All posts tagged "Politicalcorruption"

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have launched a new whistleblower program encouraging witnesses of public corruption and other crimes to come forward without fear. At an informal sit-down with journalists who cover the federal courts in Manhattan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the idea behind the pilot program is to help prosecutors find out what they don’t know. He said he hopes it will help prosecutors root out corrupt power players by incentivizing whistleblowers to cooperate with the feds early and voluntarily in exchange for non-prosecution agreements. “There are plenty o......

DETROIT — Former Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson has surrendered at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Minnesota to serve a 55-month sentence for pocketing bribes and corrupting the state's marijuana industry, according to an inmate database updated Saturday. The database shows Johnson, 70, among the 433 inmates at FPC Duluth near the western edge of Lake Superior. The prison is about 700 miles northwest of Lansing where Johnson was one of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in the state before becoming a lobbyist and chief regulator of Michigan's marijuana industry. That career ......

CHICAGO -- A who’s who of Illinois Democrats was gathered in Philadelphia in July 2016 for the party’s national convention, where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were vying for the chance to take on Donald Trump. Among the Chicago heavyweights in attendance that week was Ald. Daniel Solis, a staunch Clinton supporter who told the Tribune the excitement of potentially having the first woman in U.S. history ever to be nominated for president was “a historical moment in the life of this country and in my life.” As it turned out, Clinton’s nomination wasn’t the only history going down in the Ci......

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn construction firm reportedly identified as part of a federal corruption inquiry into Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign has an extensive real estate portfolio across New York City and ties to Turkey, whose government has also been named as a potential player. KSK Construction Group, a Brooklyn-based firm, has real estate interests in the commercial, residential and hospitality fields across New York City. The firm has overseen at least 39 projects, including luxury properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a shopping center in Harlem and a Marriott Courtyard Hotel. As first repo......

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the latest case accusing him of pocketing bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy benefactors seeking his help with their business and legal problems. The three-term Democrat has vowed to fight the case. But he’s faced similar allegations before — starting with gifts he received in 2006, the year he began representing New Jersey in the Senate. In 2015, he was charged with accepting benefits including free flights and pricey resort vacations from a friend and political benefactor. That case ended in a hung jury......

A defiant Sen. Bob Menendez declared he would not resign Monday and was prepared for his “biggest fight yet,” delivering his first public remarks after the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan unsealed an indictment accusing the New Jersey Democrat of accepting extravagant bribes. “I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” Menendez, clad in a dark pinstripe suit, told a crush of reporters in Union City, N.J., where he served as mayor in the 1980s and ’90s. Menendez, who is facing his second indictment......