Us Department Of Justice

US Justice Department approves Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros.

DOJ said it reviewed more than 2 million documents obtained from 80 sources in evaluating the deal's impact on various segments of the entertainment industry

Indian-American arrested in California over alleged $100 million bank fraud

A 44-year-old Indian-American man was arrested in California for allegedly defrauding a bank of nearly USD 100 million by manipulating title records of insurance policies. Mahender Makhijani has been living in the US on a Green Card and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted. "Mahender Makhijani, a lawful permanent resident from India living in Corona del Mar, was arrested this (Wednesday) morning on a federal criminal complaint charging him with defrauding a bank out of nearly USD 100 million," Bilal Essayli, First Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California, said. As alleged, Makhijani falsified title insurance records, concealed true lien positions, and used a network of shell companies to mislead a federally insured bank out of nearly USD 100 million," said Darren Lian, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation's Los Angeles Field Office. In a statement on Wednesday, Essayli said the arrest highlighted his office's continue

Inside the White House panic over Epstein files and growing MAGA backlash

The president's top advisers gathered in a series of Situation Room meetings as they struggled to contain a scandal engulfing Donald Trump himself

FBI seizes 13 websites allegedly used by China to recruit US workers

The FBI has seized more than a dozen websites that officials say were part of a Chinese effort to target American workers who have access to classified or sensitive government information, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The 13 websites purported to be affiliated with consulting companies that advertised job openings for current and former holders of security clearances. But the companies were all fakes and the job postings were a sham, officials said. The internet domain seizure is part of a broader effort by Western law enforcement and intelligence agencies to sound the alarm about alleged Chinese government plots to recruit workers who can be duped into disclosing sensitive information. Last week, for instance, the English-speaking Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US - issued a bulletin warning that China is targeting personnel from those countries on job websites to get access to classified or sensitive ...

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried seeks presidential pardon from Trump

The 34-year-old submitted an application to the Justice Department's Pardon Attorney Office, according to the office's website, requesting a "pardon after completion of sentence"

Trump picks former personal lawyer Todd Blanche for attorney general post

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, tapping his former personal lawyer who has aggressively pursued the Republican president's agenda while leading the Justice Department in an acting role. Trump said at a dinner at the White House that he plans to nominate Blanche formally on Thursday, according to a video of the event posted on social media by a White House aide. "We are going to make him permanent attorney general," Trump said at the Rose Garden event. Blanche sought quickly to position himself as the favourite for the permanent job after Pam Bondi's firing in April, accelerating investigations into Trump foes and announcing a nearly USD 1.8 billion fund meant to compensate the president's allies for alleged political persecution. The proposed fund created a bipartisan firestorm that forced the Justice Department to scrap the idea earlier this week in an extraordinary about-face. Blanche was brought into the Just

Trump admin to appeal US court order mandating broad tariff refunds

US Customs and Border Protection launched a new online portal to process refund claims on April 20, signaling that it intended to repay at least some of the approximately $1 billion in refund

US DOJ targets slow immigration judges as Trump pushes faster deportations

The Justice Department is aiming to weed out immigration judges who it feels are ruling too slowly or aren't following the law, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said, as the Trump administration seeks to remake the courts and cut down on the backlog of 3.7 million cases to ease its mass deportation push. Blanche was in Phoenix to address the Border Security Expo, a yearly gathering that draws top immigration officials, local and state law enforcement officers and representatives from companies doing business with the federal government. Blanche's appearance at the gathering on Wednesday reflects the way immigration enforcement and border security has become a priority throughout the Trump administration. Blanche, who has led the Justice Department since Pam Bondi was ousted last month, spoke to The Associated Press after his appearance at the conference. His comments were some of the most detailed on the changes to immigration courts since he took over the role. "You take an

US DOJ to allow firing squads for executions to ramp up capital punishment

The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said Friday. The Justice Department is also reauthorising the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration - more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering. The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorised seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. "The prior administration failed in its duty to prot

Trump appoints Todd Blanche acting attorney general after Pam Bondi's exit

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Pam Bondi is out as his attorney general, ending the contentious tenure of a loyalist who upended the Justice Department's culture of independence from the White House, oversaw large-scale firings of career employees and moved aggressively to investigate the Republican president's perceived enemies. The departure followed months of scrutiny over the Justice Department's handling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation and failed efforts to meet Trump's unwavering demands for criminal cases against his adversaries. As Trump's own frustrations mounted, he began privately discussing firing Bondi, people familiar with the matter say. "Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year," Trump said in a statement. He added, "We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced a

US DOJ settles lawsuit from Trump ally Michael Flynn for $1.2 million

The Justice Department has settled for roughly USD 1.2 million a lawsuit from Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty during the Republican's first term to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned. Court papers filed Wednesday do not reveal the settlement amount, but a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose nonpublic information, confirmed the total as about USD 1.2 million. The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit in which Flynn sought at least USD 50 million and asserted that the criminal case against him amounted to a malicious prosecution. It also represents a stark turnabout in position for a Justice Department that during the Biden administration had pressed a judge to dismiss Flynn's complaint. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former personal lawyer for the president, has openly criticised the Russia ...

Epstein's former attorney tells House panel he didn't know about the abuse

Jeffrey Epstein's longtime personal attorney testified to a House committee that he was unaware of the late financier's sexual abuse of underage girls at the time it was happening, becoming the latest person connected to Epstein to take that stance. Darren Indyke, who worked as Epstein's attorney for roughly two decades, told the House Oversight Committee in his opening statement that he "had had no knowledge whatsoever" of Epstein's abuse and would have quit working for him if he had known he was trafficking women and underage girls. Other associates of Epstein, including his former accountant Richard Kahn, one of his largest clients Les Wexner, and former President Bill Clinton, have also told the committee in sworn depositions that they didn't know about Epstein's abuse. Democrats on the committee aired their frustration during a break from Indyke's deposition, saying that the lawyer had taken a "defensive" posture in the face of questioning. Indyke, along with Kahn, are executo

Trump ally Pirro's defiant streak on display in case against Fed's Powell

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro vowed to appeal a ruling blocking subpoenas tied to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, despite fears a prolonged legal fight could delay confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Fed chief

Epstein's longtime accountant testifies on his wealth, business network

House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein's sprawling financial portfolio Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world's wealthiest men. Richard Kahn, who worked closely with Epstein for years and now serves as an executor of his estate, appeared for the closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill. He told lawmakers that he had not personally seen evidence of Epstein's sexual abuse, but provided a fuller picture of how Epstein acquired his wealth. The wealthy financier made hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades during which he struck up friendships with some of the world's most powerful men. Kahn "was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner," said Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee. Lawmakers argued that a fuller picture of Epstein's finances could help the public understand how for years he was able to get away

UnitedHealthcare CEO killing: US drops death penalty bid against Mangione

US District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled in January that prosecutors can't pursue the capital murder charge, but that a jury could determine if Mangione caused CEO's death under two stalking laws

Hillary Clinton denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes in House deposition

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US House lawmakers in New York on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's or Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton. "I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein," Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media. The closed-door depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress. Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein's abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond. President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed regret that the ...

Reviewing if any Epstein-related records were mistakenly withheld: US DOJ

The Justice Department said Wednesday that it was looking into whether it improperly withheld documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files after several news organisations reported that some records involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against President Donald Trump were not among those released to the public. The announcement followed news reports saying that a massive tranche of records released by the Justice Department did not include several summaries of interviews that the FBI conducted with an unidentified woman who came forward after Epstein's 2019 arrest and claimed to have been sexually assaulted by both Trump and Epstein when she was a minor in the 1980s. "Several individuals and news outlets have recently flagged files related to documents produced to Ghislaine Maxwell in discovery of her criminal case that they claim appear to be missing," the Justice Department said in a post on X. "As with all documents that have been flagged by the public, the Department i

Trump's pick to lead new DOJ unit scrutinised as he declares 'war on fraud'

President Donald Trump's pick to lead a new Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud said Wednesday he would pursue prosecutions "without fear or favour" as questions grow about how the new unit will operate free of political influence from a White House that has declared a "war on fraud." The proposed National Fraud Enforcement Division has raised eyebrows not only because fraud is already prosecuted by the agency's Criminal Division but because the White House has suggested it will have an unusual role in overseeing the new division's work. Colin McDonald's nomination to serve as the first assistant attorney general in charge of the new division comes as the Trump administration has put fresh attention on allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. During his State of the Union speech Tuesday, Trump announced that Vice President JD Vance would lead the "war on fraud," accusing members of Minnesota's Somali community of having "pillaged" billions from American ..

Trump admin sues New Jersey over restrictions on immigration arrests

The Trump administration is suing New Jersey over a state order that prohibits federal immigration agents from making arrests in nonpublic areas of state property, such as correctional facilities and courthouses. The Justice Department lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Trenton, challenges Gov Mikie Sherrill's February 11 executive order, which also bars the use of state property as a staging or processing area for immigration enforcement. Sherrill, a Democrat who took office January 20, "insists on harbouring criminal offenders from federal law enforcement," the lawsuit said, accusing her of attempting to obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Sherrill's executive order "poses an intolerable obstacle" to immigration enforcement and "directly regulates and discriminates" against the federal government, said the lawsuit, which misspelled her name as "Sherill." Asked about the lawsuit Tuesday, Sherrill said: "What I think th

US Justice department probes Warner Bros. sale's impact on theatres

Although the chief focus of the review is likely to be Netflix Inc.'s dominance in the streaming business, the release of Warner Bros. films in theaters has become a concern as well