Fort Hood Shootings

Muslim Mafia Booster Rep. Myrick: I'm On The Hasan Case

Justin Elliott | November 6, 2009, 6:27PM

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC)

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), who wrote the foreword to Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America, said today she is "very concerned" about infiltration of the military by jihadists.

"We can't continue to be so politically correct that we're going to say this wasn't religiously motivated," Myrick told the Charlotte, North Carolina, CBS affiliate. She noted the reports that Nidal Malik Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he allegedly opened fire in the shooting spree at Fort Hood Thursday.

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Con Man

Another Hilton Lie? Work Of Art He Claimed Was His Own Bears Sticker Of LA Furniture Store

Justin Elliott | November 6, 2009, 4:43PM

A rendering of Mother Theresa handed over by Michael Hilton.

Perhaps we didn't give American Police Force chief Michael Hilton enough credit earlier this week when we reported on his excuse for not handing over works of art to help pay off a hefty fraud judgment in California. Now Hilton, who has admitted the APF deal in Hardin, Montana, was bogus, has allowed a courier for one of his victims to take the art from his Santa Barbara home.

But, as the Billings Gazette reports, Hilton's description of the works, which he claims are his only assets and include a rendering of Mother Theresa, was false:

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Charlie Crist

Revealed: Pictures Of Gov. Crist's $50K Birthday Cake From Accused Fraudster

Justin Elliott | November 6, 2009, 1:43PM

Cake image courtesy of Miami Herald; Crist image courtesy of Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

Two Florida newspapers have published pictures of the birthday cake for Charlie Crist sponsored to the tune of $52,000 by Fort Lauderdale super attorney Scott Rothstein.

Remember, Rothstein has been accused of orchestrating a gigantic fraud scheme out of his firm, but Gov. Crist claims that Rothstein is just another supporter, suggesting this week he hardly knows the man.

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Nidal Malik Hasan

Conservative Says Hasan Acted On Orders Of Muslim Brotherhood: What Do We Know?

Justin Elliott | November 6, 2009, 11:02AM

FBI agents outside the apartment of Major Nidal Malik Hasan (inset)

One conservative writer is already declaring -- without citing any evidence -- that Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter who killed 13 at Fort Hood yesterday, was acting at the behest of the Muslim Brotherhood. So it's a good time to lay out what we do and don't know about the Fort Hood shooting case and the Army psychiatrist at the center of it.

In an interview with Frontpagemag, author Dave Gaubatz blames the Fort Hood killings on, among other Muslim groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He says that Hasan was carrying out "the orders of the Muslim Brotherhood." And he suggests that Hasan was sent out by radical Muslim leaders:

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Scott Rothstein

Crist Denies Close Ties, But Accused Fraudster Was A Friend Who Even Sponsored Crist's Birthday Cake

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 4:55PM

Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) and Scott Rothstein

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's assertion that accused fraudster attorney Scott Rothstein was nothing more than another campaign supporter is starting to look even thinner.

A Florida source familiar with the situation tells TPMmuckraker that Rothstein often bragged about his closeness to Crist, now a candidate for US Senate. The source says Rothstein once remarked: "It's one thing when you've got the governor on speed dial. It's another thing when the governor has you on speed dial."

"They were friends," the source tells us. "To say anything else is ridiculous."

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Bill Sparkman

AP: Authorities Look At Possibility Of Suicide In Death Of Census Worker

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 4:21PM

Bill Sparkman

Anonymous officials tell the AP they are looking at whether Bill Sparkman, the Census worker found dead in rural Kentucky in September with the word "fed" written on his chest, may have committed suicide.

The wire service reports that investigators have recently "grown more skeptical that 51-year-old Bill Sparkman died at the hands of someone angry at the federal government." It continues:

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Bernard Kerik

Kerik Faces Prison Time After Guilty Plea For Lying To Bush White House

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 11:42AM

Fmr. NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Former NYC police commissioner and Rudy Giuliani crony Bernie Kerik today pleaded guilty to lying during his vetting to become George W. Bush's Secretary of Homeland Security. It was the first of eight expected pleas, in exchange for which prosecutors will suggest 27 to 33 months in prison, the AP reports.

The pleas by Kerik, who has been in prison since Oct. 20 when a judge revoked his bail for giving out sealed information, are designed to resolve three separate criminal cases.

In the White House case, Kerik was accused of falsely denying to Bush vetters that he had an improper relationship with city contractors who performed pricey renovations on Kerik's Bronx apartment.

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Charles Rangel

Report: Ethics Panel Will Clear Rangel And Others In Caribbean Trip Probe

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 11:37AM

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)

The House ethics committee will likely clear five Democratic members of Congress including Charlie Rangel (D-NY) of wrongdoing in an investigation into whether a privately financed trip to the Caribbean broke House travel rules, Roll Call reports this morning.

The case, which involves a trip the members took on the dime of the Carib News Foundation, is perhaps the flimsiest in the slew of ethics charges against Rangel.

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Scott Rothstein

Rothstein Roundup: FBI Agents Search Firm, And What Was TD Bank's Role?

Justin Elliott | November 5, 2009, 10:49AM

Scott Rothstein

Dozens of FBI and IRS agents spent the night sifting through files at the firm of south Florida attorney Scott Rothstein, the politically connected ally of Charlie Crist who has been accused by investors of running a massive fraud scheme, local media report.

WPLG 10 has video outside Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler's office building in Fort Lauderdale, where FBI and IRS agents searched the 16th floor through the night. A source told WPLG that 40 agents were involved. Partner Stuart Rosenfeldt said: "We want them to search and look for eveything they need to find evidence of any crimes that may have occurred."

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Charlie Crist

Mo Money Mo Problems: Rothstein Is Latest Crist Fundraiser Under Cloud

Justin Elliott | November 4, 2009, 6:42PM

Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), Scott Rothstein, Alan Mendelsohn, and Harry Sargeant

Something is rotten in the state of Florida?

With the accusations this week that Scott Rothstein, fast-living Fort Lauderdale attorney and friend and donor to Gov. Charlie Crist, orchestrated a massive fraud out of his law firm, there are now three Crist moneymen caught up in alleged criminal or extremely shady activity.

Crist, whose career has been fueled by his skill as a fundraiser, finds himself entangled with the trio of scandals just as his U.S. Senate primary campaign against conservative Marco Rubio is attracting national attention. And there's already talk down in Florida that the Crist-linked scandals may become a factor in the primary contest.

So what's it all about? Let's go to the tape.

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Scott Rothstein

Rothstein Roundup: Accused Fraudster Meets With Feds And Estimates Of Scheme's Size Soar

Justin Elliott | November 4, 2009, 12:43PM

Scott Rothstein

Back in south Florida after a trip to Morocco, the high-profile attorney who has been sued for allegedly operating a fraud scheme out of his law office met with federal prosecutors last night and criminal charges are likely to come soon, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times reports.

In a suit filed Monday, the law firm of politically-connected Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein alleged that he set up a side business that sold phony legal settlements to outside investors with promises of guaranteed high returns.

There have been a flurry of developments in the Rothstein case in the last 24 hours, so we rounded up a few articles worth taking a look at:

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Daniel Horowitz

Attorney From Michael Savage 'Book Of Hate' Koran Suit Tapped By Muslim Mafia Authors

Justin Elliott | November 4, 2009, 11:46AM

Daniel Horowitz and Michael Savage (inset)

Daniel Horowitz, the attorney who represented shock jock Michael Savage in his recent copyright infringement suit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is set to go up against CAIR again as counsel for the co-author of Muslim Mafia.

And, Horowitz told TPMmuckraker in a phone interview this morning, he's relishing the opportunity for Round Two with the Muslim civil rights group.

A judge ruled mostly in CAIR's favor yesterday in a suit seeking to block Dave Gaubatz from publishing documents taken by his son Chris, who went undercover as a Muslim intern at CAIR.

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Muslim Mafia

Judge Bars Muslim Mafia Authors From Publishing Docs Lifted From CAIR

Justin Elliott | November 4, 2009, 10:27AM

Muslim Mafia Co-Author David Gaubatz

A federal judge yesterday granted a request by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to block the authors of Muslim Mafia from publishing any of the documents taken by Chris Gaubatz while he was posing as an intern during a "counterintelligence operation" for the book.

Separately, Muslim Mafia author Dave Gaubatz and his son Chris are now being represented by the lawyer who represented shock jock Michael Savage in his 2007 copyright infringement suit against CAIR. We'll have more on this soon.

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Scott Rothstein

Roger Stone: I Hired PI To Investigate Biz Partner And Accused Fraudster Scott Rothstein

Justin Elliott | November 3, 2009, 4:41PM

Roger Stone and Scott Rothstein (inset)

Roger Stone told TPMmuckraker in an interview today that he retained a private investigator last year to scrutinize the activities of Scott Rothstein, Stone's onetime business partner who is now being accused of a $100 million fraud involving his south Florida law firm. And, Stone added, he broke with Rothstein earlier this year after Rothstein tried to censor criticism of his friend Gov. Charlie Crist on The Stone Zone, for which Rothstein's law firm was providing web hosting.

Stone, reached in Ohio where he is working election day, explained that about a year ago Rothstein's spending -- "on luxury cars, real estate, watches, charitable and political donations" -- had gotten so out of control that Stone hired private investigator Adam Mangino.

"He came back with two pieces of advice: 'I don't know where the money is coming from, but I do know the money is not his,'" Stone says. "It was at that point that I asked Rothstein to dissolve the company."

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Scott Rothstein

Prominent And Politically Connected Florida Attorney Accused In $100M Fraud Scheme

Justin Elliott | November 3, 2009, 12:29PM

Scott Rothstein

In a case already being compared to the Bernie Madoff affair, a lawsuit filed Monday in Broward County accuses south Florida "super attorney" Scott Rothstein of bilking investors in a scheme run out of the powerful firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, which now says it can't make payroll.

An attorney for one investor told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the amount of money missing could be over $100 million, though it's not clear where it went.

Rothstein and his wife are jet-setters who live in a 6-plus million dollar Fort Lauderdale home and were known for driving a veritable fleet of expensive sports cars and showering their favorite charities with big donations. A flamboyant character who was once pictured on billboards with Miami Dolphins great Dan Marino, Rothstein grew up in a lower-middle class family in the Bronx. He's now out of town and possibly out of the country -- no one knows where exactly -- and the Feds have reportedly shown up at his law firm offices.

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Con Man

Hilton: I'm Too Sick To Forfeit Self-Portrait For Auction

Justin Elliott | November 3, 2009, 9:40AM

Michael Hilton

The Billings Gazette in Montana has the latest from now-admitted conman Michael Hilton: asked to hand over four works of art to help pay a $700,000 judgment in a California real estate fraud case, Hilton claimed he had the flu and couldn't make it.

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Obama Administration

Obama Adopts Bush's State Secrets Position -- And Exact Language -- In NSA Spying Case

Justin Elliott | November 2, 2009, 6:03PM

Pres. Obama and Fmr. Pres. George W. Bush

Here's a good catch from Michael Isikoff on the new blog Declassified at Newsweek:

It looks like the Obama Administration is invoking the state secrets privilege in a lawsuit alleging illegal surveillance by the National Security Agency -- and it's using the exact wording used by the Bush Administration two years ago in the very same case.

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Orly Taitz

Judge Wonders Aloud If Orly Taitz Suborned Perjury

Justin Elliott | November 2, 2009, 5:05PM

Orly Taitz

Others have already noted this passage from a smack-down ruling against Orly Taitz in a California Birther suit last week. But it's worth highlighting that the judge in the case suggested Taitz may have suborned perjury.

Check out these sentences from the lengthy order by Judge David Carter of the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California:

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Muslim Mafia

CAIR Sues 'Muslim Mafia' Author Over Property Lifted By Undercover Intern

Justin Elliott | November 2, 2009, 2:45PM

Muslim Mafia Co-Author David Gaubatz

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has sued the author of Muslim Mafia, a book that sparked calls by four House Republicans for an investigation into intern spies, seeking the return of documents taken by the author's son while he was posing as a Muslim and interning at CAIR's Washington office.

The suit alleges that Chris Gaubatz, son of book co-author Dave Gaubatz, took over 12,000 documents along with electronic information when he was posing as convert Dave Marshall in 2008. It quotes the book itself, which says Gaubatz routinely loaded the trunk of his car with the files.

Politico's Josh Gerstein reports:

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Scott Roeder

Anti-Abortion Activist Behind Auction For Roeder: For-Sale Items Do Not Glorify Violence

Justin Elliott | November 2, 2009, 1:46PM

Anti-abortion activist Regina Dinwiddie

Regina Dinwiddie, the Kansas anti-abortion activist who set up an eBay auction to benefit the suspect in the George Tiller murder, tells TPMmuckraker in a phone interview that she's angry that eBay pulled her items -- and that she believes they did not glorify violence, but rather "glorify the end of a very violent man."

"Actually I thought [eBay] was the last bastion of free enterprise in America, where normal people could put things up for sale," Dinwiddie told us. "I see they do have a political agenda."

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Scott Roeder

Anti-Abortion Extremists Auction Lurid Prison Art On eBay To Raise Money For Tiller Murder Suspect

Justin Elliott | November 2, 2009, 9:51AM

Art for sale on eBay for Scott Roeder's legal defense.

Supporters of the man charged with the May killing of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller are raising money for his legal defense through an eBay auction on items including prison art glorifying the murder and a commissary cookbook by the woman who is serving time for shooting Tiller in both arms in the early 1990s.

Allies of Scott Roeder want to hire a private lawyer who will use a so-called "necessity defense," arguing that the killing was justified.

(See a slideshow of the now-scrubbed items here.)

Auction organizer Dave Leach told the Kansas City Star, which first reported the auction, "I really am hopeful that eBay can see that once this is up, that it is not a glorification of violence."

But the items, like illustrations produced by a fellow inmate and signed by Roeder, do just that. One David-and-Goliath drawing shows a figure with a sling holding up a severed head labeled "Tiller" standing over a bloodied body labeled "Child Murdering Industry."

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