Ellington

Raw Story is reporting that the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury may be investigating U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton:

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility and the US Treasury Department are investigating allegations that a Bush-appointed US Attorney inappropriately shared private income tax information on one of his targets with a state judicial commission that included one of his relatives, according to court documents and a source close to the investigation. Dunnica Lampton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, is already under investigation for allegations of political prosecutions in his state. According to new documents viewed by Raw Story, Lampton allegedly shared the private income tax records of then-Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz Jr. with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance and with one of its then-commissioners, his distant cousin Leslie B. Lampton.

The US Attorney also shared the tax records of Diaz's wife, Jennifer, and those were also allegedly shared without authorization, said a source close to the DOJ investigation. Documents shown to Raw Story relating to the case confirm that a criminal investigation is underway. These documents did not include the Diaz's tax returns themselves.

In addition to the Justice Department investigation, the office of the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is also probing Lampton's conduct, the source said. The special agent assigned to the case is said to be Kelly Sopko.

Reached by phone last Monday, a Treasury spokesperson would not confirm that Sopko worked for the Department or that there was an investigation.

Previous Comments

ID

141950

Comment

Boy, this could really turn nasty!

Author

justjess

Date

2008-12-02T09:59:28-06:00

ID

141964

Comment

DOJ also needs to be investigating why Lampton allegedly refused to allow the FBI to present their case to a federal grand jury related to TSA and Melton flying armed on commercial aircraft. TSA never took any action against Melton so the FBI initiated a probe into the case. When they tried to get it to a federal grand jury they were allegedly blocked by Lampton. Investigators indicated that they might "shop the case around" to find jurisdiction in another federal district. They were allegedly told that if they did they'd never get another case through the federal grand jury for the Southern District as long as (Lampton) was the US Attorney.

Author

Jerimiah

Date

2008-12-03T00:42:51-06:00

ID

142075

Comment

If Lampton would have done his job, Melton as well as several of the Jackson City Council as well as Department directors would be sitting in jail for tampering with Federal Bids, Misspending of Grant Funds, violation of employee civil rights and other federal law violations. I wonder if Lampton as with Melton feel the heat enough to anwers the question is your freedom worth more than your ego?

Author

Hot Sauce

Date

2008-12-06T12:37:52-06:00