W00t! I freaking love this news. From The Independent:
The FBI has told Scotland Yard it is "prepared to step in" if the Metropolitan Police fails to investigate the full extent of impropriety in the Murdoch empire. The warning came at a meeting between the transatlantic law enforcement groups at the Ministry of Justice in London.
Every piece of evidence surrendered by News Corporation to Scotland Yard is also being passed to US investigators. The disclosures, which prompted more than 20 arrests, including Sun journalists, have also sparked a separate FBI inquiry into whether News Corporation bribed officials in Russia. US investigators are collecting evidence given to the Leveson inquiry and parliamentary select committees.
"The FBI made it perfectly clear that if the British police drop the ball on this they will pick it up and run with it," said one legal source familiar with the US investigation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/...
Rupert might want to consider plastic surgery and relocation to the South Pacific.
UPDATE 1: From the comments, some excellent insight into what this promise by the FBI means. First, from nota bene:
Looks like a shot across the bow to me. The FBI may be privately concerned about corruption and payoffs in their UK law enforcement & prosecutorial counterparts. The possibility of American indictments under the FCPA is the sword of Damocles hanging over everything that's going on in the UK.
Alternatively, this could be directed at Murdoch's employees, encouraging them to jump ship while the jumping is good.
Next, from
Brit:
It also boxes in Rupert in his attempt to call in his favors this election cycle. Mind you, Obama was brilliant in this regard. Unlike Blair, he just didn't deal with Murdoch. Despite pressure from his kids to support Obama in 2008, Murdoch ended up jumping on the McCain train.
I'm hoping, despite the despair of Kossacks, that actually the FBI might be stronger than they think. They're already amassing the case of corruption of Newscorp in Italy, Russia and NDS (a Newscorp subsidiary hacking phones when it was based in Israel).
In other FOTHOM news, James Murdoch has stepped down or is being pressured to step down from the boards of several major corporations, most recently from Sotheby's. From Business Insider:
James Murdoch, News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer, will leave the board of Sotheby’s auction house, following demands he resign over his role in a U.K. phone-hacking scandal.
Murdoch, 39, this year already resigned from the board of GlaxoSmithKline Plc and as executive chairman of News Corp.’s U.K. publishing unit News International. Murdoch also faces calls from investors to step down from the board of News Corp. and as chairman of pay-TV company British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc.
...
U.K. lawmakers are preparing a report about Murdoch’s role in the scandal following testimony he gave that has been contradicted by former subordinates. The committee began its inquiry in July after Murdoch said lawmakers had been misled about the extent of phone hacking during a previous probe in 2009. It has questioned him twice for the new report, once alongside his father Rupert, News Corp.’s chief executive officer.
http://www.businessinsider.com/...
Please support the book by Brit, a.k.a. Peter Jukes, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MURDOCH, which I am illustrating:
http://unbound.co.uk/...
p.s. A priceless image created by the inimitable Diogenes2008:
UPDATE 2: Interesting new developments from Brit in the comments:
And in other news...
The report of Parliament's DCMS committee (which Rupert and James appeared before) into phone hacking is due soon. And there's an almighty political battle. Check out this Dan Sabbagh Guardian piece just published
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
(excerpt of Guardian piece:)
So important has the form of words become that it is already the subject of a battle between members, several of whom have clear affiliations both for and against the man, and judging by various rumours from the committee, in some instances have been taking briefings from News Corp and elsewhere. No wonder Rupert Murdoch wants to be nearby.
(Back to Brit's analysis:)
This is a vital moment in the history of our Parliament. Having been supine to News Corp for 40 years (see my last diary on the Murdoch/Thatcher revelations) this is our once chance to come clean. I've tweeted to Dan:
@dansabbagh You say DCMS members have affiliations for and against James M. We all know the 'against'. Who the 'for'? guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar…
I'm going to see if I can get hold of some Parliamentarians, and add more media pressure on this (Avaaz where are you?). But meantime I'd advise all Kossacks to do whatever they can to get this out to their friends in the UK.
Don't let the DCMS whitewash James Murdoch!