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Top Ten FBI Stories of the Week

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 12:22:15 PM EST
Tags: FBI (all tags)
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The FBI is publishing the top ten stories of the week. Here's the list for the week ending Dec. 5.

Of the ten stories, five pertain to crimes by allegedly crooked cops and politicians; two to white collar bigshots; one to a little white collar guy; and one to a crime by a former government employee.

There's no murders, no big drug dealers or gun offenders other than cops, no child p*rn, cybercrimes or terrorism (other than a reference to the resentencing of a terror suspect for a crime committed years ago.)

There's a message here, I'm just not sure what it is. [More...]

Update: I think I have it. Our biggest crime threat comes from those in a position of public trust: politicians, cops, CEO's of publicly held companies and government employees. It does not come from drug dealers, sex offenders, cybercriminals, bank robbers or street gangs.

The FBI is a law enforcement agency. Its job is to investigate crime and then bring the cases it thinks should be prosecuted to the Justice Department so prosecutors can bring cases to the grand jury, get Indictments, prosecute and obtain convictions.

Our soon-to-be Attorney General, Eric Holder, while promising to be tough on economic crime, has historically been one to focus on drugs, guns, sex offenders, cybercrimes, terrorists and gangs.

If the FBI is right that these are the top ten stories of the week, Holder's Justice Department priorities are destined to be out-of-whack with the true threat: public corruption. Instead of focusing on crimes by the powerless little guys, he should be focusing on crimes by those with government-granted powers. DOJ should make it a priority to go after crooked cops and politicians, CEO's who cheat stockholders and government employees who cheat the public. With the exception of terror cases, it should leave the rest to the states to prosecute.

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    Top Ten FBI Stories of the Week | 7 comments (7 topical)
    darn, you beat me to it! (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by cpinva on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    yep, that's pretty much my take on it as well: the greatest criminal threat to society comes from those charged with enforcing the laws against criminal threats to society.

    something tells me this isn't a particularly new situation.

    Truer words never spoken... (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 01:14:56 PM EST
    a common criminal can only take your life...the criminal in power can take your freedom, and there is nothing more precious that can be taken...not even your life.

    [ Parent ]
    Curious about the backstory ... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by wystler on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 03:25:06 PM EST
    ... in the Yue Cheng case.

    Former Government Employee Arrested

    (Norfolk, Virginia) - Yue Cheng, age 26, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was arrested today on a criminal complaint charging the following five counts:

    1. Conspiracy to Commit Marriage Fraud, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 371;

    2. False Claims, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 287;

    3. Procurement of Citizenship or Naturalization Unlawfully, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1425 and 2;

    4. False Statements Related to Naturalization or Citizenship, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1015(a) and 2; and

    5. False Statements, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1001.

    Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Alex J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement.

    According to the Criminal Complaint, Cheng applied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Norfolk Virginia to become a special agent in March 2007. While in special agent training at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia, on March 3, 2008, she admitted to entering into a fraudulent marriage for the purpose of obtaining United States citizenship. In 2001 at the age of 19 she married, in Las Vegas, a 57 year old resident of California for the sole purpose of obtaining citizenship. According to the complaint, Cheng later enlisted in the United States Navy and while in the U.S. Navy here in Norfolk, due to the fraudulent marriage, she collected in excess of $24,000 in Base Allowance for Housing (BAH) allowance. As part of the application process to become a United States citizen, Cheng is charged with making false statements to the Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident status. The complaint also alleges Cheng made false statements to the FBI for the purpose of obtaining a position as a special agent.

    This case was investigated by the Norfolk Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph DePadilla is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

    Criminal Complaints are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

    How does this rate Top-10 status? (unless there's far more involved)

    Curious as get-out about how the FBI got her to admit that the Vegas marriage was fraudulent, but no more so than why this rates Top-10 (but i repeat myself).

    She could've been here under Deep Cover (none / 0) (#5)
    by Dark Avenger on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 03:42:49 PM EST
    Alternatively, if it was known to the CC govt. that her status here was phony, she'd be a great 'asset', once in the FBI she'd probably be involved in cases involving military/industrial espionage and the CC, which are not as few nor far between as most folks think.

    [ Parent ]
    That's what i'd have surmised (none / 0) (#6)
    by wystler on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 03:54:51 PM EST
    Evidence-free? Sure. But I see nothing special about this case on the surface, other than that this seems the sole real conclusion about how this case rates as Top-10.

    Still, it seems to fail the smell test. If it were a deep cover thing, the FBI's chance to expand took a hit when docs went public.

    Oh well ...

    [ Parent ]

    But you know, here's the thing (none / 0) (#7)
    by sj on Tue Dec 09, 2008 at 09:24:46 AM EST
    This whole "fraudulent marriage" thing has always seemed to me to be vague and really trumped up.  As far as I know, we don't have a law that says a marriage can only be made for pretermined, authorized reasons.  

    And anyway, personal security has always been up there as one of those reasons for quite a number of (if not most) marriages through the ages.  I don't see a darn thing wrong with this particular variation on a marriage of convenience.

    [ Parent ]

    So, an interesting, though very subtle (none / 0) (#3)
    by scribe on Mon Dec 08, 2008 at 01:37:29 PM EST
    bit of preemptive bureaucratic warfare on the part of the FBI.  No one ever said (with a straight face) that they didn't know how to play politics.

    But, what comes to mind for me is something I've read quoting Sy Hersh, in which he relates that he's been pushing his sources for more revelations of Bushco wrongdoing, and they're all telling him "call me January 21".  So, maybe the FBI is pulling together strings (or finding issues and cases) along the same lines as Hersh?

    And we're looking at a major eruption of "white-collar", public corruption and bureaucrats-as-defendants cases come January?

    Hmmm?

    Top Ten FBI Stories of the Week | 7 comments (7 topical)