Illegal land occupation

[rooster59]

U.S. official felt 'obligation' to leak documents on Manafort, others - lawyer

By Brendan Pierson

 

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as his campaign manager Paul Manafort looks on during Trump's walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, U.S., July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo/File Photo

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for a U.S. Treasury Department employee charged with leaking to a journalist confidential documents on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others, said on Friday that his client was motivated by public service.

 

Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to cooperate in U.S.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and whether President Donald Trump's campaign coordinated with Moscow.

 

Russia denies election meddling and Trump denies campaign collusion.

 

Prosecutors said Natalie Sours Edwards, a senior adviser in the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), leaked documents to a reporter that became the basis of articles about that investigation published by digital media company BuzzFeed.

 

"She saw things in her official capacity that she felt an obligation to bring forward," Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Sours Edwards, told reporters after a hearing in federal court in Manhattan.

 

During Friday's brief hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ordered that Sours Edwards may remain free on bail.

She had previously pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Virginia, according to Agnifilo. She is currently on paid leave from her position.

 

Prosecutors said beginning in October 2017, Sours Edwards illegally disclosed so-called suspicious activity reports connected to Manafort, accused Russian agent Maria Butina, the Russian embassy and a unit of Prevezon Holdings Ltd, a corporation owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv.

 

Suspicious activity reports are submitted by banks to alert law enforcement to potentially illegal transactions.

 

Information from the disclosures was reported in 11 articles that appeared in BuzzFeed over the course of a year, prosecutors said.

 

Agnifilo said Sours Edwards shared the reports because "she believes that certain pieces of information were not being handled the right way and were not being brought to the attention of the people who should know it," though he did not give further details.

 

He said Sours Edwards had also spoken to committees in Congress and to other government agencies about her concerns, and that her contact with the media was a relatively small part of her efforts.

 

"It's been going on for several years," he said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-03

[metisdead]

A music video troll post has been removed. 

[Srinivas]

This similar to the oig report , where fbi leakers had cozy relationships with reporters.

civic duty my ass.  

 

Also its illegal to disclose or tip off SAR reports to the person named on the file.

 

[farcanell]

Given that Manafort and Gates are now pleading guilty, it seems that Edwards is a hero of the people, even if the “people” (public prosecutors) are trying to convict her.

 

this should be thrown out of court.... and Edwards actions should be lauded by the people. Quite obviously more transparency is needed.

[Srinivas]

10 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Given that Manafort and Gates are now pleading guilty, it seems that Edwards is a hero of the people, even if the “people” (public prosecutors) are trying to convict her.

 

this should be thrown out of court.... and Edwards actions should be lauded by the people. Quite obviously more transparency is needed.

seperate and serious violation/s especially when investigations are ongoing.

She leaked it to reporters for her political belief while and an ivestigation

was ongoing.

 A hero only in the "by an means necessary" anything to get Trump activist mindframe.

 

 

"The unauthorized disclosure of a SAR is a violation of federal law.² Both civil and criminal penalties may be imposed for SAR disclosure violations. Violations may be enforced through civil penalties³ of up to $100,000 for each violation and criminal penalties⁴ of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment not to exceed five years.⁵ In addition, financial institutions could be liable for civil money penalties resulting from anti-money laundering program deficiencies (i.e., internal controls, training, etc.) that led to the SAR disclosure. Such penalties could be up to $25,000 per day for each day the violation continues.⁶ FinCEN is committed to working with regulatory agencies, law enforcement, SROs, and financial institutions to take appropriate action for unauthorized disclosures of SARs. Incidents involving possible unauthorized SAR disclosures are investigated, and appropriate action is taken for violations of the law.

https://www.fincen.gov/resources/advisories/fincen-advisory-fin-2012-a002

[farcanell]

12 minutes ago, Srinivas said:

seperate and serious violation/s especially when investigations are ongoing.

She leaked it to reporters for her political belief while and an ivestigation

was ongoing.

Yes.... separate and serious violations especially while cover ups are ongoing. ????

[Srinivas]

3 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Yes.... separate and serious violations especially while cover ups are ongoing. ????

sounds like a conspiracy????

[Tug]

Whistle blowers should be protected the reason Donald’s whitehouse is so (leaky)is people in government see to much criminality and security lapeses hopefully this person survives this attack

[Srinivas]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Whistle blowers should be protected the reason Donald’s whitehouse is so (leaky)is people in government see to much criminality and security lapeses hopefully this person survives this attack

I agree whistle blowers should be protected.

Problem in this case, is now Manafort could revoke his guilty plea and ask for aquittal .

The reason for the fincen disclosure rule is to avoid tipping off or messing up a case. Its not as if fbi didnt already have these SAR reports. she sent them to the press to taint Trump, to bolster the,Russia frame up imo.

Fbi investigation into Manafort started in 2014. My guess is he went into Trump campaign to set Trump up hoping to get a plea deal for his own case.  

 

Also was never in "Trumps whitehouse", he was fired after less than 3 months

as campaign advisor . I think he was also advisor to other presidential campaigns

Ford, Reagan, Bush 1, Dole . A real insider . 

 

 

So even if Manafort goes to jail(as he should), he can sue her and Treasury dept for civil damages.

 

Another meuller case in shambles along a long trail of rubbish, imo.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Srinivas
spell check

[WM1]

You know, if they didn't catch Maria Butina she would have flown the coop. I lived in Thailand for over 2 years during the Trump election. Now I live in the U.S.  and I see all the Russian sympathizers that live here on the East Coast. A lot of them think they got their man in the White House whether they are citizens or not. Russians interfered in the election and Trump is their willing enabler and vice versa. In any case this whistleblower is to be commended. Glad she is not under house arrest.

The real evil whistleblower is the Russian collaborator Julian Assange. And we need to get him and take care of the real enemies of the United States.

[Trouble]

She violated the law.  There was an ongoing investigation. She made a decision to violate the law based on her beliefs.  That was her decision. Now she is in court. What bothers me the most is every time a government employee does something that in private industry would be a firing offense, they are put on PAID administrative leave.  Whether she is found guilty or not, she should have had her employment terminated for the violation of policy.  Just goes to show everyone how cushy and lucrative working for the government can be.  Can't hardly be fired, regular raises and promotions (step increases), and a nice pension/401k benefit.  Did I forget to mention how non productive a government employee can be and get away with it?

[AJBangkok]

So that’s the US equivalent of the Thai inactive post 

[Basil B]

15 hours ago, farcanell said:

Given that Manafort and Gates are now pleading guilty, it seems that Edwards is a hero of the people, even if the “people” (public prosecutors) are trying to convict her.

 

this should be thrown out of court.... and Edwards actions should be lauded by the people. Quite obviously more transparency is needed.

I agree with your sentiment, but going to the press is not the right thing,

 

She and others who feel they have evidence of wrong doings should be able to discus with the likes of Muller, FBI and CIA anything they feel is improper without fear of prosecution.