News Blog

A Wartime Loss Found

Following an FBI investigation in which they discovered a painting they purchased was allegedly looted by Nazi soldiers during WWII, John Bobb and Janis Bobb (right) returned Krzysztof Lubieniecki’s Portrait of a Young Man to Polish officials during a repatriation ceremony at the FBI’s office in Columbus, Ohio in September 2015.

In July 2015, when Special Agent Paul Zukas began his first day on the job at the FBI legal attaché office in Warsaw, Poland, little did he know his initial case would involve helping the country’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage recover a treasured painting allegedly looted from Warsaw’s National Museum by Nazi soldiers during World War II.

Following the investigation, the painting—Krzysztof Lubieniecki’s Portrait of a Young Man, completed around 1728—was found in Ohio and returned to the Polish government last fall.

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FBI Tip Line

The FBI’s global tip line, at tips.fbi.gov, was established in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A tip—no matter how cryptic, innocuous, or far-fetched the information may seem—can help prevent violent acts. Tips to the FBI have led to captures of Top Ten fugitives and short-circuited scores of criminal and terrorist plots. Established in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI Tip Line receives about 100 “actionable” tips every day related to possible criminal, cyber, terrorism, and espionage acts. Since its inception, the public has submitted more than four million tips via the Internet at tips.fbi.gov. In addition, phone calls to FBI field offices result in thousands of pieces of reporting a day.

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Director Comey Discusses Investigative Challenges in Light of New Methods of Electronic Communication

FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on encryption on March 1, 2016.

FBI Director James Comey, appearing at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on encryption, briefed members on challenges to public safety and national security that have “eroded our ability to obtain electronic information and evidence pursuant to a court order.”

In his prepared statement, Comey called strong encryption “a key tool to secure commerce and trade, safeguard private information, promote free expression and association, and strengthen cyber security” and said that the FBI supports and encourages secure networks to prevent cyber threats to national critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and private data. But he also explained that “the benefits of our increasingly digital lives have been accompanied by new dangers, and we have been forced to consider how criminals and terrorists might use advances in technology to their advantage.”

According to Comey, law enforcement is seeing more and more cases where it believes significant evidence can be found on a phone, tablet, or laptop, and that this evidence that may make the difference on whether the offender is convicted or acquitted. “We must continue the current public debate about how best to ensure that privacy and security can co-exist and reinforce each other, and continue to consider all of the legitimate concerns at play, including ensuring that law enforcement can keep us safe,” said Comey.

Director Comey’s full statement for the record

Open Beta Testing of eFOIPA System Announced

Today, after a previous open beta testing period that resulted in a number of enhancements, the FBI relaunched its eFOIA system—renamed eFOIPA because it now has the capability to accept Privacy Act (PA) requests as well as Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. This second open beta test, which will evaluate the workflow and operational efficiency of the new system, will remain up and running for approximately four months before being closed for review, analysis, and possible additional enhancements.

Among the changes to the system include the above-referenced capability to accept Privacy Act requests; however, any responses to PA requests will still be mailed to the physical address listed in the request. Anyone making a FOIA request will still, once the request is processed, be able to immediately view and download requested materials from a website.

Also, a photo ID is not required when submitting a request during this second open beta testing of the system.

The Bureau’s eFOIPA system, while enhancing government transparency, allows the public to make online requests for records in a medium that is more familiar to an ever-increasing segment of the population.

Make an eFOIPA request

Putting the Brakes on Crime

Sesley Williams used this white Chevrolet Cavalier as one of her getaway vehicles for multiple robberies in Las Vegas and nearby Henderson, Nevada.

Sesley Williams was a ringleader and getaway driver for a string of robberies involving multiple banks and commercial establishments in Las Vegas and nearby Henderson, Nevada. Today she’s in a federal prison after being sentenced last month to a 121-year term.

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Director Comey Briefs Congressional Subcommittee on Key Threats and Challenges

FBI Director James Comey, appearing today before the House Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, provided members an overview of the FBI’s fiscal year 2017 budget request and explained how the requested resources are critical to the Bureau’s ability to address existing and emerging national security and criminal threats.

Some of those threats, according to the Director’s statement, are terrorism—in particular, the threats posed by foreign fighters, including those recruited from the U.S., traveling to join ISIL—and homegrown violent extremists; foreign intelligence and espionage activities, especially the growing problem of the insider threat; the most dangerous and malicious cyber threats from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire, organized cyber syndicates, and terrorists; and serious criminal threats such as public corruption, Internet-facilitated sexual exploitation of children, violent gangs, corporate fraud, and international criminal enterprises.

Comey also said that resources are needed to close gaps in operational capabilities, including enhancements to cyber investigative capabilities, the mitigation of threats from foreign intelligence services and insiders, investments related to the Going Dark initiative, improvements to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and operation and maintenance costs of the new Biometrics Technology Center.

Earlier in the day, Comey joined Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other U.S. Intelligence Community leaders at the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence’s hearing on worldwide threats.

• Director Comey’s statement 
• James Clapper’s statement before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Related FBI, This Week podcast

Caught in the Act

Serial bank robber Anthony Hathaway—seen in these surveillance images in his Cyborg Bandit (left) and Elephant Man Bandit disguises—robbed 30 Seattle-area banks in the span of a year.

The masked criminal known as the Cyborg Bandit and, later, the Elephant Man Bandit was robbing Seattle-area banks at an average of more than two per month for an entire year before he was caught—in the act of robbing a bank he had already robbed.

For investigators who routinely investigate bank robberies, the story of 46-year-old Anthony Hathaway, sentenced last month to nearly nine years in prison, is surprising in some ways but all too familiar in others.

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Counterfeit Cabs

Every day in communities around the nation, the FBI works with its state and local partners to identify and arrest criminals who threaten public safety—including terrorist groups, violent gangs, drug trafficking enterprises, and producers of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, auto parts, and airplane parts.

Most recently, the FBI, in conjunction with the Inspector General for the City of Chicago, conducted an investigation into a fraud scheme that involved the illegal use of salvage vehicles as taxis on city streets—a scheme that potentially put the riding public at risk.

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A New Home for the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center

FBI Director James Comey (right), Sen. Richard Shelby (center), and Lt. Gen. Larry Wyche cut a ribbon that officially opens the new TEDAC facilities at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama on February 16, 2015. TEDAC Director Greg Carl observes in the background.

The Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC), a multi-agency organization that performs a critical function in the fight against terrorism, was officially welcomed to its new home today at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as FBI Director James Comey and other officials took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the occasion.

Before TEDAC’s creation in 2003, no single government entity was responsible for analyzing and exploiting intelligence gleaned from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Since then, TEDAC has examined more than 105,000 IEDs from around the world, providing intelligence to the military, law enforcement, and the intelligence community at home and abroad.

“TEDAC links IEDs to the bomb makers, recognizes trends in how those bombs are being constructed and with what materials,” Comey said during ceremonies attended by officials including Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.

Composed of 30 partner agencies including the FBI, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security, TEDAC was formerly located at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. The move to Alabama centralizes the government’s efforts regarding IEDs and terrorism. Redstone Arsenal is also home to the FBI’s Hazardous Devices School, the ATF’s National Center for Explosives Training and Research, and other operations.

Related information:

• More about TEDAC
• Story: TEDAC Marks 10-Year Anniversary (2013)
• FBI, This Week podcast: State-of-the-Art Facilities for TEDAC

Egg Donation and Surrogacy Scam

Allison Layton, who owned a California company called Miracles Egg Donation (Miracles), claimed she was in the business of helping infertile couples have children. But her business turned out to be a fraud, and she ended up stealing her victims’ hopes and dreams as well as their money.

Would-be parents paid Miracles tens of thousands of dollars—sometimes their life savings—for egg donation and surrogacy services that Layton promised to coordinate. Instead, during a three-year period beginning in 2008, she defrauded couples, egg donors, and surrogate mothers while living a lavish lifestyle off the proceeds.

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