Attorney General William Barr sent a memorandum Monday to U.S. Attorneys, telling them to prioritize the prosecution of criminals who are trying to exploit the coronavirus outbreak to commit scams and frauds.
New: AG Barr has just sent a directive to US attorneys around the country urging them to prioritize prosecutions and investigations of scammers, fraudsters and cyber criminals looking to take advantage of the COVID-19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/B0CbUky7so
— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) March 16, 2020
Barr’s letter reads, in part:
In addition to ensuring that the justice system can continue functioning during the current national crisis, it is essential that the Department of Justice remain vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the crisis. In particular, there have been reports of individuals and businesses selling fake cures for COVID-19 online and engaging in other forms of fraud, reports of phishing emails from entities posing as the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and reports of malware being inserted onto mobile apps designed to track the spread of the virus. The pandemic is dangerous enough without wrongdoers seeking to profit from public panic and this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated. Every U.S. Attorney’s office is thus hereby directed to prioritize the detection, investigation, and prosecution of all criminal conduct related to the current pandemic.
Barr also asked federal prosecutors to help ensure the health and safety of those who work in the nation’s courts, and declared: “I have faith that we will get through this together.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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