Following Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance, major tech companies began publishing transparency reports disclosing limited information about government data requests, marking the first time companies could publicly acknowledge FISA court orders. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, …
Microsoft and Google filed federal lawsuits challenging government gag orders that prohibited them from disclosing details about Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests and National Security Letters (NSLs) they receive for customer data. The companies argued these blanket nondisclosure …
U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed war crimes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sentence was the longest ever imposed on a whistleblower under the Espionage Act and sparked …
On June 21, 2013, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake approved a deal reducing former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s prison sentence from 24 years to 14 years—a 10-year reduction that symbolized the erosion of corporate accountability in the decade following the Enron prosecutions. The sentence …
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden on June 14, 2013, charging him with three felonies: unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized …
During a critical congressional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed the Department of Justice’s emerging doctrine of ’too big to jail’, acknowledging that prosecuting certain financial institutions could …
On January 29, 2013, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer announced his resignation as head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, just one week after PBS Frontline aired “The Untouchables,” a damning documentary exposing how the Obama Justice Department had …
Former CIA officer Jeffrey Alexander Sterling was indicted on espionage charges for allegedly revealing details about Operation Merlin—a botched covert operation to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program—to New York Times journalist James Risen. The case became a flashpoint in the conflict between …
BP reached a landmark $4.5 billion criminal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, pleading guilty to 14 criminal charges including 11 felony counts of misconduct or negligent homicide related to the deaths of the 11 workers in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The settlement included $4 …
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou pleaded guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act after being indicted under the Espionage Act for publicly confirming that waterboarding was official U.S. government policy. In a profound miscarriage of justice, Kiriakou became the only person …
FBI agents executed coordinated early-morning raids on the homes and offices of anti-war and international solidarity activists in Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities, seizing computers, phones, documents, and political materials. The raids targeted activists organizing against the Iraq and …
On April 16, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs and Vice President Fabrice Tourre with securities fraud related to ABACUS 2007-AC1, a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) tied to subprime residential mortgage-backed securities. The SEC alleged that Goldman …
Former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake was indicted on ten felony counts, including five under the Espionage Act of 1917, marking the Obama administration’s aggressive prosecution of national security whistleblowers. Drake faced up to 35 years in prison for allegedly retaining classified …
Four men from Newburgh, New York—James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen—were arrested in an FBI sting operation in which a paid government informant conceived the plot, provided all the means, and coerced economically desperate men into participating. A federal judge …
Northrop Grumman Corporation and its predecessor TRW Inc. agreed to pay $325 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they provided and billed the National Reconnaissance Office for defective microelectronic parts used in classified spy satellites over a decade-long period from 1992 to …
Despite widespread evidence of fraud in the 2008 financial crisis, the Obama administration prosecuted zero major Wall Street executives, contrasting starkly with the Savings and Loan crisis when 1,706 bankers were sent to prison. Instead, the DOJ pursued civil settlements totaling tens of billions, …
The Department of Justice approved Delta Air Lines’ $2.6 billion stock-swap merger with Northwest Airlines, creating the world’s largest airline and triggering a decade-long consolidation wave that would reduce major U.S. carriers from ten to four dominant players controlling …
Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $23,134,695 in restitution for his role in the massive congressional corruption scandal. This Washington D.C. sentencing was for conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, honest services fraud involving …
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issues classified ruling finding NSA’s warrantless surveillance programs violated the Fourth Amendment and FISA statute on a systematic basis. The court documented that intelligence agencies had misled judges about the scope and nature of surveillance …
Bank of America completed its acquisition of Countrywide Financial on July 1, 2008, purchasing the nation’s largest mortgage lender for approximately $4 billion in a Federal Reserve-approved transaction that would ultimately cost Bank of America and its shareholders at least $50 billion in …
FISA Court Judge Roger Vinson delivered a significant rebuke to the Bush administration by rejecting the government’s attempt to rewrite FISA statutes to permit expanded warrantless surveillance inside the United States. The government sought to stretch FISA’s definition of a …
Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine releases comprehensive report documenting widespread FBI abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) and surveillance authorities. The investigation found FBI systematically circumvented legal requirements, collected intelligence on Americans without …
On October 23, 2006, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years and four months in federal prison for his role in the Enron fraud, representing one of the harshest sentences ever imposed on a corporate executive. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake also ordered Skilling to forfeit …
Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, becoming the first member of Congress convicted in the case. Ney admitted to receiving gifts including golf trips to Scotland, expensive meals, and …
On May 25, 2006, a federal jury convicted Enron founder Kenneth Lay on all six counts of fraud and conspiracy, and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling on 19 of 28 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. The verdicts marked a watershed moment in corporate accountability, holding top …
The FBI ordered informant Craig Monteilh to infiltrate multiple large mosques in Orange County, California, in a dragnet surveillance operation that targeted entire Muslim communities rather than specific suspects. The operation exemplified the FBI’s post-9/11 practice of religious profiling …
On July 13, 2005, former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for orchestrating the largest corporate accounting fraud in American history. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan, represented one of the harshest penalties ever …
On July 7, 2004, a federal grand jury indicted Enron founder and former CEO Kenneth Lay on 11 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements to banks. The indictment charged that Lay repeatedly lied to investors, employees, and federal regulators about Enron’s …
The Justice Department’s torture authorization memo represents the institutional culmination of WHIG’s constitutional crisis precedent establishment, demonstrating how systematic executive deception creates legal frameworks enabling executive immunity from constitutional constraints and …
The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on February 26, 2004, seeking to block Oracle Corporation’s proposed hostile acquisition of PeopleSoft, alleging that the merger would substantially reduce competition in the enterprise software market and result in higher prices, less …
The Department of Justice announced that HCA Inc. (formerly Columbia/HCA), once led by Rick Scott, agreed to pay the United States $631 million in civil penalties and damages, bringing the total recovery to $1.7 billion when combined with earlier settlements—the largest healthcare fraud case in U.S. …
On June 15, 2002, a federal jury convicted Arthur Andersen LLP of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of Enron-related documents. The verdict effectively destroyed one of the world’s most prestigious accounting firms, eliminating 85,000 jobs globally and marking the last time a …
On March 14, 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Arthur Andersen LLP on one count of obstruction of justice for destroying “literally tons of paper documents and other electronic information” related to the Enron collapse. The indictment, handed down by a …
NationsBank completes its $62 billion acquisition of BankAmerica Corporation, creating the first truly coast-to-coast national bank in U.S. history and taking the Bank of America name. The merger occurs just one year before the formal repeal of Glass-Steagall, demonstrating how banking consolidation …
Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) takes effect, creating a program allowing the Immigration and Naturalization Service to deputize state and local law enforcement officers to perform immigration enforcement functions. Under 287(g) agreements, …
President Bill Clinton signs the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) in response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, despite the attack having no connection to immigration. While primarily focused on death penalty procedures and terrorism prosecution, the law contains sweeping …
In a landmark case of regulatory capture, Dr. Curtis Wright IV, leading the FDA’s Division of Anesthetic, Critical Care, and Addiction Drug Products, approved OxyContin with controversial language that misrepresented the drug’s addictive potential. Wright held private meetings with …
President Ronald Reagan signs the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, introducing the “aggravated felony” concept into immigration law for the first time. Initially defined narrowly to include murder, federal drug trafficking, and illicit trafficking in certain firearms or destructive devices, …
Between 1988 and 1992, the Department of Justice prosecutes over 1,000 savings and loan bankers for fraud and related crimes during the S&L crisis, with regulators making over 30,000 criminal referrals that produce felony convictions in cases designated as “major” by DOJ. Federal …
Reagan’s Antitrust Chief William Baxter released the Department of Justice’s 1982 Merger Guidelines, fundamentally transforming how the federal government evaluated mergers and effectively repealing Congressional antitrust statutes through administrative policy. The FTC simultaneously …
The Department of Justice and AT&T finalize the antitrust settlement requiring the telecommunications giant to divest its seven regional Bell operating companies (Baby Bells) in 1984, breaking up the AT&T natural monopoly. However, this settlement paradoxically marks the end rather than …
President Ronald Reagan appointed Stanford Law Professor William F. Baxter as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, marking the formal beginning of antitrust enforcement collapse and the operationalization of Chicago School ideology throughout the federal government. Baxter, a …
Ronald Reagan’s inauguration marked the beginning of the most consequential transformation in American antitrust policy since the Sherman Act of 1890—an eight-year systematic dismantlement of competition enforcement that would enable four decades of corporate consolidation and monopolization. …
President Gerald Ford signed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), requiring companies to notify the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division of large proposed mergers and wait 30 days before consummating transactions, giving regulators time to …
President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, expanding on the 1957 Act by authorizing federal courts to appoint voting referees to register Black voters and imposing criminal penalties for obstruction of court orders. However, the law’s case-by-case approach and dependence on …
On June 17, 1957, the Supreme Court issued three decisions that significantly limited McCarthyist overreach: Yates v. United States, Watkins v. United States, and Service v. Dulles. Known as “Red Monday” to conservative critics, these rulings began the judicial rollback of the security …
On June 4, 1951, the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-2 in Dennis v. United States, upholding the convictions of eleven Communist Party leaders under the Smith Act of 1940. The decision effectively criminalized political advocacy, allowing prosecution for teaching or advocating revolutionary …
President Harry Truman vetoes the Internal Security Act of 1950 (McCarran Act) on September 22, 1950, sending Congress a lengthy veto message criticizing specific provisions as “the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798,” a …
The Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Korematsu v. United States on December 18, 1944, upholding the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 and the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Justice Hugo Black writes for the majority that military necessity during wartime justifies the mass …
The Justice Department indicts Anaconda Wire and Cable Company and five employees for conspiracy to defraud the United States by supplying defective wire and cable for combat use. Lend-Lease shipments to the Soviet Union were 50% defective, prompting an official Soviet protest. Despite pleading …