OIG Recent Updates

Criminal or Civil Case

April 22, 2021

Deputy U.S. Marshal Arrested and Indicted for Aggravated Identity Theft, Identity Theft, and False Document

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April 20, 2021

Former Inmate Admits Role in Scheme to use Drones to Smuggle Contraband into Fort Dix Federal Prison

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April 19, 2021

Disbarred Attorney Sentenced To 51 Months In Prison For Stealing 9/11 Victim Compensation Funds

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April 15, 2021

Former Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officer Sentenced for Sex Offense

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April 6, 2021

Former FBI Management and Program Analyst Sentenced for Bribery of a Public Official and Making and Subscribing a False Federal Income Tax Return

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April 5, 2021

Federal Correctional Officer Indicted in Connection with Plan to Smuggle Drugs into Prison

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April 5, 2021

Jury Convicts Former Chairwoman of Montana Native Women’s Coalition of Stealing Federal Grant Funds

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March 30, 2021

Former Boston Police Captain Arrested For Overtime Fraud Scheme

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March 30, 2021

Former Executive Director of a Crime Victim Shelter Sentenced for Conspiracy to Embezzle DOJ Grant Funds

>>13516450

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March 25, 2021

Former NEOCC Correctional Officer Sentenced for Bribery Official and Introduction of Contraband

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March 18, 2021

Former BOP Contract Correctional Officers Arrested for Introduction of Contraband

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March 18, 2021

Williamsport Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

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March 17, 2021

Former BOP Correctional Officer Sentenced for Bribery

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March 17, 2021

Ex-Federal Correctional Officer Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Taking Over $15,000 in Bribes and Smuggling Contraband for Inmates

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March 15, 2021

Non DOJ Individual Sentenced for Aiding and Abetting the Use of a Communication Facility to Commit a Felony Offense

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March 11, 2021

Former BOP Federal Prison Industries Factory Manager Sentenced for Making False Statements

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March 11, 2021

Former Federal Prison Official and Factory Manager at USP-Marion Sentenced to Prison

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March 10, 2021

DOJ Grantee Indicted for Additional Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft Charges

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March 9, 2021

Former U.S. Attorney’s Office Contractor Paralegal Sentenced for Misuse of a Government Computer

>>13516456

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March 5, 2021

BOP Inmate Sentenced for Bribery

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March 4, 2021

Former BOP Correctional Officer Pleaded Guilty to Bribery

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March 3, 2021

Former BOP Correctional Officer Arrested on Charged of Bribery of a Public Official, Conspiracy, and Providing Contraband

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March 1, 2021

BOP Correctional Officer Indicted and Arrested for Introduction of Contraband and False Statements

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March 1, 2021

Former BOP Correctional Officer Arrested for Bribery

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February 28, 2021

Business Owner Associate of Former DEA Special Agent Arrested and Charged with Bribery of a Public Official

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February 26, 2021

Former USMS Contract Correctional Officer Sentenced for Bribery

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February 25, 2021

Former Employee of DOJ Grant Recipient Arrested and Charged with Felony Theft

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February 25, 2021

Former BOP Contract Food Service Officer Sentenced for Bribery of a Public Official

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February 18, 2021

Former BOP Recycling Technician Sentenced for Theft of Public Money

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February 18, 2021

Former and Current BOP Correctional Officers Pleaded Guilty and Sentenced for Making False Statements

Op-Ed

The real Iran nuclear talks: Why did Bill Burns go to Baghdad?

19fortyfive.com

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE POLICYMIDDLE EAST

Michael Rubin

Michael Rubin

@mrubin1971

April 26, 2021

The Biden administration has made no secret of its desire to negotiate with Iran.

During the campaign, Joe Biden repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s decision to exit the 2015 nuclear deal and urged a quick renewal to direct diplomacy. Just days after Biden’s inauguration, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan promised to fast-track negotiations. Rather than use Iran’s dire financial straits as leverage, Biden’s team sought to rebuild Iran’s hard currency reserves even prior to any Iranian commitment to return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or, for that matter, Tehran’s nuclear non-proliferation treaty safeguards agreement.

The White House, for example, pressured Seoul to release $1 billion in frozen Iranian assets to Tehran following an Iranian seizure of a South Korean ship. White House aide Brett McGurk and State Department Iran envoy Rob Malley have likewise sought to pressure Baghdad to release nearly $4 billion from an Iran escrow account that the Iraqi government had established during the Trump administration in order to ensure that Iraq could purchase Iranian fuel while ensuring that the proceeds would not subsidize Iranian terror.

In recent weeks, Malley has traveled to Vienna to renew nuclear talks. His position has shifted quickly from tying the lifting of sanctions to Iran returning to JCPOA compliance to simply demanding a commitment to return to the status quo ante.

The real talks, however, may not be in Vienna and may not involve Malley directly.

In recent days, Bill Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has quietly traveled to Baghdad, according to multiple Iraqi sources on the ground I have spoken to on background. Rather than hold talks in the U.S. embassy or in any Iraqi government building, he has instead quietly met with Iranian officials in the private home of the Iraqi foreign minister.

This is par for the course for Burns. In 2001, Burns—then an assistant secretary—began secret negotiations with the Qadhafi regime in Libya that he sought to keep secret from many within the State Department. (This was the origin of the controversy at the time over ‘unmasking’ the identity of some involved in negotiations who senior officials did not know had approval to talk to the Libyans). In the last months of the George W. Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sent Burns to meet Iran’s lead negotiator, scrapping an earlier promise that there would be no direct negotiations until Iran committed to suspend uranium enrichment. Burns had not gone rogue—Rice had authorized his meeting—but he does have an unusual knack to take the lead on negotiations with rogue regimes even when other diplomats seek credit or wish to be at the center of substantive talks.

>>13516549

Back to Iraq: While Baghdad makes sense as a locale for negotiations, it is fair for Congress to ask with whom Burns is meeting, his objective, and what Biden or Sullivan authorized him to offer. Equally important, it is worth considering the price of any such meeting. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein lost Iraq’s presidency to current incumbent Barham Salih despite McGurk trying to hand the position to Hussein. By helping broker the U.S.-Iran secret talks, Hussein may now expect as a reward renewed U.S. support for his presidency in Iraq. This would be a high price to pay indeed since Fuad Hussein’s main source of political legitimacy has been as consigliere to Kurdish leader Masud Barzani whereas Barham Salih has proven himself a more able and more consistently pro-Western bridge builder. No single meeting or even series of meetings is worth sacrificing Iraq’s long-term stability or promising its presidency to a man not competent to hold it.

Biden’s enthusiasm for rapprochement is bad enough. That he feels he must keep the real true negotiations secret does not bode well for his confidence that Congress and regional states will find his compromises wise.

Azaudit.org

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