Attorney General

Eric Holder says feds will seek death penalty against accused Boston Marathon bomber

Eric Holder Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in a written statement released Thursday. “After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have…

Jan 30, 2014 9:05 PM CST

Virginia attorney general won’t defend state ban on same-sex marriage

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring will notify a federal court in Norfolk today that his office will no longer defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Herring believes the ban is unconstitutional, his spokesperson told the Associated Press. The Washington Post also has a story based on two anonymous sources.…

Jan 23, 2014 1:07 PM CST

Same-sex marriages in Utah will be recognized by federal government, Holder says

The federal government will recognize nearly 1,300 same-sex marriages performed in Utah in recent weeks, despite the state’s announcement that it would not confer legal status on those unions. According to the New York Times, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that the marriages would be “recognized as…

Jan 10, 2014 6:49 PM CST

Turning a blind eye to Madoff fraud spurs $1.7B penalty for JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges that it ignored signs of fraud by its client Bernard Madoff. The money will go to victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, report the New York Times DealBook blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). An agreement expected…

Jan 7, 2014 3:22 PM CST

Justice Department legal opinion on call records is protected from disclosure, DC Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled against the Electronic Frontier Foundation in its fight for a legal opinion by the Justice Department that said phone companies may voluntarily give call records to the FBI. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the Jan. 8, 2010, opinion by…

Jan 3, 2014 7:56 PM CST

Lack of Wall Street prosecutions spurs federal judge’s critical essay

A New York federal judge is criticizing the U.S. Justice Department for failing to prosecute Wall Street executives who may have played a role in the financial crisis. File photo of U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff by Stringer/Reuters/Corbis. The “blistering essay” by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff criticizes some of…

Dec 16, 2013 7:57 PM CST

Autocomplete search led to government stalking, lawsuit contends

Image from Shutterstock. A former employee with a government contractor claims the government began a campaign of harassment against him because of Google’s autocomplete feature. Jeffrey Kantor says in a federal lawsuit (PDF) that he intended to search for “How do I build a radio-controlled airplane?” in October 2009 because…

Dec 12, 2013 1:38 PM CST

What JPMorgan did wrong: 2006 meeting and ignored warnings spurred $13B settlement

A statement of facts negotiated as part of a record $13 billion settlement announced on Tuesday details how JPMorgan Chase misled investors when packaging mortgage securities. JPMorgan hired a third party to review mortgages purchased from lenders for securitization, but ignored warnings and included faulty loans in the pools without…

Nov 20, 2013 3:25 PM CST

Impeach Holder? A group of House Republicans is pursuing the idea

Eleven Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to seek the impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder in a resolution to be introduced on Thursday. The group has drafted four articles of impeachment, report the Hill’s Briefing Room blog, Politico, Reuters and the Atlantic Wire. The group’s leader…

Nov 14, 2013 2:52 PM CST

Airline merger deal OK’d by Justice Department

The U.S. Justice Department has approved a settlement that would allow the merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways. The deal calls for the two airlines to sell 104 takeoff and landing slots at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, and 34 slots at La Guardia Airport in New York,…

Nov 13, 2013 3:40 PM CST

This ‘unassuming’ career prosecutor developed the theory used to sue Wall Street banks

Justice Department officials are crediting a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles for developing the theory used to file civil suits against banks for practices blamed for the mortgage meltdown. Leo “Lee” Weidman is “an unassuming 69-year-old career prosecutor, toiling away in anonymity 3,000 miles from Washington,” but his idea of…

Nov 1, 2013 10:45 AM CDT

Illinois sues online adoption agency

The state of Illinois has sued an online adoption agency that matches prospective parents with birth mothers. The suit by Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the Adoption Network Law Center accepts compensation for its services and is not approved by the state to place children, the Chicago Tribune reports. The…

Oct 29, 2013 7:03 PM CDT

JPMorgan said to reach tentative deal to pay $13B to resolve civil probes, a record amount

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly reached a tentative deal to pay $13 billion to resolve civil probes regarding the sale of troubled mortgage securities. The New York Times DealBook blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) are among the publications reporting on the tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department,…

Oct 21, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Did state AG order troopers to speed and use sirens as they drove him to appointments? He denies it

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler came out swinging after he was accused of regularly ordering state troopers to turn on the lights and sirens, speed and run red lights as they drove him to routine appointments. The Washington Post obtained police documents detailing the allegations, including a December 2011 memo…

Oct 18, 2013 11:40 AM CDT

For the first time, DOJ will inform defendant about evidence derived from warrantless surveillance

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to notify a criminal defendant that evidence against him was derived from warrantless surveillance—a first for the DOJ. The decision to disclose follows an internal Justice Department debate about the need to disclose such evidence, the New York Times reports in a story based…

Oct 18, 2013 10:45 AM CDT