Essay: Inside the Chambers of a Federal Judge

By Michael McGuire

Please click the link here to read Michael’s latest essay. The narrative covers a rare sit-down interview with U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. This is not written in the style of a news piece, but rather in the style of essays published in periodicals.

Video: eBay Scammer Opts to ‘Buy it Now’

By Rachel Aiken

Press play on the video player below to view the story.

Video: National Park Says No Sermon on the Mount

By Ben Petitto

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Video: Sentencing Set in Child Porn Case

By Jayna Johns

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Blog: Reflections from the Reporters

By Rachel Aiken, Jayna Johns, Michael McGuire and Ben Petitto

Click the thumbnail images of the reporters to venture to their personal blog stories about their experiences in Washington so far.

Rachel Aiken

Jayna Johns

Michael McGuire

Ben Petitto

Court Hears Muslim’s Race Discrimination Appeal

By Rachel Aiken

For Ali Asghar, the bottom line in his appeal is whether his attorney convinced a federal appeals court today that he has enough proof to support his allegations that he was the victim of race discrimination on the job.

Asghar, who is in his 50s, is a Muslim born in Afghanistan who worked for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a division in the U.S. Treasury Department. In 2006 he filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming he was the victim of race discrimination after Treasury officials and FBI agents questioned him about possible links to terrorism.

The questioning of Asghar occurred after he tried to return to work after a seven-month visit to Afghanistan in 2004. When he tried to use his employee security card to enter the building, he couldn’t get in because his status had been changed.

No charges were filed against Asghar and he returned to work after Thanksgiving in 2004.

Audio: Fake Lawsuit Leaves ‘Tortured Trail’

By Michael McGuire

Click the play button below to hear the news report, including excerpts from the interview with attorney Robert Lee Jenkins, Jr.

D.C. Nightclub Owner Sentenced, Faces Deportation

By Jayna Johns

A federal judge today sentenced a former D.C. nightclub owner to 38 months in prison and ordered him to pay more than $950,000 in restitution to the IRS for underreporting his annual income.

Abdul Karim Khanu, 42, of Potomac, Md., who owned DC Live, Platinum and H20, was convicted last year of tax fraud and tax evasion after skimming cash from his clubs and paying employees under the table.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she believes Khanu won’t be a repeat offender. “I think that he is sincere that this conviction has definitely made an impression on him,” she said. “This is definitely a good first step.”

But, she said, she felt she needed to send him to prison.

Judge Tells U.S. ‘Put Cards on Table’ in Drug Case

By Ben Petitto

A federal judge joined defense attorneys for 10 Colombian nationals today in trying to jumpstart a three-year-old case that accuses the men of running a drug cartel that allegedly sought to import thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

The defendants are charged with using stash houses, guns and boats in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico to carry out their operation to bring drugs into the U.S.

The men were indicted in 2007, but the process of extraditing all 10 defendants to the United States was only recently completed and was complicated because it involved the Colombian Supreme Court.

Defense attorneys said they are worried that some of their clients have been held for almost three years, testing the limits of their Sixth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution to a speedy trial.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said prosecutors need to “put their cards on the table” to move the case toward a trial, which he estimated could take at least three months next year.

Vietnam Vet Says Fighting IRS Was His ‘Duty’

By Ben Petitto

As a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the war in Vietnam, Allan Tanguay said he first began to believe that it was “my job and duty” to fight for America. But years later his devotion took on new meaning as he fought what he described as “Goliath,” the IRS.

Tanguay, 67, is on trial with four other men in federal court in Washington on charges that they defrauded the U.S. government by orchestrating tax defiance schemes to help taxpayers avoid paying income taxes.

According to testimony, American Rights Litigators, a Florida tax protest group, used a variety of reasons for taxpayers to avoid paying taxes, ranging from membership in an American Indian tribe to entitlement to reparations for slavery.

Acting as his own attorney, Tanguay told a jury in his opening statement today that he was fighting for what he believed—that the IRS is misusing federal law—and that he had not intended to defraud the U.S. government.