Ellen O'Kane Tauscher and 1995 Computerland Project–the stock that plunged over my reporting system

Note: In 1995, I was contracted to Computerland Corporate then recently sold to Merisel Fab by Vanstar Corporate.  The stock plunged from $88 to around 2.85 the room was full of tears.  I moved on to Irwin Home Equity where today I suspect that three deaths near my peers killed.  Read about the project, what I did and who has the Computerland Corporate databases stolen my servers.  This page is the Official Page from Wiki but what you want to read in the Computerland Project page. 

 

 

Ellen O'Kane Tauscher (born November 15, 1951) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who was the U.S. Representative for California's 10th congressional district from 1997 until her resignation in 2009 upon joining the State Department, where she served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs until February 2012. She then served as Special Envoy for Strategic Stability and Missile Defense at the State Department until August 31, 2012.

A Blue Dog Democrat, Tauscher is a centrist on many issues and is notably a war hawk.^[1] Since leaving the State Department, Tauscher has assumed a number of publicly held corporate and non-profit board positions, including serving on the boards ofSouthern California Edison, Invacare, The Commonwealth Club of California, and the Executive Committee of the Atlantic Council. Tauscher also serves on the board of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and as Chair of the NCCN Foundation.

Contents

[hide] 

• 1Early life and career
• 2Political career
  • 2.1Career after politics
• 3Political views
  • 3.1Abortion
  • 3.2Gun rights
  • 3.3Iraq war
  • 3.4LGBT issues
• 4Personal life
• 5Electoral history
• 6References
• 7External links

Early life and career[edit]

Ellen Tauscher was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her mother was a secretary, and her father was a shop steward for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.^[2] She graduated in 1974 from Seton Hall University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood education.^[3]

She then worked as an investment banker with Bache & Co. and, at age 25, was the youngest and one of the first women to become a member of the New York Stock Exchange.^[3] She also served as an officer of the American Stock Exchange from 1979 to 1983, after which she worked for Bear Stearns and a subsidiary of Drexel Burnham Lambert.^[4]

In 1989, Tauscher moved to California and later founded the ChildCare Registry, the first national research service to help parents verify the background of childcare workers.^[4] She also published The ChildCare Sourcebook and headed the Tauscher Foundation, which provided funds for elementary schools to buy computers and Internet access.^[5]

Political career[edit]

Before running for the United States House of Representatives, Tauscher was active in Democratic circles as a fundraiser^[6] and alsochaired Dianne Feinstein's successful 1992 and 1994 Senate campaigns.

In 1996, Tauscher was recruited to run against two-term Republican incumbent Bill Baker in California's 10th congressional district, which included several wealthy suburbs in the East Bay. During the campaign, Tauscher emphasized balancing the federal budget, her support for business, the environment, and the military.^[7] She also charged that Baker was too conservative for the district, particularly given his opposition to abortion and gun control.^[8] She narrowly defeated Baker, claiming victory by a margin of 1.45% of the vote.^[9] The race was ranked as the fourth most expensive of that year's 435 House races.^[10]

Tauscher was re-elected in 1998 and 2000 against vigorous Republican opposition. While the 10th district was once considered "solid Republican territory,"^[8] most Bay Area Republicans tend to be more moderate than their counterparts in the rest of California and have been increasingly willing to support Democrats at the national level since the 1990s.

In 2000, during the statewide redistricting process, some of the more Republican-leaning parts of Tauscher's district were removed and replaced with more Democratic territory near Berkeley and in Solano county. She was subsequently re-elected to four more terms, facing no substantive opposition and receiving more than 65 percent of the vote after2002.

In the House of Representatives, Tauscher served on the Armed Services Committee and the Transportation and InfrastructureCommittee. She chaired the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons stockpile, missile defense program, and the national labs. Tauscher was the only member of Congress who had two national labs in her district, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the California campus of Sandia National Laboratories. At the time she left Congress, Tauscher also was the senior member from California serving on the Highways and Transit subcommittee and the Aviation subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.^[11] From her position on the Transportation Committee, Tauscher brought $33 million to her district for transportation and infrastructure projects.^[12]

On March 18, 2009, President Obama nominated Tauscher to the position of Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. She was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on June 25, 2009 by unanimous consent.^[13] Notwithstanding her appointment, confirmation and acceptance, she served as Speaker Pro Tempore on June 26, 2009, when the House narrowly passed (219–212) a cap-and-trade global warming bill.^[14] Tauscher resigned her seat on June 26, 2009, after voting was finished on theAmerican Clean Energy & Security Act.^[15] Her resignation necessitated a special election.^[16] Tauscher served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until her appointment on February 6, 2012 as Special Envoy for Strategic Stability and Missile Defense. Tauscher retired from the State Department on August 31, 2012.

As Under Secretary of State, Tauscher successfully negotiated the New START treaty with the Russian Federation in March 2010.^[17] The first major agreement signed with Russia in nearly 20 years, the treaty was signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev on April 8, 2010 and ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 22, 2010. Tauscher represented the United States at the U.N. NPT review conference that is held every five years to review the status of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).^[18] The 2010 conference was the first in 10 years to result in an consensus agreement. Tauscher was also the lead official in the State Department working on the bilateral agreements with Poland, Romania, and Turkey for the European Phased Adaptive Approach missile defense system, negotiating timely agreements that allowed the President's deployment timeline to be met.^[19]

In 2008, Tauscher was a strong supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for President. She traveled around the country as a surrogate for Clinton's campaign in the primary. In 2013, she was one of the first prominent elected officials to join the Ready for Hillary effort that has now grown to be one of the largest independent grassroots efforts on behalf of an undeclared Presidential candidate in history.^[20]

Career after politics[edit]

In 2012, Tauscher returned to the private sector, joining the boards of a number of publicly held corporations, including Invacare Corporation, ehealth, Inc, Edison Internationaland Southern California Edison, and SeaWorld Entertainment. She also serves as an independent member of the Board of Governors of Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC and Los Alamos National Security LLC; a member of the Board of Directors of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and is chairman of the Board of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Foundation.

In August 2013, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety elected Tauscher as independent chairperson.^[21] The Alliance is a coalition of some of the largest clothing retailers and brands in North America, including Wal-Mart, Target, the Gap, Costco, and VF Brands. The Alliance is working with the government of Bangladesh, factory owners, and international organizations to improve worker safety for Bangledeshi garment workers.

Tauscher also serves as a strategic advisor to the Washington, D.C. law firm of Baker Donelson on matters of defense, transportation, energy, and health care.

Political views[edit]

A leading centrist Democrat, Tauscher was the chairwoman of the New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of moderate Democrats in the House. She also served as vice-chairwoman of the Democratic Leadership Council from 2001 to 2005. Her politically moderate ideology was dubbed "Tauscherism" by Time magazine.^[8]

Tauscher received an 11% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union,^[22] and a 95% rating for her 2008 voting record from Americans for Democratic Action.^[23]

While in Congress, she supported universal health care and, in particular, covering uninsured children through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).^[24] She also supported scaling back the estate tax, tightening bankruptcy rules, and expanding free trade.^[7]

Abortion[edit]

Tauscher is strongly pro-choice. She received a 100% positive rating from NARAL.^[25] She voted against bans on late-term and partial-birth abortions.

She also supported federal funding of stem cell research, voting in favor of both Stem Cell Research Enhancement Acts.

Gun rights[edit]

Tauscher is in favor of more extensive gun control. She has expressed her support for the Second Amendment, but has also said that "we should keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those with history of violence." She has called for "common sense gun safety legislation that strikes a balance between Second Amendment protections and protections for the public."

While in Congress, she supported arming commercial pilots, requiring background checks of legal gun owners, and banning Saturday night specials.^[26] She received an F rating from the National Rifle Association.^[27]

Iraq war[edit]

In October 2002, Tauscher voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution, approving the use of military force in Iraq. However, she later became a critic of the Iraq War, while continuing to vote for funding for the War (see HR 1585^[28]). In December 2005, Tauscher led a group of twenty-two other House Democrats in sending a letter to President George W. Bushurging him to withdraw U.S. troops, expressing the hope that the "Iraqi government takes increased responsibility" for its political and security needs.^[29] She later voted to redeploy troops out of Iraq within 90 days^[25] and even to impeach President Bush over the war.^[30]

LGBT issues[edit]

Tauscher was an early proponent of same-sex marriage, publicly stating in 2004 in response to President George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, "It is clear to me that this is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, and it is unambiguous in my mind that the government cannot discriminate by gender the rights conferred by the state in marriage."^[31] In 2006, she voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have constitutionally defined marriage as being between a man and woman.^[25]

On March 3, 2009 Tauscher introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 to the House of Representatives, which would have repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The bill eventually passed in a slightly different form in 2010 after Tauscher had left the House, repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

She was opposed to banning gays from the Boy Scouts. She had a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay rights advocacy group in the United States.^[25]

Personal life[edit]

Tauscher lives in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Prior to their divorce in 1999, she was married to William Tauscher, former Chairman and CEO of Vanstar Corporation, current director of Safeway, Inc.,^[32] and founder of the Tauscher Group, which invests and assists in the management of enterprises in home products, transportation, security and real estate.^[33] She has a daughter, Katherine (born 1991).^[5]

On the same day as her taking the office of Under Secretary she married retired airline pilot Jim Cieslak.^[34] They divorced in 2011.

In July 2010, Tauscher was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer of the esophagus.^[35] Esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States and one of the deadliest, with a survival rate of 10%. After a grueling regimen of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery to remove her esophagus, Tauscher was declared cancer-free in December 2010. Since that time, she has been active as a board member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and as Chair of the NCCN Foundation, as well as speaking around the country, advocating for more information, more funding and earlier screening for the disease.

State Department claims processing Clinton records request would take 75 years

The State Department has told a federal court that processing a Republican National Committee demand for documents relating to Hillary Clinton and her aides would take as long as 75 years – and would stretch “generations.”
The department made the argument in a bid to fight the request, just one of several legal battles still unfolding over the former secretary of state’s personal email use.
The RNC had sued the department back in March for the records. The party is seeking years’ worth of emails for top Clinton aides including former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, adviser Jacob Sullivan and Bryan Pagliano, an IT specialist who helped set up Clinton’s server and struck an immunity deal with the Justice Department in the ongoing FBI probe.
A court filing last Wednesday before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia estimated that -- not counting the Pagliano request – processing the records would take 75 years, considering the time it takes to review what would be hundreds of thousands of pages.
“FOIA requests are not supposed to be labored over for generations,” said the court filing, which sought summary judgment on the basis the RNC request was too broad and burdensome.  
State Department officials defended the court filing on Tuesday.
Spokesman Mark Toner told Fox News the claim it could take 75 years is “not an outlandish estimation, believe it or not.”
Meanwhile, Pagliano also moved Tuesday to keep his own records under wraps in a separate case.
The ex-staffer who set up Clinton's home email server filed documents under seal in response to a judge's directive that he reveal his immunity arrangement with the Justice Department.
The motion was hidden from public view, and two exhibits were also sealed.
Pagliano last week said he would not testify in an upcoming deposition sought by conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch, which has sued for information about Clinton's email server.
In response, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave Pagliano until Tuesday evening to file with the court a copy of his immunity agreement.
On another front, the State Department said Tuesday that Clinton’s use of private email was not widely known, further undercutting claims she made as recently as Sunday.
Speaking with ABC News, Clinton said, “Everybody in the department knew that I was emailing from a personal address. Hundreds of people knew it.”
Toner, though, said Tuesday that “really no one among the senior staff had a full and comprehensive knowledge of how much she was using her personal email and if they had, they probably would have done it differently.”
The State Department was responding to questions about the deposition of aide Stephen Mull in a civil lawsuit. Mull, who ran Clinton's office, said he couldn't remember when he first learned about her private email, or why he suggested she get a government email account instead.
Fox News’ Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Clinton IT aide Pagliano ordered to produce DOJ immunity agreement

federal judge ordered the man who set up Hillary Clinton’s private email server Friday to produce the immunity agreement he had reportedly struck with the Department of Justice as part of her investigation.

According to The Hill, the judge’s order postpones Bryan Pagliano’s deposition with the watchdog group Judicial Watch indefinitely. The interview had been scheduled to take place Monday.

Pagliano planned to assert his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refuse to answers questions over an open records lawsuit, according to court documents obtained Wednesday by Fox News. His lawyers also asked a federal judge to block Judicial Watch from recording his deposition, stating that a written transcription should be enough.

However, Judge Emmet Sullivan declared that his lawyers need to file a legal memorandum to outline the legality for him to plead the Fifth “including requisite details pertaining to the scope of Mr. Pagliano's reported immunity agreement with the government,” The Hill reported.

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, called Sullivan’s order “an important step to getting more answers from Mr. Pagliano about Hillary Clinton's email system.”

Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before helping install the so-called “homebrew” server system in her Chappaqua, N.Y. home, cut an immunity deal last fall with the Justice Department amid the FBI probe. He was recently described to Fox News by an intelligence source as a “devastating witness.”

In the fall, Pagliano told at least three congressional committees in the fall that he will invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying against Clinton. He was asked to testify about the serve by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The Washington Post reported in September 2015 that Pagliano had been subpoenaed by the Benghazi committee Aug. 11 and committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy , R-S.C. had ordered that he appear for questioning Sept. 10. Gowdy also demanded that Pagliano provide documents related to all servers or computer systems controlled or owned by Clinton between 2009 and 2013.

The Post reported in August 2015 that Pagliano  had worked as an IT director on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, and was asked to oversee the installation of Clinton’s server to handle her correspondence while secretary of state. He was paid by a political action committee tied to Clinton until April 2009, when he was hired by the State Department as an IT specialist.

According to the paper, Pagliano left government service in February 2013 and now works for a technology contractor that provides some services for the State Department.

Lawyers for senior Clinton aide Cheryl Mills, during a nearly five-hour deposition last week in Washington, repeatedly objected to questions about Pagliano’s role in setting up the former secretary of state’s private server.

According to a transcript of the deposition with Judicial Watch released on Tuesday, Mills attorney Beth Wilkinson – as well as Obama administration lawyers – objected to the line of questioning about PaglianoPagliano, who has emerged as a central figure in the FBI's ongoing criminal probe of Clinton's email practices.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to her private server.

Click for more from The Hill.

The Saban Papers–Hillary and the Tax Cheats now playing hooky with the IRS

Key Hillary supporter's offshore dealings surface in Panama Papers By Peter Byrne Published May 27, 2016 FoxNews.com Facebook375 Twitter274 livefyre4471 Email Print Haim Saban, (l.), has given $3.5 million to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, (r.). (Reuters) Haim Saban, (l.), has given $3.5 million to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, (r.). (Reuters) One of Hillary Clinton’s key supporters – an Israeli billionaire who has donated more than $15 million to her presidential campaign and troubled family foundation – used a controversial Panamanian law firm to set up offshore companies and once admitted to a Senate panel that he used phony investment losses to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

Television and entertainment magnate Haim Saban, an Egyptian-born Israeli who made a fortune off of the “Power Rangers" children’s TV franchise and holds a lucrative stake in Univision, is among thousands of international movers and shakers whose names have surfaced in the Panama Papers. The vast trove of documents, leaked to a journalism consortium, show how celebrities, politicians and the rich use offshore companies to avoid taxes. Saban and his American-born wife, Cheryl, are well-entrenched in the Clintons’ inner circle. They have donated $3.5 million to Hillary Clinton’s current campaign for president and more than $12 million to the Clinton Foundation, on which Cheryl Saban serves as a board member. “For nearly two decades, Haim Saban has been a good friend, a loyal supporter, and trusted advisor to Hillary and me,” Bill Clinton told The New Yorker in 2010. It is an odd relationship.

Hillary Clinton is promising voters that she will “close corporate tax loopholes and make the most fortunate pay their fair share.” Those pledges fly in the face of Saban’s tax avoidance practices. Related Image sabanpic2Expand / Contract Cheryl Saban, seen here with her billionaire husband, is on the Clinton Foundation's board of directors. (Reuters) 2016 Election Headquarters The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage → Based in Los Angeles, the Saban Capital Group controls a dozen multimedia companies around the globe. Saban’s estimated net worth is $3.6 billion. As a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, Saban wields legendary influence in both countries. But his propensity to create offshore entities raises an important question: Is he hiding taxable income from authorities in both countries? Record of Saban Ventures Corp. in the Panama Papers | FindTheData Saban, 72, declined to comment for this story.
Saban’s flagship business is incorporated in the corporation-friendly state of Delaware, but a web of offshoots were established in offshore tax havens with the help of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian firm whose leaked documents provide a roadmap for international tax dodging. Among them are Saban S.A., which was set up in the British Virgin Islands in 1998, and Saban Ventures Corp., registered in the Seychelles in 2008. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings examined by Fox News identify a key Saban partnership called Ap. Sb. Ar. Cayman L.P., registered in the Cayman Islands by co-investors Apax Partners, Saban Capital, and Arkin Communications. In 2005, that partnership privatized Israel’s government-run telecommunications system, Bezeq, in a billion-dollar buyout sanctioned by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who called Saban his “dear personal friend.” Saban financed the deal with loans from the government-owned Bank Leumi. Under Saban’s management, Bezeq paid huge dividends to its new shareholders before Saban sold it in 2010 for a "pre-tax” profit of $1.2 billion. Months after buying Bezeq, Saban was spotlighted as a tax dodger by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security’s investigative report called “Tax Haven Abuses: The Enablers, the Tools and Secrecy.” The report detailed how in 2001, Saban sold his share of the Fox Family cable channel to Disney for a capital gain of $1.5 billion. He signed off on a deal to create $1.46 billion in phony investment losses in order to, as he told the Senate, “save money on taxes." Criminal sanctions followed for Saban’s lawyer and his investment advisors, but Saban testified that he had not read the documents that he had signed. He reportedly paid $250 million in back taxes to the IRS to settle the issue.

But he continued to play the offshore game. In 2013, working through his web of Delaware corporations and limited partnerships, Saban took control of another Israeli telecommunication group, Partner Communications. Partner’s board of directors includes several former Bezeq directors, including Saban’s brother, Arieh Saban. The Sabans donate to the Clinton Foundation and other entities through the Saban Family Foundation. It disburses regularly multimillion dollar grants to its favorites: the Clinton Foundation, the Brookings Institution, Friends of Israeli Defense Forces, and various lobbyists for Israeli interests in the United States.
But not all of the billionaire’s philanthropy supports his political and business agendas. In 2014, the foundation donated $11,000 to buy toys for “children across North America and around the world.” Saban also gave $5,000 to the Dream Center Foundation for “needs in the areas of homelessness, hunger, poverty, addiction, education, and human trafficking” and $1,500 to Girls Inc. to encourage “media literacy.”

Investor Fraud Summit Arms Consumers with Information to Protect Retirement Funds and Life Savings Residents of Rossmoor Retirement Community Provided Ways to Avoid Being Victims

 

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 09, 2012

• Western District of Washington (206) 553-7970

SAN FRANCISCO—The Department of Justice and West Coast U.S. Attorneys hosted an Investor Fraud Summit today. The summit was designed to provide consumers with the information they need to protect their retirement income from investment fraud schemes. The summit was held at Rossmoor Retirement Community in Walnut Creek, California. U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan joined the U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California; Alaska; and Oregon. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and the Securities and Exchange Commission also participated in the event.

“Fraudsters steal more than money. They can rob victims of their dreams of retirement, homeownership, or college for their children. Sadly, we prosecutors often get a case after the money is long gone, and there is little to recover for the victims,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. “That’s why summits like this one are so important—to educate investors before they make mistakes that can end in heartache.”

“Investor fraud crimes can erode faith in our financial markets, threaten our nation’s ongoing economic recovery, and undermine the fabric of our communities,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “That’s why protecting the American people from fraud is a top priority for today’s Justice Department. And through the Investor Fraud Summits we announced today, we’ll take our anti-fraud efforts to a new level—by raising awareness about these devastating offenses, educating consumers on how to report suspected fraud schemes, and empowering members of the public to fight back.”

Today’s summit featured West Coast U.S. Attorney’s, as well as representatives from the FBI, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the SEC, Google, and CNBC’s American Greed.

President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force, chaired by Attorney General Eric Holder, includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information about the FFETF, please visit: www.stopfraud.gov.

The FBI reports an unprecedented rise in investment fraud schemes involving thousands of victims and staggering losses. Since 2011, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and 85 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country have reported that approximately 800 defendants have been charged, tried, pleaded, or sentenced in approximately 500 federal prosecutions involving investor fraud. The total amount swindled from victims driving this time period tops more than $20 billion. This staggering number includes individual cases where the total amount victims lost ranges from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions and, in some cases, billions in hard-earned savings.

Although the defendants in these federal prosecutions used a variety of tactics and schemes, they often took the same basic approach, guaranteeing high returns and, in many instances, providing falsified investment documents with victims. As a result, victims lost retirement savings, military survivor benefits, family death settlements, and money set aside for college tuition and mortgage payments. Although the Justice Department has already obtained prison sentences for many of these scammers, including one sentence of up to 50 years, for many of the more than 100,000 victims the damage to their families is irreparable.

Since 2011, the SEC, an FFETF partner agency, has charged 887 individuals and entities in 359 actions involving retail investor fraud. Nearly $9.7 billion has allegedly been lost by over 1.2 million investors in those cases.

“Whether a cold-call, polished website, or e-mail solicitation, fraudsters will use every means at their disposal to convince investors to part with their money,” said SEC Director of Enforcement Robert Khuzami. “That is why investor education is so critical—in maintaining financial health as much as physical health, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorneys’ offices, together with the department’s Criminal and Civil Divisions, representatives from the FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Bankruptcy Trustees, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the AARP, and the Better Business Bureau are holding investor fraud summits across the country to help consumers protect their hard-earned money from fraud.

Prior to today’s summit in Walnut Creek, summits were held in Stamford, Connecticut; and Nashville, Tennessee. Three additional summits are scheduled to take place across the country: October 10, in Denver; October 11, in Cleveland; and October 12, in Miami.

In addition to the investor fraud summits across the country, in the coming weeks the Victims’ Rights Committee of the FFETF will host an unprecedented event, in partnership with the Justice Department, the Certified Financial Planner Board and the Foundation for Financial Planning, to offer free financial consulting services to 8,000 victims of an investment fraud scheme that was indicted in Chicago. In that case, the defendant falsely guaranteed high rates of return in a Ponzi scheme that caused the loss of more than $300 million of investors’ funds. Many of the victims were retirees who found the promised high rates of return, coupled with other false promises, an attractive investment alternative for funds in their individual retirement account (IRA), and other retirement-type accounts.

If you think you may be a victim of investor fraud, please call your local FBI office for assistance. To find your local office, please visit: www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field.

For tips on how to spot investor scams and for more information on investor fraud in general, please visit: www.stopfraud.gov.

Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is Thomas Bates (206) 553-2272 or Thomas.Bates@usdoj.gov.

This content has been reproduced from its original source.

Walnut Creek Cold Cases

Walnut Creek Police Department
            Investigations Bureau
            Cold Cases


The Walnut Creek Police Departments Investigations Bureau is responsible for the investigations of serious cases that occur in our city. Most of the serious cases are investigated and solved in a reasonable amount of time. Some serious cases lack significant information to be solved in a reasonable amount of time and eventually the case becomes cold. Most of these cases are classed “cold cases” which means they are currently open, serious crimes, have little evidence or leads to identify a suspect and have not been solved. Historically, cold cases are solved through the use of technological advances (for example DNA), the case is publicized which, causes more interest in the case, a person comes forward with new information, or a suspect eventually confesses.
The Walnut Creek Police Department has approximately a dozen cases that are classed as “cold cases.” In an effort to solve these cases the department will be posting summaries of the cases on their website and in press releases in an effort to develop leads and to possibly bring closure to the families of these victims.
If you have any additional information please contact the Walnut Creek Police Investigations Bureau at (925) 943-5844.
To view individual cold case information, please follow these links...1960'sElaine Davis Kidnapping/Homicide (1969)
1970'sGabriele Uralli/Missing Person (1978)
1980'sDavid Widner/Missing Person (1983)
Lester Garnier/Homicide (1988)
Tamara Moats/Homicide (1989)

1990's

2000's
John Slade Banker/Investment Scam Suspect (2004)

The Feinstein Files–Peter Byrne

The Feinstein Files

Byrne's investigative series on U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Research supported by a grant from the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute

DiFi Backlash

(08.08)
Byrne’s national exposé of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's conflict of interest has been selected as one of the 25 most underreported stories in 2006-2007 by Project Censored.

Senator Warbucks: Feinstein’s Iraq Conflict

(01.24.2007)
Dianne Feinstein has been tapped to lead Congress on ethics reform, but scrutiny of her own ethics raises uncomfortable questions.

Daddy Kleinbucks

(01.31.2007)
Founder of the nonprofit investigative Sunlight Foundation, Michael R. Klein has made some other curious choices.

Blum’s Plums

(02.21.2007)
Was Senator Feinstein’s husband compromised in his interests with the UC Regents?

Feinstein Resigns

(03.14.2007)
Sen. Feinstein resigns from MILCON. Perhaps it was media pressure, perhaps coincidence. Either way, should she abscond her responsibilities to the wounded?

Previously

The Bubble (Aug. 09, 2006)
Tracking Feinstein in her element on Capital Hill as she schmoozes with her fellow senators.

MIG Attack (Feb. 09, 2005)
How Feinstein interferes in Indian casino siting while her husband builds Indian casinos.

Hawk Tale (Feb. 02, 2005)
The firm of Feinstein, Condoleeza Rice, Blum, & Bush.

San Francisco International Airpork (Mar. 22, 2000)
This award-winning story caused the city of San Francisco to sue the general contractor.

State Department audit faults Clinton on emails, says she broke records rules

 State Department audit faults Clinton on emails, says she broke records rules

The State Department watchdog, in an extensive and detailed report, accused Hillary Clinton of flouting federal records rules and cybersecurity guidelines while secretary of state by exclusively using personal email for government business.

The forthcoming audit, a copy of which was obtained by FoxNews.com, faults Clinton and her predecessors for poorly managing email and other computer information.

The report says the department and its secretaries were "slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications." It cites "longstanding, systemic weaknesses" related to communications that started before Clinton's appointment as secretary of state.

But the report singles out Clinton’s failures as more serious.

It specifically accuses her of violating department policy by not giving over emails when she left office.

The report says: "Secretary Clinton should have preserved any Federal records she created and received on her personal account by printing and filing those records with the related files in the Office of the Secretary. At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department business before leaving government service and, because she did not do so, she did not comply with the Department's policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act."

The report said while there were many examples of staff using personal accounts for official business, they could only find three cases where officials used non-department accounts “on an exclusive basis for day-to-day operations”: former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Ambassador to Kenya Jonathan Scott Gration and Clinton.

In the case of Gration, the department initiated disciplinary action against him, though he resigned before that materialized. The IG report said of Gration, “the Department’s response to his actions demonstrates how such usage is normally handled when Department cybersecurity officials become aware of it.”

The report noted that by the time Clinton took the helm of the department, internal guidance was “considerably more detailed and more sophisticated.”

Yet, the report said, “Secretary Clinton used mobile devices to conduct official business using the personal email account on her private server extensively, as illustrated by the 55,000 pages of material making up the approximately 30,000 emails she provided to the Department in December 2014.” The report said investigators found “no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server.”
While some officials said they were unaware of the extent of Clinton’s personal email use, the report said they found evidence “that various staff and senior officials throughout the Department had discussions related to the Secretary’s use of non-Departmental systems, suggesting there was some awareness of Secretary Clinton’s practices.”

The review came after revelations Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. Clinton is now the likely Democratic presidential nominee.

The audit comes as the FBI is thought to be nearing the final phases of its own investigation into Clinton’s email use as secretary of state.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the agency is "already working" to improve its email and records management system.

Toner said "it is clear that the department could have done a better job preserving emails and records of secretaries of state and their senior staff going back several administrations." He said the State Department also agrees that compliance with its rules has been "inconsistent across several administrations."

On another front, Romanian hacker Guccifer – who recently claimed he breached Clinton’s server – pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to separate hacking charges.

Under a deal struck with the federal government, he has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in the future. The plea agreement does not mention the FBI investigation of Clinton's email practices or his claims that he accessed her private server in March 2013. Such agreements typically do not stipulate how a defendant will aid the government.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Foxnews: Romanian hacker who claims he breached Clinton server says he spoke with FBI at length

EXCLUSIVE: The Romanian hacker who says he easily breached Hillary Clinton’s personal email server also claimed, in a series of interviews with Fox News, that he spoke with the FBI at length on the plane when extradited from Romania to Virginia last month.  

"They came after me, a guy from the FBI, from the State Department," 44-year-old Marcel Lehel Lazar, who goes by the moniker "Guccifer," told Fox News during a jailhouse phone interview. He said the conversation was "80 minutes ... recorded," and he took his own notes. 

A government source confirmed that the hacker had a lot to say on the plane but provided no other details. Lazar was flown to the U.S. to face separate cyber-crime charges.

In addition to the apparent conversation with the FBI on the plane, Fox News has learned a meeting was expected as early as this week at the Alexandria, Va., detention center where he’s being held involving Guccifer, the FBI, the U.S. attorney and the defendant’s court-appointed lawyer.

These officials have not commented on his claims or detention.

An intelligence source close to the investigation, speaking with Fox News last month, questioned the timing of Lazar’s extradition to the U.S., coming amid the Clinton email probe. As for what was discussed on that plane, Lazar said he told a State Department representative on the plane about "hot" data, some of which was hidden in Google drives, and other data that was too sensitive and deleted. The hacker, who offered no proof for his claims, said cryptically that he could not say more.

"I can't tell [you] now. I can't tell because I want to talk to the FBI. It is a matter of national security. Yeah," he said. Pressed by Fox News, Lazar seemed to indicate the data was not connected to the ongoing FBI criminal probe of Clinton's server.

Fox News recently met with Lazar in the secure visitor center in Alexandria, then followed up with a series of phone calls which he gave permission to be recorded. Separated by reinforced glass, Lazar was polite and methodical as he explained how he allegedly accessed the Clinton server in early 2013, by using her longtime confidant Sidney Blumenthal's AOL account as a stepping stone.  

Fox News was first to report the hacker's claims of accessing the Clinton server, which he said “was easy.”

Lazar said he got into the Blumenthal account by correctly guessing his security question, after doing extensive research on the web. He said his hacking always followed a "four step process": identify the target, do extensive web research on the target, access the target's account to harvest data, and send it out to the media.   

Lazar said he was puzzled by the American media. He said he sent the Blumenthal emails, which is how the Clintonemail.com account first came to light, to many large news organizations in 2013, and it was The Smoking Gun that picked it up. Lazar said he started his "Guccifer archive," releasing materials in October and November 2012, and it ended "like August 2013."

Three cybersecurity experts said they found Lazar's explanation for accessing the Clinton server plausible but had questions.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright explained how the FBI could marry up available evidence, including forensics or the configuration of the server and its folders, to assess his claims. "So we're going to map these things together, and if those things match up together, they're going to say ‘yes, this was compromised,’ then it means it was open to other people to compromise as well," he said.

Since Fox News reported on Guccifer’s claims Wednesday, anonymous sources have reported that a review of the Clinton hard drives does not appear to indicate a breach. However, Wright and other experts warned that Clinton IT specialist Bryan Pagliano was the server's administrator and not principally a cybersecurity specialist – and may not have installed an adequate detection system for a Cabinet secretary’s email.

“If you have a bank and you have one video camera when you need 20, then you missed it,” Wright said. “If they weren't capturing all the activity, their security logs may say they didn’t see anything."

Asked about Lazar’s claims at Thursday’s press briefing, State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said he’s not aware of such an incident.

“We don’t have any reason to believe that it might be true,” he said.

At the same time, Toner repeatedly stressed he did not want to comment on the security of the server, citing ongoing investigations. Asked if he’s in a position to even know whether Lazar’s claims are true, Toner again said he did not want to comment. The Clinton campaign has rejected Lazar’s claims, calling them “baseless” and emphasizing he is a convicted hacker.

Other cyber specialists like Bob Gourley with Cognitio warned there will “always be uncertainty and ambiguity” with hackers like Guccifer. But he said: “One thing I would say with certainty however -- if this computer were in a well-managed facility, where everything was being monitored and watched, we would have more information and ground truth."

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”