Posts tagged "FBI"

Child pornography offenses usually occur entirely on computers and through the Internet, slowing investigations down while technicians process large volumes of data. The FBI is now using a new set of 13 computer programs to help speed up these investigations to be able to bring more effective child pornography prosecutions.

The new software suite is the brainchild of one FBI agent from Salt Lake City. By harnessing a background in computer science, the agent conceptualized and developed software tools that can chop off 50 percent of the time needed to process hard drive data. The sophisticated software operates off of a plug-in jump drive and efficiently hunts down any potential evidence of unlawful content. And because the programs can also translate the data into a readable format, investigators can quickly make sense of it without extensive computer science training. 

Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife, Leslie Johnson, who was recently reelected to Prince George's County Council, were charged with witness tampering, evidence tampering and destruction, alteration and falsification of records. These charges stem from a 5-year old investigation of real estate developers bribing county officials in exchange for personal and business favors.

The FBI had the Johnsons' phones under surveillance, and while they were knocking on the door, the Johnsons were on the phone, being recorded. Jack Johnson told his wife to destroy a check and flush it down the toilet. Since cash is more difficult to flush, he told his wife to hide a large amount of cash in her underwear. When FBI agents entered the home, they searched Leslie Johnson and discovered $79,600 hidden in her underwear.

People thought they had a great investment in a real estate investment company. They expected large returns on their investments, but the company ran out of money in January 2009. At 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, federal agents raided the home of the owner of the investment company, arresting him and seizing his property. The suspect has been taken into custody by agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service and is being charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.

The FBI's Division of Finance and Corporate Securities believes the accused was running a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which investors are promised large returns. However, the returns the investors do receive are usually paid back with their own initial investment and with the investments of later investments, instead of with profits actually earned by a business. In short, an operator of Ponzi scheme never actually earns money on the investments made, but rather merely shifts the money around. Eventually the money runs out, and investors lose their investments. The most recent example of a notorious Ponzi scheme is the Bernard Madoff affair, in which investors lost billions.