Jerry Seper
Articles by Jerry Seper
Nancy Lanza kept guns for protection
Kingston, N.H., Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. knew Nancy Champion Lanza from high school and worked with her brother, James Champion, a longtime Kingston police officer who retired in 2011 as a captain. Published December 17, 2012
Family seeks millions in Fast and Furious lawsuit
The family of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), claiming the failure of officials within the agency to properly oversee the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation led to the agent's death. The lawsuit seeks $25 million in compensation. Published December 14, 2012
Grassley rips Justice Department for handling of HSBC officials
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee has described as "inexcusable" a decision by the Justice Department to forego any criminal prosecution of HSBC officials in an elaborate conspiracy to launder millions in illegal cash. Published December 14, 2012
Issa: ‘Real accountability’ for Fast and Furious is happening
Two years after weapons found at the site of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent were traced to the failed Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation, a senior House Republican who led committee hearings into the shooting and the operation says there has been "real accountability" for those whose actions contributed to the death and Justice Department officials who failed to properly oversee the operation. Published December 14, 2012
Ex-border officer, 3 others, plead guity to bribery, smuggling charges
A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, his girlfriend and two of their associates pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a multiyear scheme along the U.S.-Mexico border in which he solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and let nearly 200 illegal immigrants enter the U.S. Published December 13, 2012
‘Squashbug’ nabbed at Baltimore Harbor
You won't see his picture at any U.S. Post Office, but Gonocerus acuteangulatus might be more dangerous than Billy the Kid. Published December 12, 2012
‘Fast and Furious’ ‘straw buyer’ gets 57-month term
The man who bought two semi-automatic assault rifles found at the scene of the fatal 2010 shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Phoenix to 57 months in prison over his role in the botched Fast and Furious gun-running investigation. Published December 12, 2012
Standard Chartered Bank forfeits $227 million for violating U.S. sanctions laws
A London-based bank that provided wholesale banking services through branch offices in this country, primarily U.S.-dollar clearing for international wire payments, has agreed to forfeit $227 million to the Justice Department for conspiring to violate international economic regulations that posed a threat to the United States. Published December 10, 2012
Arizona governor ‘not surprised’ by lawsuit
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday she was "not surprised" that a coalition of immigrant-rights advocates had filed a lawsuit against her seeking to overturn an executive order denying driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who avoided deportation under a new Obama administration policy. Published November 30, 2012
CPA sentenced to prison in massive fraud scheme
A certified public accountant was sentenced Friday in Virginia to 54 months in prison in a half-billion-dollar fraud scheme affecting more than 3,500 victims throughout the United States and abroad, the Justice Department said. Published November 30, 2012
Lawsuit seeks to overturn Ariz. Gov. Brewer’s immigration order
A coalition of immigrant-rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to overturn an order by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that denies driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who avoided deportation under a new Obama administration policy. Published November 29, 2012
‘Talks’ begin on ‘Fast and Furious’ gunrunning operation
Lawyers for the Justice Department and a House committee investigating the failed "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation met this week to discuss a possible compromise over the release of disputed documents sought by House investigators in an attempt to resolve a pending lawsuit. Published November 27, 2012
Former spa owner sentenced on sex-trafficking, forced labor charges
A former Illinois spa and massage parlor owner who used violence and threats of violence to force three women from the Ukraine and one from Belarus to work for him without pay and, at times, little to no subsistence over a two-year period was sentenced Monday to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole, the Justice Department said. Published November 26, 2012
5 Mexicans ‘patrolling’ when border agent killed
A Mexican national who pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent — whose 2010 death led to a congressional probe of the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation — was part of a group of five Mexicans armed with semiautomatic assault rifles who were "patrolling" north of the U.S.-Mexico border with the intent to "intentionally and forcibly assault" U.S. border agents. Published November 21, 2012
FBI: 72 on-duty law enforcement officers killed in 2011
Seventy-two law enforcement officers from around the nation were killed in the line of duty in 2011, while another 53 officers died in accidents while performing their duties, the FBI said Tuesday. Published November 20, 2012
Iranian charged in antenna plot
An Iranian national and his Iran-based company were named Tuesday in a federal grand jury indictment in federal court in Washington, D.C., on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., smuggling and the unlawful export of military antennas to Singapore and Hong Kong. Published November 20, 2012
Al Qaeda recruit gets life for N.Y. subway bomb plot
A 34-year-old New York man who joined al Qaeda, then plotted and attempted to commit suicide terrorist attacks was sentenced Friday in federal court in New York to life in prison for multiple federal terrorism offenses. Published November 16, 2012
Justice Department: eBay violated antitrust laws
The U.S.-based internet corporation known as eBay Inc. violated federal antitrust laws when it entered into an agreement not to recruit or hire Intuit Inc.'s employees, the Justice Department said Friday in a civil antitrust lawsuit. Published November 16, 2012
Exelon agrees to pay $400,000
Exelon Corp. agreed on Thursday to pay $400,000 as part of a civil settlement with the Justice Department to resolve the company's alleged violation of two court orders in its sale of three electricity plants in Maryland in order to purchase the Constellation Energy Group. Published November 15, 2012
Guilty plea to cost BP $4B for explosion
BP Exploration and Production Inc. agreed Thursday to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress and to pay $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for its conduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Published November 15, 2012