Is the Polish Government Under Attack from Organized Crime Groups?

The United States remains "a very important ally" to Poland and that will not change despite the leak of disparaging remarks by the country's top diplomat, the president said Monday.

President Bronislaw Komorowski spoke a day after the magazine Wprost released a transcript in which Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Poland's alliance with the U.S. is worthless and even harmful for the eastern European country because it created a false sense of security. "The United States is our very important ally and partner," Komorowski told reporters in Warsaw.

Transcripts of bugged restaurant conversations between top officials are rocking Prime Minister Donald Tusk's center-right government and critics have urged that it resign.

Earlier Monday, Tusk said he will not dismiss officials whose compromising conversations were caught on tape in what he called a "criminal" action by "ill-intentioned people."

Sikorski asserted Monday that organized crime was behind the secret recordings. "The government was attacked by an organized crime group," Sikorski said in Luxembourg. "We don't yet know who stands behind it."

He offered no proof for his statement.

The magazine says the recordings came from a "businessman" who did not do the taping and were made in the private VIP rooms of Warsaw restaurants.

In the transcript released by Wprost, Sikorski used vulgar terms while telling the former finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, the Polish-U.S. alliance is not helping Poland. "The Polish-American alliance isn't worth anything. It is even harmful because it gives Poland a false sense of security," Sikorski said. "(We are) suckers, total suckers."

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf wouldn't comment directly on the tapes, but said "the United States and Poland have an incredibly strong relationship ... based on shared values."

"It's a key part of our alliances in that part of the world. And the crisis in Ukraine, I think, has made that even more the case, where we're confronting a shared threat together," Harf said.

Earlier, Wprost released a conversation between Central Bank head Marek Belka and Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz where they discussed how the bank could help the governing party win re-election in 2015, a seeming violation of the bank's independence.

Thanks to Vanessa Gera.

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David Malcom Strickland, Alleged Stone Cold Killer, Captured Fugitive Facing Capital Murder & Sexual Assault Charges

David Malcom Strickland, 27, was arrested by members of the United States Marshals Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force (LSFTF) in Helotes, TX. Arrest warrants were issued for Strickland pursuant to an investigation by the Portland Police Department (PPD) and Texas Rangers (TR) on charges involving Capital Murder, Aggravated Assault with a Weapon, and Aggravated Sexual Assault.

The LSFTF was contacted by the TR for assistance in locating and apprehending Strickland. Through joint investigative efforts, task force officers and rangers determined that Strickland was hiding out at an apartment in the 12000 block of Bandera Road in Helotes. Task force officers and rangers conducted a brief surveillance and approached the apartment. Task force officers and rangers entered the apartment, identified themselves, and made contact with Strickland. Strickland was then taken into custody without incident.

On June 23, 2012, Strickland was allegedly involved in sexually assaulting and shooting two women in the head. The heinous assault took place at a park located in Portland, TX. Both women were left for dead in a grassy area of the park, but were later found by a couple passing by. One of the victims had succumbed to the gunshot wound, but the other victim survived. After an extensive investigation conducted by the PPD and TR, today, warrants were issued for Strickland’s arrest.

Strickland is currently being held in custody at the Helotes Police Department awaiting extradition to the San Patricio County Jail to face pending charges.

Robert R. Almonte, United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas, states, “I am thrilled that the collaborative efforts of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, Texas Rangers, and Portland Police Department resulted in Strickland’s arrest. He’s a stone cold killer who thought he got away with murder, but will finally pay for his crime. My sympathies and condolences go to the victims and their families who had to endure this wicked act of violence.”

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Jewelry Store Owner, Vijay Verma, Admits Role in International, $200 Million Credit Card Fraud Scheme

A New Jersey jewelry store owner who used his business to further one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the Justice Department, became the 18th conspirator to admit his role in the scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Vijay Verma, 46, of Iselin, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of access device fraud. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Verma was indicted in October 2013 as part of a scheme to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Participants in the scheme doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards. They then borrowed or spent as much as they could, based on the phony credit history, but did not repay the debts—causing more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions. These debts were incurred at Verma’s jewelry store, among many other locations, where Verma would allow fraudulently obtained credit cards to be swiped in phony transactions.

The scheme involved a three-step process in which the defendants would make up a false identity by creating fraudulent identification documents and a fraudulent credit profile with the major credit bureaus; pump up the credit of the false identity by providing false information about that identity’s creditworthiness to those credit bureaus; then run up large charges.

The scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required other scheme participants to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, they maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.

Verma admitted he allowed others who came to his Jersey City, N.J., store to swipe cards he knew did not legitimately belong to them. Verma would then split the proceeds of the phony transactions with these other conspirators. The count to which Verma pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 25, 2014.

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DCFS Auditor, Kaneasha L. Gordon, Pleads Guilty to Theft from a Federal Program

KANEASHA L. GOSTON, age 38, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to theft from a federally-funded entity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666(a)(1)(A). She faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $250,000, forfeiture of the proceeds from the offense, restitution, and up to three years of supervised release following a term of imprisonment. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

GOSTON was employed with DCFS’s Bureau of Auditing and Compliance Services which was responsible for safeguarding assets against theft and unauthorized use; ensuring that transactions were properly authorized and recorded; and ensuring compliances with management policies, as well as federal and state laws and regulations. During the period she was employed with this department, DCFS received over a billion dollars annually in federal funds.

GOSTON admitted to submitting fraudulent reimbursement receipts to receive money for official state travel that did not occur. The fake receipts which were submitted were signed both by GOSTON and by DCFS Audit Director, Delrice Augustus, who also recently pled guilty as part of this scheme. When the requested amount of reimbursement would be received, GOSTON and Augustus would split the fraudulent payments. Augustus has been charged and pled guilty for his role in this and related fraudulent conduct.

U.S. Attorney Green stated: “Public corruption will continue to be a priority for this office, particularly when such corruption involves officials responsible for the proper handling of millions in federal funds. In waging this fight, we are encouraged by the active cooperation and assistance provided by the DCFS leadership in this investigation. The vast majority of public servants at DCFS are honest and hardworking individuals who despise corruption. All public servants should be vigilant against corruption and report wrongdoing immediately.”

Louisiana Inspector General Stephen Street commented: “Those who abuse positions of trust in order to steal from the taxpayers should know that the risk of criminal prosecution is high. This guilty plea is the latest example of that.”

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Joint Statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice on the Declassification of Renewal of Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Earlier this year in a speech at the Department of Justice, President Obama announced a transition that would end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it previously existed, and that the government would establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk data. As a first step in that transition, the President directed the Attorney General to work with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to ensure that, absent a true emergency, the telephony metadata can only be queried after a judicial finding that there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the selection term is associated with an approved international terrorist organization. The President also directed that the query results must be limited to metadata within two hops of the selection term instead of three. These two changes were put into effect in February 2014. In addition to directing those immediate changes to the program, the President also directed the Intelligence Community and the Attorney General to develop options for a new approach to match the capabilities and fill gaps that the Section 215 program was designed to address without the government holding this metadata. After carefully considering the available options, the President announced in March that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk, and that it remain at the telephone companies with a legal mechanism in place which would allow the government to obtain data pursuant to individual orders from the FISC approving the use of specific numbers for such queries. The President also noted that legislation would be required to implement this option and called on Congress to enact this important change to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Consistent with the President’s March proposal, in May, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3361, the USA FREEDOM Act, which would, if enacted, create a new mechanism for the government to obtain this telephony metadata pursuant to individual orders from the FISC, rather than in bulk. The bill also prohibits bulk collection through the use of Section 215, FISA pen registers and trap and trace devices, and National Security Letters. Overall, the bill’s significant reforms would provide the public greater confidence in our programs and the checks and balances in the system, while ensuring our intelligence and law enforcement professionals have the authorities they need to protect the Nation. The Administration strongly supports the USA FREEDOM Act. We urge the Senate to swiftly consider it, and remain ready to work with Congress to clarify that the bill prohibits bulk collection as noted above, as necessary.

Given that legislation has not yet been enacted, and given the importance of maintaining the capabilities of the Section 215 telephony metadata program, the government has sought a 90-day reauthorization of the existing program, as modified by the changes the President announced earlier this year. Consistent with prior declassification decisions, in light of the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has declassified the fact that the government’s application to renew the program was approved yesterday by the FISC . The order issued yesterday expires on Sept. 12, 2014. The Administration is undertaking a declassification review of this most recent court order and an accompanying memorandum opinion for publication.

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