PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A police corruption trial in Philadelphia is far from over, but already one trial witness has been handed a losing verdict.
Witness Robert Kushner lost his varsity coaching job at a private academy after testifying this week about his years selling marijuana.
Kushner, 32, is one of more than a dozen former drug dealers testifying for the federal government about allegations of police wrongdoing. He told jurors Tuesday that some of the undercover officers on trial had stolen $81,000 in cash and seven pounds of marijuana from him during a 2007 arrest.
The United States is closely watching signs of possible major anti-corruption moves in Ukraine involving the forced resignation of a billionaire governor and the arrest of two top state emergency officials.
How can a citizen expect to have fair treatment by government if local attorneys get away with aiding in the alleged corruption of public agencies? I was asked this question by a resident of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who is currently being sued by a collection agency engaged in collection efforts — even though they were not licensed (a felony under Idaho law?) — against him.
WASHINGTON – If federal prosecutors lodge corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez, it will mark the latest in a string of high-profile political cases from the U.S. Justice Department, including last year’s conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell.
The Menendez case, which centers on the New Jersey Democrat’s relationship with a wealthy donor, comes as the agency has stepped up its scrutiny both of politicians’ official actions and the activities of their aides in a new era of unlimited political spending.
The U.S. has poured more than $104 billion into rebuilding Afghanistan – investing in projects and programs that were meant to boost its economy and bolster its security.
But as American troops pack up and head home after 13 long years, those efforts have faltered. The country’s security forces are increasingly weak and a dwindling revenue stream has been mostly sucked dry by corruption and fraud.
On Friday afternoon, CNN reported that the federal prosecutors in the Justice Department’s public integrity division are likely to soon file corruption charges against Robert Menendez, the senior U.S. senator from New Jersey.
The story was just one of several allegations of misconduct against elected officials in the Garden State to get an airing last week. On Thursday, a former state environmental commissioner accused a top aide to Gov. Chris Christie of interfering in a decade-long pollution case to give a break to ExxonMobil, prompting a state legislative hearing later this month. And on Wednesday, testimony continued in a federal courtroom in Newark where Joseph Ferriero, a former county Democratic party chairman, is being retried on corruption charges stemming from fees he extracted from developers and others looking to do business in the state.
For years, Senator Bob Menendez has faced a steady stream of news reports suggesting that he was using his position inappropriately. Up to now, none of those had stuck—but it looks like the New Jersey Democrat’s luck may have run out.
CNN broke the story Friday afternoon that federal prosecutors are close to charging Menendez with using the power of his office to assist a friend and donor’s business interests, in exchange for gifts. The feds are homing in on Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who has given generously to Democrats and is the highest-billing doctor in the Medicare program nationwide.
The Justice Department is preparing to bring criminal charges against Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., for allegedly using his position to support the business interests of a donor and friend,CNN first reported on Friday.
Attorney General Eric Holder already signed off on prosecutors’ request to pursue charges on the allegations — some of which might pass the statute of limitations, the network said.
This week Pope Francis described Mexico as terrifying and expressed fear of the “Mexicanisation” of his native Argentina. Amnesty International denounced enforced disappearances and the use of torture by security forces. Donald Trump criticised the “reign of corruption” in business circles. And, after receiving an Oscar for ‘Birdman’, the director Alejandro González Iñárritu appealed for a “better government” and described the injustice and impunity in his country as unbearable.
PHOENIX — Former Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi reported to a federal prison in West Virginia on Friday to begin serving a three-year sentence for corruption, money laundering and other convictions.
Renzi previously succeeded in postponing the start of his sentence. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that he must report to the minimum security Federal Correctional Institution by Friday.
Bureau of Prisons spokesman Edmond Ross confirmed Renzi had arrived at the Morgantown, West Virginia, facility.
Meanwhile Friday, attorneys for Renzi filed paperwork asking for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Renzi’s convictions last October after his lawyers argued that prosecutors had violated a constitutional clause that grants members of Congress protection for their legislative acts.
