in Washington, D.C.

Barbour is a Canadian-born comedian, actor and TV host who directed two documentary films on Jim Garrison, the New Orleans District Attorney who uncovered a conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy that involved elements of the CIA.

In introducing his film, Barbour said that Pepper and Garrison should be regarded, along with Abraham Lincoln, as among the greatest lawyers in U.S. history.

A Tribute to William Pepper begins by detailing the friendship that developed between Pepper and King after Pepper wrote an article in the countercultural magazine Ramparts in 1967 about the use of napalm in Vietnam called “The Children of Vietnam.”

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Retired Judge Stewart Rosenwasser kills self at Orange County home as FBI arrive to arrest him

A former prosecutor and retired judge in Orange County, NY killed himself Tuesday as the FBI arrived at his home to arrest him.

Authorities arrived at Stewart Rosenwasser’s home in Campbell Hall to arrest him as part of a corruption case, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Rosenwasser had been under investigation for taking bribes.

“I was standing by the front door, my friend went outside the front door and they screamed at us to get in the house,” said Orange County resident Linn Cartagena.

It appears there was an exchange of gunfire at the suspect’s home, according to the FBI, which the following statement:

“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting that occurred earlier this morning in Campbell Hall, NY. The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division. As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide.”

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Feds serve search warrants on interim New York City Police Commissioner Tom Donlon

Just over a week after taking charge of the nation’s largest police department, interim New York City Police Commissioner Tom Donlon confirmed Saturday that federal agents served search warrants on multiple homes belonging to him.

In a statement obtained by CBS News, Donlon said that “federal authorities” on Friday “executed search warrants at my residences.”

Donlon alleged that the agents “took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department.”

He added that the NYPD would “not be commenting” as this was “not a department matter.”

Donlon’s predecessor, Edward Caban, resigned on Sept. 12, about one week after it emerged that Caban’s phone was seized as part of a federal investigation that touched several members of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle.

Caban, who had served as commissioner of the NYPD about 15 months, said in an email to staff at the time that he made the decision to resign after the “news around recent developments” had “created a distraction for our department.”

Donlon previously served as the chief of the FBI’s National Threat Center and once led the Office of Homeland Security in New York, before starting his own security firm in 2020. He helped lead the investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and investigated the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings and USS Cole bombing.

Caban’s resignation marked the first high-level departure from the Adams administration since federal investigators seized phones Sept. 4 from several members of the mayor’s inner circle, including two deputy mayors, the schools chancellor, and one of Adams’ top advisers.

The subject of the investigation, which is being led by U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, remains unclear, as does whether federal authorities were seeking information linked to one investigation or several.

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2nd Trump Assassination Attempt Suspect Was Subject of 2019 FBI Tip: Special Agent

An FBI special agent on Monday said that Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was the subject of a tip to the federal law enforcement agency in 2019 about illegally possessing a firearm.

“Following up on the tip, the alleged complainant was interviewed and … did not verify providing the initial information,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B Veltri told a press conference. “The FBI passed that information to local law enforcement in Honolulu.”

Veltri provided no other details about the tip or the ensuing investigation, which he said was later closed.

He said that Routh, who has been charged with felony gun charges in connection to the incident, was taken into custody by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida and taken back to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

“Our FBI agents then attempted to interview him, and he invoked his right to an attorney,” Veltri said at the event.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Routh, who appeared in a federal courthouse earlier Monday, hid for 12 hours near the Trump International Golf Club perimeter and stuck the muzzle of an SKS-style rifle through a fence while the former president was golfing. The rifle, which had a scope on it, as well as a bag of food, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera were recovered, officials have said.

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Trump was the subject of an apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf club, the FBI says

Donald Trump was the target Sunday of “what appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the FBI said, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said he was safe and well, and authorities held a man in custody.

U.S. Secret Service agents posted a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.

An agent fired and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. The man was later taken into custody in a neighboring county.

It was the latest jarring moment in a campaign year marked by unprecedented upheaval. On July 13, Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear. Eight days later, Democratic President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, giving way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party’s nominee.

And it was sure to add to the questions about Secret Service protective operations after the agency’s admitted failures in preventing the attempted assassination of Trump this summer.

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Apalachee High School Shooter On FBI Radar For Over A Year, Campus Threatened In Phone Call Morning Of Massacre

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, law enforcement has revealed the FBI was aware of the suspect for over a year and there was a shooting threat made via telephone on the morning of the attack.

The alarming revelations undoubtedly leave many asking why students were still allowed to go to school after the phone threat or why there wasn’t at least a heightened state of security.

It’s unclear who made the threatening call, but CNN reports the individual warned there would be shootings Wednesday at five schools beginning with Apalachee.

Regarding the shooter being on the FBI radar, the Bureau released a public notice via X on Wednesday, stating, “In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time… Within 24 hours, the FBI determined the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s office for action.”

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Now, the Feds Are Spying on Congress

“Those who have sown the wind shall reap the whirlwind.”
— Hosea 8:7

The federal antipathy to compliance with the Constitution is well known and well documented. Presidents have declared war in contravention of the constitutional command that only Congress may do so. Congress itself has enacted legislation in areas that the drafters of the Constitution reserved to the states — and it has done so using some of the more absurd linguistic contortions thinkable.

In one infamous case where the feds sought to regulate the amount of wheat a farmer grew — all of which his wife ground into flour from which she made baked goods that were all consumed by their family — the feds claimed that his wheat field constituted interstate commerce because by eating his own product instead of selling, he and others similarly situated commercially increased the demand for wheat, and the water that this Ohio farmer used emanated in Pennsylvania and thus the wheat was part of a continuous interstate movement and so was congressionally regulable. The late Justice Antonin Scalia called these arguments, which the court accepted, “hogwash.”

There are many of these. As deep into our pocketbooks as is the Federal Reserve, which is the economically disastrous and liberty-crushing central planner of the U.S. economy, and as invasive of personal freedom as is the Patriot Act, which permits one FBI agent to authorize another to search for private data in the custody of a third party, the Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of either.

Now, one of these chickens is coming home to roost. Here is the backstory.

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