Justice Department Prepares Subpoenas In News Corp. Inquiry

The Justice Department is putting together subpoenas as part of its probe into allegations of criminal misconduct by News Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday night. The subpoenas are a sign that the phone hacking crisis surrounding the company is becoming a more serious problem in the U.S.

There are two American investigations currently under way. One is an FBI investigation into allegations that News of the World employees tried to bribe police officers and hack into the phones of 9/11 victims in the wake of the 2001 attacks. During his appearance before Parliament on Tuesday, News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch forcefully pushed back against those allegations, which first appeared in the Daily Mirror. He said the company has seen "no evidence" that the Mirror's report is true.

The Justice Department is also examining whether or not News Corp. is guilty of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices act, which bars a U.S. company from, as the act puts it, "[making] payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business." The British Parliament has heard testimony that News Corp.' British division, News International, was engaged in "blindingly obvious" corrupt activity with British police officers. Former News International chief Rebekah Brooks has also admitted in the past that the company has paid officers for information.

The Journal reported that the subpoenas "would broadly seek relevant information from the company," and require the approval of senior Justice Department officials.

Congress is also ramping up its pressure on News Corp. Several Senators have called for Congressional hearings into the company's practices, as well as the conduct of Les Hinton, the former Dow Jones executive who was forced to resign over the hacking scandal.

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Comments

[whirlybird]

05:53 PM on 08/22/2011

These are some cold-blooded folks. Time to turn up the heat!

[Ricardo01]

12:33 PM on 07/26/2011

Rupie is probably happy about the other events that pushed him off the main headlines this week.

[rjaxone]

02:09 AM on 07/26/2011

That picture looks like Rupert was buried with his eyes open...

[YOKEL13]

11:45 PM on 07/25/2011

Murdoch reminds me of no one so much as Mister Burns, of "The Simpsons".

[tagtron]

09:08 PM on 07/25/2011

How naive do you have to be to think they would NOT hack 9/11 victims' phones. Mr. Magoo will be in some deep yogurt before this one is over

[DrBillo1]

04:18 PM on 07/25/2011

take them down-they have destroyed others without concern-the Murdochs deserve no sympathy

[bredlaum]

01:14 PM on 07/25/2011

Hey Libs, read this and weep : http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/guess-which-politician-is-the-top-recipient-of-murdochs-news-corp-cash/

[Mechelle Gray]

01:49 PM on 07/25/2011

... so what's your point? What he did was OKAY because of this link?

[bredlaum]

11:29 PM on 07/26/2011

Murdoch (Rupert) didn't do anything other than his company employs 57,000.. the British Press operates on a different set of standards as do the American Press .. they are much more like tabloids. Piers what's his name was very involved in this sort of activity when he was with the Daily Mail. It is pretty much standard over there to dig the dirt and publish it. James Murdoch may be in trouble for lying to Parliament.
Face facts, the problem the Libs are grumbling about is NOT FOX' problem, FOX has the ratings because public sentiment is with those opinions and, news is news, their ratings are soaring ..
Unllike Air America .. they went broke. I listened to them and couldn't handle the hateful ranting .. clearly not too many people liked it either.
Murdoch's preference for donating was Dems, Hillary and Obama .. if he could've made $$ promoting that agenda, he would have. The bottom line is that's the reason he is successful.

[ebanks84]

12:51 PM on 07/25/2011

Getting "kicked out of America" it should read. I hope the justice department hits Murdoch so hard, he won't even know which way is up.

[GEORGE W TUSH]

12:16 PM on 07/25/2011

BREAKING: Murdoch Promises to Bring News Corp's Standards Back Up to Gutter Level

[bredlaum]

01:14 PM on 07/25/2011

http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/guess-which-politician-is-the-top-recipient-of-murdochs-news-corp-cash/

[Dennis Little]

09:40 PM on 08/06/2011

Love it!!

[fredpa]

11:39 PM on 07/24/2011

This man does so many legal things that make my skin crawl, I don't want one single tax dollar spent on him unless it leads to putting him away.

[marcchagal]

09:03 AM on 07/25/2011

fredpa,

What legal things are you referring to?

[Dennis Little]

09:42 PM on 08/06/2011

How bout the wild manipulation of news.

feeding propaganda to to ill informed people daily for his own profit.

I wish they weren't legal but they are...

[Paulie21]

11:24 PM on 07/24/2011

10 bucks says this guy was in bed with Cheney.

[fredpa]

11:40 PM on 07/24/2011

Now that's a pretty picture.

[bredlaum]

01:18 PM on 07/25/2011

Nope, clearly in bed with "O" and the Dems ..

[Dean J Seal]

10:48 PM on 07/24/2011

Tell me that this is not possible: Murdoch huddled in his plane comingback from the UK, telling Fox News to turn up the heat on Obama and the GOP so that the headlines aren't about UK hacking scandals, but are about the fake debt crisis created by the TEA Party Repiblicans.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

08:20 AM on 07/25/2011

Well, we do know that Fox isn't covering it other than to complain about who is covering it.   Fanned

[bredlaum]

01:17 PM on 07/25/2011

They are giving it entirely too much coverage IMHO ..

[Totto]

10:30 PM on 07/24/2011

Put Ruprecht on yet another plane, and then another, and then another! Torture by jet plane.

[Lahonda]

10:18 PM on 07/24/2011

Rewpert's off the Main!

[free speech isnt free]

08:16 PM on 07/24/2011

RICO (Racketeer­ing Influenced and Corrupt Organizati­ons) Act should be used in investigat­ion and prosecutio­n of Mudoch's companies. There is EVIDENCE that Murdoch's corporate policy was to have an actual system to tap politician­s phones. While employees of NewsCorp (including FoxNews) repeat their newest lie that NewsCorp. is cooperating with the authorities a steady trickle of information has become a stream. For example 20 wiretaps newscorp admitted to were in actuality 9,000 wire taps and counting. Remember Michael Milken? The federal government went after Milken's employer Drexel, Burnham, Lambert investment bankers. Drexel avoided RICO charges by pleading no contest to lesser felonies. The US federal Government should investigat­e using the Racketeering and Corrupt Organization Act.

[bredlaum]

01:18 PM on 07/25/2011

sources please

[Dennis Little]

09:46 PM on 08/06/2011

If this isn't a good example of what RICO is for, I surly don't know what is.