'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Thursday it will not try again to sue a watchdog group that shared money from a whistleblower settlement with a government economist more than 14 years ago, following a mistrial in the case last month.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry this week lashed out at U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke,accusing him of meddling in China's domestic affairs after he questioned its policies toward Tibet, where Buddhist monks have been burning themselves to death to protest Chinese rule.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday signaled the investigation into former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.'s scheme to bilk $350,000 in city funds is alive and well, even if the ousted lawmaker is already serving time at a prison in Alabama.
In an exclusive interview just hours before Harry Thomas Jr. was scheduled to board a flight to Alabama to begin serving a 38-month sentence for stealing government funds meant for D.C. youths, the former lawmaker said he spent the last few days of freedom "getting things in order for his family."
A federal court judge sided with lawyers of former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. on Thursday by ordering the prison-bound Ward 5 resident to pay $353,000 in restitution to the District instead of a higher figure demanded by prosecutors.
Harry Thomas Jr., the former D.C. Council member who was sentenced earlier this month to 38 months in prison, will report June 20 to a federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., a member of the Thomas defense team said Friday.
A 46-year-old woman linked to former council member Harry Thomas Jr.'s scheme to steal public funds pleaded guilty on Friday to failing to report income on her tax return in 2010, including a "fee" she obtained for surreptitiously redirecting more than $100,000 in grant funds to cover the costs of an inaugural ball in January 2009.
Former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 38 months in prison for stealing more than $350,000 in public funds.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a second person accused of serving as a pass-through for public funds that former council member Harry Thomas Jr. stole for his personal use.
The director of a golf-oriented nonprofit in Northeast D.C. admitted in federal court on Friday that he failed to disclose his role as a pass-through for public funds stolen by former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. from 2007 to 2009.
A key figure in the corruption probe of former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. has been formally accused of failing to report that city funds were being stolen in 2008 and 2009.
Seated in a federal courtroom packed with reporters, family, friends and supporters of Harry Thomas Jr., who resigned from the D.C. Council and pleaded guilty Friday to felony embezzlement and tax fraud, sat a man who embodies the struggles of the blue-collar constituents Thomas was elected to serve.
Former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to felony counts of stealing more than $350,000 in taxpayer funds and failing to report income on his tax returns.
Embattled D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. on Thursday evening resigned from office and said he will plead guilty in the morning to two federal charges of stealing more than $350,000 in taxpayer funds and failing to report income on his tax returns.
A federal judge in Washington has dismissed on technical grounds a legal challenge to an Obama administration decision that a small North Carolina city must keep political parties in local elections because equal rights for black voters cannot be achieved without the Democratic Party.
Nabatoff declined, prompting Bates to quip, "You're happy to escape by the skin of one juror?"
On Thursday, after Justice Department lawyer David Finkelstein said the government would not retry the case, Bates asked POGO's lawyer, Ross Nabatoff, if he wanted to say anything.
