Ex-Judge Diane Hathaway

DETROIT – Prosecutors want disgraced ex-Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway to serve time behind bars for bank fraud.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Thursday in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s office recommended that Hathaway serve 12 to 18 months under the sentencing guidelines. Sentencing is set for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor.

“Such a sentence would serve to adequately punish the defendant for her methodical, thoughtful, and sophisticated criminal conduct that spanned over two years and caused approximately $100,000 in losses to a financial institution,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel L. Lemisch and Patrick Hurford wrote. “In addition, this sentence would deter the defendant and others from future criminal conduct and, in particular, economic crime.”

Hathaway, 58, pleaded guilty in January to a real estate scheme in which she transferred properties out of her name to make it look as if she had less assets, all so she could get a short sale on her Grosse Pointe Park home and get out of $600,000 she owed the bank, ING Direct. The original mortgage was $1.4 million and the home was sold for $800,000 in the short sale.

Under the short sale, the loss to the bank was approximately $100,000, according to the government. The government noted that she did bring $10,000 to the closing for the short sale as a closing fee, bringing the actual loss to $90,000.

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Read sentencing memorandum. 

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that he recused himself from involvement in a Justice Department leak investigation that secretly acquired telephone records of Associated Press journalists.

But in response to questions at a news conference, he defended the department’s conduct in probing what he described as one of the damaging leaks he has seen.

Holder said he testified in June 2012 that he was interviewed by the FBI in connection with the probe into a leak of classified information to the AP. “To avoid any potential appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said, “I recused myself from this matter.”

Since then, he said, the investigation has been conducted by the FBI under the direction of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and the supervision of the deputy attorney general, James M. Cole.

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Steve Neavling

Evan Castle picked the wrong place to grope a woman’s butt.

Since the 24-year-old is accused of committing the crime aboard an airline flight, the incident is being investigated by the FBI, a U.S. Attorney and federal special agents, Fox 31 Denver reports.

According to Fox 31, Castle was sexually harassing two flight attendants before he grabbed their butts.

Castle was advised Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver that he faces a charge of abusive sexual contact.

If charged and convicted, Castle faces up to two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Pres. Obama at press conference/white house file photo

A 28-year-old South Carolina man faces charges that he threatened the lives of several people including President Obama.

Patrick Randell McIntosh Charleston, S.C. was arraigned in Atlanta U.S. District Court.

“McIntosh is charged with making violent and disturbing threats online and via email to several people, including a threat to the life of the President of the United States,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in a statement.

According to Yates, McIntosh posted on his Facebook page his plans to shoot patrons at a local Atlanta lounge and to kill the President of the United States.

After posting the various threats, the defendant purchased three firearms from individuals who advertised weapons for sale, she said, according to the release.

 Jan Mann, the first Assistant U.S. Attorney in the New Orelans office, who was embroiled in controversy, has retired from the office, along with her husband, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

Gordon Russell of the Times-Picayune reports:

 Jan Mann was demoted from her dual management posts last month — she had been both first assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the office’s criminal division — after she admitted commenting pseudonymously on stories about federal cases posted at NOLA.com.

The revelation came more than six months after Sal Perricone, another high-ranking member of the office, confessed to authoring a raft of online rants.

The scandal resulted in the resignation of U.S. Attorney Letten.

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U.S. Atty Jim Letten/gov photo

Ironically, his fall was engineered by Fred Heebe, the landfill magnate who very nearly became U.S. attorney himself after George W. Bush was elected president — and then, years later, found himself a target of the office.

While it was Heebe’s filing of a defamation lawsuit that set Letten’s downfall in motion, he was finally done in by the failure of his most trusted lieutenant — First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann — to admit that she, too, had been posting vituperative online comments about federal targets.

In an emotional and strident 11-minute speech, Letten said his resignation would be effective Tuesday, but that he would stay on for a “very, very short time” to aid in the transition. He spoke of his pride in having served as the region’s top federal law enforcement officer for more than a decade.

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Sen. Grassley/official photo

Three members of Congress are increasingly putting pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder to explain the U.S. Attorney’s  dysfunctional relationship with the Reno-based ATF office, Main Justice reports.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada has refused to prosecute ATF cases in the Reno office, leaving as many as a dozen cases untouched..

“The Justice Department has yet to respond to any of Congress’ questions about what happened in Reno for more than a year,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a a statement. “It’s an abdication of responsibility on the part of the Justice Department, and if these crimes weren’t prosecuted, whether because of actions of the U.S. Attorney or the ATF, the people of Nevada should know why.”

Two Nevada lawmakers joined the call for answers.

The cause of the strained relationship remains unclear, but agents have virtually abandoned the Reno, according Main Justice.