All articles tagged with #false statements
A federal judge referred Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and a top aide to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential federal investigations over allegations of false statements, perjury and obstruction of justice tied to a murder-appeal case, removing Krasner from the matter and signaling possible prosecutions; Krasner disputes the findings and plans to appeal.
Federal prosecutors say ICE officer Castro lied about a Minnesota shooting; charges against two accomplices were dropped after video evidence contradicted their accounts, Castro was suspended and later released amid extradition wrangling, and a civil rights probe remains active with potential additional charges as DOJ internal turmoil continues.
An ICE officer, Christian Castro, was federally charged with making false statements about a shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota earlier this year; local prosecutors had already charged him with second-degree assault and filing a false report. DOJ says the incident followed an ICE attempt to pull over a vehicle, and Castro allegedly shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through a door, with surveillance footage and other evidence reportedly conflicting with his account. The DOJ is also considering civil rights charges, and Castro has been released from a Texas jail amid ongoing extradition proceedings.
Federal prosecutors indicted ICE officer Christian Castro on charges of making false statements about a nonfatal Minnesota shooting during the Trump-era immigration crackdown, a rare instance of the DOJ charging a federal agent with a crime on the job. Castro had previously faced state charges, and the broader Minnesota crackdown involved thousands of federal agents who conducted arrests, clashed with residents, and left three people shot, including two U.S. citizens.
Netflix’s Death of the Pastor’s Wife documentary series revisits the case of Mica Francis Miller’s 2024 death, with her estranged husband and former pastor John Miller facing federal charges of cyberstalking/interstate domestic violence and making false statements to investigators. Prosecutors allege Miller stalked and harassed Mica, posted a nude photo online, and placed a tracking device on her car between 2022 and her death; he has pleaded not guilty, and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6 as the FBI continues the investigation.
A former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve Board was sentenced to more than three years in prison for lying to federal investigators about sharing restricted monetary-policy information with Chinese intelligence; he was acquitted of the conspiracy-to-commit-economic-espionage charge. The case comes as the U.S. tightens scrutiny of Chinese economic espionage, with an additional 12 months of supervised release imposed.
Former U.S. Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein was found guilty on 12 of 16 counts after a six-week trial in Maryland, including tax evasion, willful failure to pay taxes for four years, three counts of making false statements on loan applications, and four counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. He was acquitted on the remaining four counts. Maximum penalties include up to 30 years for each loan-statement count and substantial potential prison terms for other convictions; sentencing will follow for the jury verdict and potential asset-forfeit issues.
Former Dodgers star Yasiel Puig was found guilty of obstructing justice and providing false statements to investigators about his involvement in an illegal sports betting operation. The verdict came after a 12-day trial, with jurors taking nearly two days to reach unanimity. Puig faces up to 20 years in federal prison, and sentencing is set for May 26. The case centers on a 2022 interview with investigators and whether Puig lied about betting through an intermediary; his defense argued he cooperated and that language and cognitive issues complicated his responses.
James Comey's lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss his indictment, arguing that the charges are too vague and that prosecutors should specify what false statements he allegedly made to Congress, while also seeking access to grand jury records they claim may contain misstated facts.
Chairman Jim Jordan has referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the DOJ for criminal prosecution, alleging Brennan made false statements during his testimony about the CIA's involvement with the Steele dossier and its inclusion in the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment, supported by newly declassified documents that contradict Brennan's claims.
A federal grand jury in Alexandria charged former FBI director James Comey with making false statements and obstructing Congress, which he has denied.
Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard Medical School researcher, was indicted on charges of criminal smuggling and making false statements related to frog embryos she attempted to bring into the U.S., with her case currently pending trial.
Robert Brian Thompson, a former senior manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, pleaded guilty to insider trading and making false statements. Thompson used confidential information to make $771,678 in personal profits from trades in financial institutions and falsely reported his assets to conceal the scheme. He faces up to 20 years in prison for insider trading and five years for false statements, with sentencing scheduled for March 2025.
House Republicans have recommended that the Justice Department charge President Biden's son Hunter and brother James for making false statements to Congress during the impeachment inquiry into the president. The GOP-led House committees claim there is "overwhelming evidence" of perjury and false statements regarding their business dealings while Joe Biden was vice president. The Justice Department is not obligated to act on this recommendation, and any criminal referral would be symbolic, leaving the decision to prosecute up to the department.
House Republicans have sent criminal referrals to the DOJ, recommending charges against Hunter and James Biden for allegedly making false statements to Congress. This move comes amid Hunter Biden's unrelated gun trial and follows former President Trump's recent conviction. Hunter and James Biden's lawyers criticized the referrals as partisan distractions, while House Speaker Mike Johnson supported the action. Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, dismissed the referrals as baseless attempts to divert attention from the lack of evidence against President Biden.