National Roundup

New York Top SEC lawyer named in Madoff suit NEW YORK (AP) -- The top lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit by the trustee who's trying to recover money for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The lawsuit was filed by Irving Picard against David Becker, and claims Becker's family earned more than $1.5 million in phony profits from Madoff's investments. Becker and his brothers were named executors of their mother's estate, which included a Madoff account. It says they liquidated the account in 2005, withdrawing $2 million. Becker tells the New York Post he had "absolutely" no idea Madoff was running a fraud. He says the suit is about his parents' investments, which he had nothing to do with. Becker is the SEC's general counsel, but returns to the private sector next week. Florida Man guilty in airport bullet primer case MIAMI (AP) -- A man has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he illegally carried bullet primers in luggage on a commercial flight to Miami International Airport. Court records show 37-year-old Orville Braham pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two transportation of hazardous materials charges. The charges carry a combined maximum 15-year sentence but Braham will probably get less when he's sentenced May 3. Braham was charged after about 1,000 bullet primers and an ammunition reloader were discovered in his checked baggage in December. Some of the primers ignited but no one was injured. Braham was traveling from Boston to Jamaica when the primers were found during a Miami stopover. Braham has been held without bail since his arrest. California FBI accused of violating Muslims' rights at mosque LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two civil liberties groups have sued the FBI, claiming that one of the agency's former informants was ordered to target Muslims for surveillance when he infiltrated a California mosque. The ACLU of Southern California and the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court, the Washington Post reported. The lawsuit alleged that ex-FBI informant Craig Monteilh violated Muslims' constitutional rights of freedom of religion by conducting "indiscriminate surveillance" because of their religion. The suit named the FBI and seven of its agents and supervisors, and sought class-action status, unspecified damages and a court order instructing the FBI to destroy or return the information Monteilh collected. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told The Associated Press she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she emphasized that the FBI does not target religious groups or individuals based on their religion. The agency "does not investigate houses of worship or religious groups, but people who are alleged to be involved in criminal activity, regardless of their affiliations," Eimiller said. Monteilh infiltrated an Orange County mosque and helped build a case against an Afghan-born man who was arrested on terrorism-related charges in 2009. The lawsuit claimed that Monteilh's handlers -- FBI agents Kevin Armstrong and Paul Allen -- instructed him to collect e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other information about Muslims and "explicitly told Monteilh that Islam was a threat to America's national security," according to the Post. The two agents declined to comment to the newspaper. Florida Teens won't be prosecuted in cyberbullying case ESTERO, Fla. (AP) -- Prosecutors in southwest Florida say they won't charge two teenage girls accused of creating a fake Facebook account to ridicule a classmate. Instead, the 15- and 16-year-old Fort Myers-area girls were referred to a pretrial diversion program at the request of the victim's father. The teens will have to go before an accountability board that help youths accused of crimes understand the harm that was done and assigns punishment. Authorities say the girls created a page and posted pictures showing their 16-year-old classmate's head superimposed on the body of a half-nude child. Derogatory remarks were posted next to the pictures. The girls said they targeted the victim because "nobody liked her." Arizona Arizona jury sentences border activist to death TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- An Arizona jury on Tuesday sentenced the leader of an anti-illegal-immigrant group to death in the 2009 murder of a young girl and her father in what prosecutors said was an attempt to steal drug money to fund the group's operations. Shawna Forde, the leader of the Minutemen American Defense, a small border watch group, becomes the third woman on Arizona's death row, the Pima County Attorney's Office said. The 43-year-old Forde was convicted Feb. 14 of first-degree murder and other charges in the May 2009 home invasion in Arivaca, a desert community about 10 miles north of Mexico. Raul Flores, 29, and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, were killed in the robbery. Prosecutors alleged Forde and her co-defendants, Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Robert Gaxiola, dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into the home, then shot Flores, his daughter and his wife, Gina Gonzalez, who survived her injuries after getting into a gun battle with the attackers. Flores was believed to be involved with drug trafficking, police said, but officers don't think the assailants found much cash or drugs in the home. A 911 recording released by the Pima County sheriff's office captured Gonzalez pleading for help after her husband and daughter were shot. She was heard crying out in pain from a gunshot wound then becoming frantic as the attackers returned. The sound of nine gunshots was heard as Gonzalez engaged the intruders. Bush and Gaxiola will be tried in the case at a later date. Forde, of Everett, Wash., had pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the home invasion. Forde's attorney, Eric Larsen, argued during the trial that Forde was never inside the home. Prosecutors disputed that contention, saying Forde was the ringleader of the operation and the law is clear. "She didn't put a gun to Brisenia's head ... but she was the one in charge," Pima County prosecutor Rick Unklesbay told jurors. "Because of that you must hold her accountable." Larsen said Forde talked big, but "frankly just didn't have the wherewithal to do this." Pima County prosecutors would not comment Tuesday on the jury verdicts because of two pending trials. Larsen would not comment when contacted Tuesday by The Associated Press. Published: Thu, Feb 24, 2011