Court Watch launched two years ago. We’re dangerously close to having to close shop. A thread on our impact this year and a request for help. In the last two years, our reporting has been the basis of more than a hundred news stories. We break the news. Everyone else then follows.

courtwatch.news/p/news-coverag…

A small govt agency has 30 active investigative cases that amount to $499 million in pandemic loan fraud. Those investigations will close without prosecution as the agency is set to be disbanded & with it, nearly half a billion dollars of stolen taxpayer money. A reporting 🧵 The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR), created by the CARES Act in 2020 to investigate potential misuses of funds issued by Treasury, will close in 2025 after five years of operation as required by the legislation that created the organization

A few months ago, @KaustuvBasu1 and I noticed something unusual in the federal courts: a flood of claims for money seized by the US Government in purported drug dealing cases around the country. We started digging. A thread on what we found 🧵 The barrage of claims, which has not been previously reported, targets seizures ranging from $1,779 confiscated at the Arizona border by local law enforcement to $6 million in money laundering proceeds collected by federal prosecutors in New York.

There was a previously unreported arrest in California. The charging documents paint a wild picture of law enforcement impersonations, bomb threats that shut down city halls, spoofed Congressman's phones, & phony search warrants filed in districts around the country. A thread According to a criminal complaint first filed in the Eastern District of California, Anton Iagounov spent years impersonating various law enforcement agencies.

‘No Bias Found in F.B.I. Report on Catholic Extremists’

A thread about OSINT and PACER. 1/x

nytimes.com/2024/04/18/us/… Today, the DOI inspector general released their review of the FBI’s analytical product on “radical traditional Catholics”

I’m gonna skip for now that aspect but instead talk about how we figured out the case that was the basis for that product

oig.justice.gov/sites/default/…

The Justice Department has found its new favorite statute to address domestic extremism. In the last 30 days, DOJ has arrested at least 25 individuals for threats. To put it in context, it’s usually just a few a month. A thread of why & the implications

lawfaremedia.org/article/sectio… The recent increased use of this charging vehicle is unprecedented in the American criminal justice system. Some examples in the last three weeks.

I came across an interesting unreported case in Texas today. The great reporting crew at BLaw wrote it up.

(Also has my first Bloomberg contribution line too, very excited) news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/fe… Speaking of unreported threats to public officials cases, last week the FBI arrested a woman for threatening President Trump’s son, Barron, by way of an email to his school’s headmaster.

This week we wrote an exclusive story about how the Al Qaeda shoe bomber Richard Reid surprisingly testified in a DC courthouse, here’s a few things from that day that didn’t make the final piece but were interesting. A thread for terror scholar nerds 🧵

courtwatch.news/p/court-watch-… Reid was asked why when he pled guilty he still didn’t cooperate with law enforcement. His response:

“Because in Islam you take responsibility for your own actions, and you don't throw other people under the bus.”

This afternoon, while everyone is focused on EDNY, there’s an interesting arraignment in EDVA involving one of the largest modern terror financing cases in America. Mohammed Chhipa is facing a judge on charges of sending 188,000 overseas, most of which was connected to ISIS. 🧵 According to charging documents, Chhipa has been on the radar of the FBI since 2019. In fact, according to a detention motion, they searched his house in August 2019. During that raid, he allegedly traveled to the bank and took out nearly 2k of cash.

CourtWatch.news broke some news this week. Let’s do a thread about it. 🧵 Rare Find: The Justice Dept moved to forfeiture a series of historical WWI documents related to Russia. The items, which according to the complaint, were taken from a NYC university library by a lone individual over the course of years, were in the process of being auctioned off.

The FBI has arrested Aimen Penny of Ohio for Arson and Possession of a Destructive Device. He allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a church that had planned to host drag shows last year. He was allegedly a member of ‘White Lives Matter’

Let’s talk about the number of FBI domestic terrorism investigations has every year. It’s much higher than most of the media has reported. Not their fault. It’s confusing but I spent some time figuring it out. A thread, an explanation, and a mini-scoop. Every year, FBI senior leadership testifies to Congress at various Hill hearings. They’re always asked the same question. “How many open domestic terrorism investigations do you have?”

Between informants going rogue, ATM IEDs, ginseng, stolen cigarettes, DOJ securing Amazon linked guilty pleas, Michael Flynn & Michael Jordan, and a town in Minnesota that got taken for a ride, there’s something for everyone in this week’s newsletter.

courtwatch.news/p/court-watch-… Spiderman Meme: Earth Wind & Fire is suing Earth Wind & Fire to determine who is Earth Wind & Fire

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Using a Sunday dispensation to tweet about a front page story. While I was honored to assist @hannahdreier in her piece that ran A1 today (nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/… )

I want to talk about another front page story today I helped on in a small newspaper in Chatham County, NC🧵 On Saturday morning, I was doing what I do on Saturday mornings, searching the court documents. I came across a newly unsealed indictment of five people in Silver City, North Carolina. So I did what one does. I googled every newspaper that covers Silver City. @ChathamNR popped up