Treasury Dep't Investigating U.S. Attorney for Leaking State Supreme Court Justice's Tax Returns

[Hissyspit]

Source: Raw Story/ABC News

Treasury Department investigating US Attorney for leaking state Supreme Court Justice's tax returns
Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Monday December 1, 2008

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility and the US Treasury Department are investigating allegations that a Bush-appointed US Attorney inappropriately shared private income tax information on one of his targets with a state judicial commission that included one of his relatives, according to court documents and a source close to the investigation.

Dunnica Lampton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, is already under investigation for allegations of political prosecutions in his state. According to new documents viewed by Raw Story, Lampton allegedly shared the private income tax records of then-Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz Jr. with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance and with one of its then-commissioners, his distant cousin Leslie B. Lampton.

The US Attorney also shared the tax records of Diaz's wife, Jennifer, and those were also allegedly shared without authorization, said a source close to the DOJ investigation. Documents shown to Raw Story relating to the case confirm that a criminal investigation is underway. These documents did not include the Diaz's tax returns themselves.

In addition to the Justice Department investigation, the office of the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is also probing Lampton's conduct, the source said. The special agent assigned to the case is said to be Kelly Sopko. Reached by phone last Monday, a Treasury spokesperson would not confirm that Sopko worked for the Department or that there was an investigation.

MORE

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Treasury_Department_investigating_US_Attorney_for_1201.html

[Hissyspit]

1. .

[pleah]

2. K&R

:kick:

[kpete]

3. Treasury Dept investigating Bush US Attorney for leaking state Supreme Court judge's tax returns

Source: Raw Story

Treasury Department investigating US Attorney for leaking state Supreme Court Justice's tax returns
Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Monday December 1, 2008


The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility and the US Treasury Department are investigating allegations that a Bush-appointed US Attorney inappropriately shared private income tax information on one of his targets with a state judicial commission that included one of his relatives, according to court documents and a source close to the investigation.

Dunnica Lampton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, is already under investigation for allegations of political prosecutions in his state. According to new documents viewed by Raw Story, Lampton allegedly shared the private income tax records of then-Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz Jr. with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance and with one of its then-commissioners, his distant cousin Leslie B. Lampton.

The US Attorney also shared the tax records of Diaz's wife, Jennifer, and those were also allegedly shared without authorization, said a source close to the DOJ investigation. Documents shown to Raw Story relating to the case confirm that a criminal investigation is underway. These documents did not include the Diaz's tax returns themselves.

In addition to the Justice Department investigation, the office of the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is also probing Lampton's conduct, the source said. The special agent assigned to the case is said to be Kelly Sopko.


Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Treasury_Department_investigating_US_Attorney_for_1201.html

[11 Bravo]

4. It's good that the Bushies are going out the same way they came in ...

criminals to the bitter end.

K&R

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Does anyone have the law which protects a person's tax information

from being used in this manner? I would like to see the wording.

[bobthedrummer]

6. K&R, thanks Larisa & Hissyspit-here's a couple of related archived threads for everyone

"A DU collaborative investigation: Thelma Colbert, Shannon Ross and other deaths at DoJ" (started 5-8-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x847120

"Information warfare ammo-dump #2" (started 6-13-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1104149

[bluesmail]

14. Here's more related info:

http://www.littlethomsblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/medicare-fraud-and-usat-firings-part-iv.html

[merh]

7. Thank you larisa

thank you so very much

[yardwork]

8. Disgraceful.

[jaysunb]

9. The Appeal by John Grisham

is a mirror of this story, including the State ( Mississippi ) and a moderate Supreme Court Justice.
Almost indentical in the known facts.
I can't help but wonder what came first, the book or the actual events.....:shrug:

Two attorneys, Mary Grace and Wes Payton, have won a $41,000,000 judgment against Krane Chemical for dumping toxic materials into the drinking water of Bowmore, Mississippi, and the evidence is so solid that the verdict is unlikely to be disturbed by the appellate courts. Carl Trudeau, the chief executive of Krane Chemical, on the other hand, will do whatever is necessary to retain power by winning the appeal, even if it means selling his soul to a corrupt political machine. Much of the book concerns the electoral campaign for a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The book is thought by some to be based on the 2004 judicial election of Brent Benjamin to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

[Ellipsis]

15. Art imitating life.

;-)

[valerief]

10. Didn't all Bush-appointed attorneys get their law degrees from Laws R Us? nt

[ksimons]

11. bush - in like a lion, out like a scam ...nt

[Hekate]

12. kick

with disgust

:kick:

[JohnWxy]

13. Republican party is nothing but a crime syndicate._JW More from the article:

Third attempt to remove Diaz from court


Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz Jr. won re-election in 2000 to the state's highest bench against Republican-backed opponent Judge Keith Starrett. Dunnica Lampton, a long-time Starrett friend and colleague, was appointed by President George W. Bush as US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi in 2001 and took office in 2002.

Almost immediately after taking office, Lampton began investigating Diaz, along with Judge John Whitfield, Judge West Teel, and prominent Democratic Mississippi donor Paul Minor, for bribery and mail fraud. Minor had signed off as a loan guarantor for the judges' campaign, which is legal under Mississippi law.

Although no evidence of quid pro quo surfaced in the case, and Diaz had recused himself from all cases involving Minor and/or his clients, Lampton secured an indictment against Diaz.

A jury acquitted Diaz during his first trial. Within days, however, Lampton unsealed a second set of indictments against Diaz, alleging tax evasion by both Diaz and his wife. Diaz was acquitted again. His wife, Jennifer, pled guilty to lesser charges and agreed to testify against her husband, which she later said she did under duress. Mrs. Diaz was never called to the stand.

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WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THESE REPUBLICANS? HOW DO WE ADDRESS SUCH ABJECT IMMORALITY, SUCH INVETERATE CORRUPTION? SOME WILL SAY THEY WILL GET THEIR PUNISHMENT IN HELL. BUT I AM NIETHER THAT OPTIMISTIC NOR AM I THAT PATIENT AND WOULD RATHER SEE THEY GET THEIR PROPER PUNISHMENT IN THE HERE AND NOW. THEY ARE BECOMING A REAL THREAT TO DECENT, LAW ABIDING SOCIETY.


Recommended! Bookmarked.

[Hissyspit]

16. .