Archive for category: emptywheel

Tommy K says he shouldn’t go to jail because he has a bad ticker (h/t chrisc). But it sounds like going to jail in the first place may be the least of his worries. According to a filing submitted yesterday, it appears that John Michael’s earlier allegations were correct, and that Tommy K violated his plea agreement by continuing his bank fraud after the plea deal.

(4) During the pre-trial proceedings of coconspirators Brent Wilkes and John Michael, the government first received information suggesting that defendant Kontogiannis was, in fact, still committing federal criminal offenses, including, but not limited to bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.

(5) As part of these proceedings, defense counsel for John Michael obtained various financial documents indicating that Mr. Kontogiannis was–unbenknownst to the government–still continuing his illegal mortgage fraud scheme. In addition, Michael’s defense counsel contacted Washington Mutual to obtain information regarding the fraudulent mortgages that they had purchased from Mr. Kontogiannis.

[snip]

…as a direct result of being contracted by Michael’s defense counsel, Washington Mutual contacted the government with information regarding Mr. Kontogiannis’s continued illegal activity.

(8) Within the past two weeks, we obtained clearer indications that Mr. Kontogiannis was engaged in post-plea illegal activity.

About this, a couple points.

First, this filing suggests that "the government" had no clue that Kontogiannis continued to Read more →

Perhaps it was just a confluence of events that convinced Trent now was the time to quit.

After Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) announced his resignation this week, it was widely speculatedthat Lott was quitting in order to dodge Senate ethics standards thattake effect next year. The new rules require senators to wait two yearsbefore entering “the lucrative world” of lobbying Congress. Lott deniedthe rumor at a press conference, saying the new law “didn’t have a big role” in his decision.

Atthe same press conference, Lott was also asked about Senate ethicsrules regarding “negotiating with a future employer,” to which hereplied that he’s “not really involved in negotiation,” but that “thereare some opportunities out there” that he wants “to be able toconsider”:

QUESTION: Senator, I understand there’s arule in the Senate that if you’re negotiating with a future employer,that you must register with the Ethics Committee. Have you been down tothat committee yet?

LOTT: Well, I have not yet, but I’mnot really involved in negotiation. I’ve tried to stay away from that.There are some opportunities out there that I want to be able toconsider, but I have nothing that we’ve agreed to or lined up.

One of the “opportunities” that Lott is considering, according to his son, Chester Lott — who is also a lobbyist — is “a partnership” with former Sen. John Breaux Read more →

McConnell doesn’t want you to know, no doubt fearing there will be the same kind of firestorm when we learn who has been schmoozing him as there was when we learned who was schmoozing Jello Jay Rockefeller. Thankfully, a Federal Judge thinks we ought to know this information before Congress passes its amendment to FISA (h/t Mad Dog for the heads up).

The Director of National Intelligence must quickly release documentsrelating to 2007 meetings with telecoms concerning proposed amnestybills for companies that helped government’s secret domestic spyingprogram, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The Northern CaliforniaDistrict Court judge ruled that the government must produce thedocuments by December 10 so that the public can be informed about theextent of telecom lobbying before Congress votes on immunity.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is leading a lawsuitagainst AT&T for the telco giant’s alleged cooperation withinternet monitoring and call record data-mining, asked for thedocuments in September via a government sunshine request.

The group asked for documents detailing meetings between telecomsand the nation’s top spy office, as well as meetings between the spiesand legislators. The government agreed to the civil liberties requestto ‘fast-track’ the request.

But months later the DNI still hadn’t released any of the 250unclassified pages of documents or the 65 pages of classified material,prompting the EFF to ask for a judge to force a document dump Read more →

That was the answer John Ashcroft gave to Kathleen when she asked him whether David Addington called Ashcroft’s wife to pressure her to let Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card into Ashcroft’s hospital room, or whether Dick Cheney called personally.

I asked Former Attorney GeneralJohn Ashcroft EW’s question "did President Bush call your wife directlyto tell her that Gonzales and Andrew Card were on the way to thehospital" I then asked "or was it Vice President Cheney or DavidAddington" He answered as he peered down at the stage "I was undersedation".

His talk at the Univ of Colorado was focused on 9/!!, terroist andhow we will deal with this "paradigm" shift in the threat to the U.S.He was still pushing we are the best country in the world "we’re numberone" propaganda. Repeating that the reason that they hate us is due toour liberty. Sure the opposite of what Micheal Scheuer(the resignedhead of the Osama bin Laden unit who has said they hate us because ofour policies, military bases and the unbridled support of Israel nomatter what they do.

Ashcroft and Scheuer’s thinking are miles apart.

The Univ of Colorado audience were rowdy and disrespectful at times.  This left less time for pertinent questions.

" I was under sedation"  Yeah right      

Give Ashcroft credit for this–it’s a new twist on that old favorite: "No Comment." Read more →

In the latest episode in the ongoing saga of disappearing GOP emails, the WSJ reports that Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, invited Geeks on Call in last year, apparently to delete a bunch of emails computer files.

The head of the federal agency investigating KarlRove’s White House political operation is facing allegations that heimproperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a privatecomputer-help company, Geeks on Call.

[snip]

Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erasedall the files on his office personal computer late last year. They arenow trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part ofa cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.

Bypassing his agency’s computer technicians, Mr. Blochphoned 1-800-905-GEEKS for Geeks on Call, the mobile PC-help service.It dispatched a technician in one of its signature PT Cruiser wagons.In an interview, the 49-year-old former labor-law litigator fromLawrence, Kan., confirmed that he contacted Geeks on Call but said hewas trying to eradicate a virus that had seized control of his computer.

Now, this happened last year, well before Bloch incurred the wrath of Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee, Tom Davis, for being mean to Lurita Doan (Bloch’s meanness started in January, according to Davis). But it is, perhaps, worth noting that as of August, Davis was demanding all of Bloch’s emails pertaining to Doan–or to any Read more →