Friday, January 29, 2010

Facebook Resists Subpoena in Shooting that Involved St. Louis Officer

A former St. Louis police officer who faces a felony trial for a shooting in Pontoon Beach wants to see the Facebook records of several investigating officers and other potential witnesses against him.

Facebook Inc. is resisting a subpoena for those records.

Albert Watkins, attorney for the ex-officer, Bryan Pour, said he believes there are "Facebook friendships" between several officers involved in the investigation and people who were present at Mac N Mick's Sports Bar & Grill on Nov. 9, 2008, when the shooting occurred.

Watkins said those relationships and other evidence "give rise to concerns" about the impartiality of the investigation.

"We believe law enforcement had pre-existing and subsequent relationships with material witnesses," Watkins said. He said it is important to explore those connections.

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Late Night Serve Scares Wife

MONTGOMERY — Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne on Tuesday said opponents who are in a lawsuit over two-year college system policies established while he was the system chancellor are trying to intimidate him.

Byrne said a process server attempted Monday to serve him a subpoena to give a deposition in the lawsuit after dark at his home while he wasn’t there.

In a statement from his campaign, Byrne said his wife answered the door Monday night and was greeted by a man who allegedly wouldn’t identify himself, facts that a lawyer for legislators who sued disputed. “Needless to say my wife was unnerved by this strange, unexpected and mysterious middle-of-the-night caller,” Byrne said.

Byrne campaign spokes-woman Marty Sullivan said the attempt to serve the subpoena occurred between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday.

Read more here.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Judge Tells Government to Serve Lawsuit on Agents

A judge on Monday ordered the government to serve a lawsuit on two unidentified federal agents who allegedly participated overseas in the mistreatment of a Muslim man from New Jersey who was held in Africa for four months between 2006-2007.

Lawyers for Amir Mohamed Meshal, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Tinton Falls, N.J., say he was questioned more than 30 times as a suspected terrorist and threatened with torture and death while imprisoned in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.

In a lawsuit filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, Meshal says he knew two of his interrogators only as "Tim" and "Dennis." Meshal's lawyers say they are confident the two were FBI agents.

Read more here.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

Bomb Squad Sent to Sandhill Road Property

A routine delivery of eviction papers became more exciting for Sangamon County process servers Friday afternoon when an explosive device was found on the property.

The incident happened about noon at a home in the 2300 block of Sandhill Road. Sangamon County process servers went to the home to serve eviction paperwork. They arrived to find numerous vehicles on the property, so they summoned an Illinois Secretary of State officer there to investigate whether the vehicles were legal.

Police discovered what apparently was a blasting cap shoved into a flare. Sandhill Road was closed down, and members of the Secretary of State bomb squad was sent to the property to investigate further.

The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said the blasting cap was considered a “valid explosive device.” The bomb squad retrieved it, and charges are pending, they said.

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Friday, January 22, 2010

FHA Subpoenas 15 Mortgage Companies

The Federal Housing Administration initiated on Tuesday a probe of 15 mortgage companies that have disproportionately high default rates on loans insured by the government agency.

Officials served subpoenas on the companies on Tuesday. The agency is looking at mortgage companies that have had above-average rates of loans that default shortly after origination, which is often a sign of fraud or sloppy underwriting.

The FHA, which doesn’t make loans but instead insures lenders against losses, has boosted its market share rapidly in the aftermath of the housing bust, and it now accounts for around one-quarter of the U.S. mortgage market. The agency is under pressure to stem losses from rising defaults and its capital reserves are expected to be heavily depleted as a result of those defaulted loans.

Read more here.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Deceased Victim Subpoenaed To Testify Against Alleged Killer

Imagine losing a loved one to a violent assault. Then imagine getting a subpoena addressed to that dead loved one ordering them to testify against the alleged killer.

It happened in Englewood.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Della Soliz told 7NEWS. “It’s like rubbing salt into the wound.”

Soliz found her battered son, Timothy Sanchez, sitting on her front porch last March. He’d been drinking at a neighbor’s house across the street on the 3500 block of South Bannock.

According to the arrest affidavit, the suspect, Leonard Ross, told his neighbors that he “kicked Tim’s ass,” because Tim was disrespecting his wife and stepdaughter.

Those neighbors said Ross told them that Tim said, “Which one of your women am I taking with me?”

The victim’s sister, Amanda Garcia, said, “Ross should have walked across the street and told us that Tim was getting out of hand.”

“The thing that really gets me,” Soliz said, “is that when the ambulance was here for my son, Leonard Ross and his family were standing outside across the street. We were trying to figure out what happened. They didn’t say a thing.”

It’s not just the subpoena that family members are upset about. They’re also distressed about a plea bargain that may limit the amount of time Ross spends behind bars.

Read more here

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Process Server Admits Fraud

A Long Island-based process server who was accused of leaving thousands of New Yorkers unaware that they had been sued for unpaid debts, subjecting many of them to surprise judgments, liens and wage garnishments, has pleaded guilty to fraud.

William Singler, owner of American Legal Process, entered the plea Friday in Nassau County Supreme Court, admitting to one count of a class E felony. He is to be sentenced March 24 and still faces a civil suit in which New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seeking damages and penalties.

In a statement announcing the guilty plea Friday, Cuomo said that ALP employees had not served properly, or at all, thousands of notices attorneys and creditors had paid them to serve.

When the uninformed defendants did not respond to the undelivered notices, an estimated 100,000 default judgments were entered in courts across the state. Some 4,800 of those judgments were filed in Erie County, and 2,700 in Niagara County.

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Friday, January 15, 2010

NYRA Complying With Comptroller's Subpoena

The New York Racing Association, which says it may need more taxpayer money to ensure the
Belmont Stakes goes off as planned, said Wednesday it will open its books to the scrutiny of state auditors.

The nonprofit corporation, which oversees racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, said last month that New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli lacked authority to audit it. But on Wednesday, it said it would comply with DiNapoli's subpoenas for its financial records.

Following legislation enacted in 2008, the New York Racing Association was reorganized as a not-for-profit corporation and awarded a new 25-year franchise to operate the state's thoroughbred racetracks.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

House Panel Subpoenas N.Y. Fed's AIG Documents

WASHINGTON—A U.S. House panel issued a subpoena for Federal Reserve Bank of New York documents related to American International Group Inc., as the political pressure surrounding one of the more controversial events of the financial crisis continued to grow.

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he was issuing a subpoena for documents that would "shed light on how and why taxpayer dollars were used for a backdoor bailout." At issue is the government-orchestrated decision to make whole AIG's counterparties on some $62 billion in bets on soured mortgage securities.

"We will work with the committee to provide relevant information as appropriate," said a spokeswoman for the New York Fed.

Read more here.

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Monday, January 11, 2010

Busker Subpoenas Larry O'Brien for His Defence

Look up, look way up.

A street musician inspired to take up the tin whistle after watching the classic children’s show The Friendly Giant is facing charges after allegedly cutting the wires of a Muzak radio speaker that was drowning out his live music in a Rideau Street underpass.

But busker Raymond Loomer is planning an interesting defence: he has successfully subpoenaed Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien, hoping the colourful politician’s testimony will help vindicate him.

Loomer, 47, has been playing the tin whistle for 15 years in the underpass, which is in the shadow of 700 Sussex Dr., where Larry O’Brien lives.

O’Brien, who walks the streets of Ottawa, has passed by the “The Whistler”, and once, according to the busker, said his music reminded him of The Friendly Giant, the show that featured a giant, a rooster named Rusty, who lived in a sack, and a giraffe named Jerome.

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Friday, January 08, 2010

Senate Subpoenaed for Records on Espada

ALBANY — Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo subpoenaed the New York Senate on Wednesday for a broad range of e-mail messages and other records concerning Senator Pedro Espada Jr., the Bronx Democrat who led a monthlong coup that brought state government to a standstill this summer, Mr. Espada said.

Mr. Cuomo has been investigating Mr. Espada for months in cooperation with the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, over matters including political activity by employees of health clinics he founded and whether he resides in his Bronx Senate district.

The latest subpoena focuses on the health clinics, which are part of the Soundview HealthCare Network, and Mr. Espada’s efforts, since winning office two years ago, to obtain Senate earmarks and other state grants.

Read more here.

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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Feds subpoena Superdome Commission for documents

An attorney for the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District Board -- also known as the Superdome Commission -- confirms federal authorities served the board with a subpoena for documents.

Larry Roedel, Superdome Commission attorney, said the subpoena does not mention any person by name.

Former Jefferson Parish President Tim Coulon was chairman of the LSED from 2004-2008. He has since resigned from the board.

Coulon is also implicated in the insurance scandal involving former Jefferson Parish Chief Administrative Officer Tim Whitmer.

Documents reveal Coulon and Whitmer may have been secretly sharing commissions on a lucrative insurance contract at West Jefferson Hospital.

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Monday, January 04, 2010

TSA withdraws subpoenas of travel bloggers

Just days after serving subpoenas to two travel bloggers, the Transportation Security Administration withdrew the subpoenas late Thursday, saying its investigation into how the bloggers received a sensitive security directive "is nearing a successful conclusion."

With little explanation, the TSA withdrew subpoenas of bloggers Steve Frischling and Christopher Elliott seeking information on how they obtained a December 25 security directive. The directive, which had been sent to every airline and airport in the United States, ordered precautions after the failed terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

The TSA acknowledged in a previous statement that it was investigating the leak and publication of the document, saying, "Security directives are not for public disclosure."

Frischling, founder of the Travel Strategist blog, said TSA agents came to his Connecticut home Tuesday evening to question him about his source, leaving for a brief time to go to Wal-Mart to buy a hard drive in a failed effort to copy his hard drive that night.

Read more here

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