By Steve Neavling

Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration official who dramatically reshaped the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and presided over an exodus of career attorneys, resigned Thursday after more than 18 months leading the office, The Washington Post reports.

Dhillon’s departure comes just two days after Democrats swept the midterm elections and won control of the House and Senate, though she said she had informed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in early October that she planned to leave. Dhillon called leading the division “the honor of a lifetime” and said she intends to return to her California-based law firm.

Under Dhillon, the Civil Rights Division shifted much of its attention away from its traditional focus on discrimination against minority and vulnerable groups. Attorneys were instead directed to pursue Trump administration priorities including antisemitism on college campuses, alleged anti-Christian discrimination, noncitizen voting, gun rights, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. More than half of the division’s attorneys left during her tenure.

“We ushered in the downfall of illegal DEI, we fought to protect women and girls’ sports, and so much more,” Dhillon wrote on social media. “I want to thank President Trump for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to what’s next!”

Dhillon’s tenure also marked a sharp change in the department’s approach to police accountability. The Justice Department abandoned agreements reached under the Biden administration with police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville and withdrew findings against other agencies. Her division also faced criticism for declining to thoroughly investigate ICE officers who fatally shot Minnesota protesters Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Attorney General Todd Blanche praised Dhillon Thursday, saying she led the division with “conviction” and “enforced the law without fear or favor.”

By Steve Neavling

A former F.B.I. agent is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he struck a pedestrian with his government-issued car in Brooklyn, dragged the injured man through the snow, and drove away without calling for medical help, The New York Times reports.

Andrew Reyes, 30, was driving an F.B.I.-issued Chevrolet Impala on Feb. 3 when he ran a red light and traveled the wrong way on a Brooklyn street with his emergency lights activated, according to prosecutors. He then hit a man crossing Ocean Parkway, knocking him unconscious and seriously injuring him.

Rather than summon help, prosecutors said Reyes got out of the car, dragged the man from the street to the sidewalk, placed him on a bench, and left the scene. He was arrested Thursday and charged with violating the man’s constitutional rights and making false statements to investigators. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Reyes “demonstrated a shocking disregard for human life and his sworn oath to uphold the law,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

Reyes pleaded not guilty Thursday in Brooklyn federal court. Prosecutors said he later denied hitting anyone with his car when questioned in May by investigators with the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General. Reyes had worked as an F.B.I. special agent since 2023 and was assigned to the bureau’s New York field office. His attorney said he has since left the F.B.I. and is working in home remodeling.

By Steve Neavling

Former Justice Department attorney Zach Dembo, who resigned last year over what he described as the politicization of the department, is headed to Congress after winning Kentucky’s 6th District as a Democrat.

Dembo was among three former federal employees who won Republican-held congressional seats Tuesday following nearly two years of upheaval across the federal workforce, The Washington Post reports. Former smoke jumper Sam Forstag won in Montana, while former Navy Adm. Nancy Lacore prevailed in South Carolina after her Republican opponent conceded.

For Dembo, the victory comes after leaving the Justice Department amid concerns about political pressure inside the agency. His experience as a federal prosecutor became a central part of his campaign, particularly as he pledged to scrutinize misconduct in Washington regardless of which party is involved.

“I think being a former prosecutor is a helpful skill set on any committee,” Dembo said after his victory. He also reiterated his campaign promise to investigate corruption whether it involves Democrats or Republicans.

Dembo’s election comes as the Justice Department has faced extraordinary political pressure under President Donald Trump and as the federal workforce has shrunk dramatically. Nearly one in five federal employees has left government since Trump returned to office.

By Steve Neavling

A former FBI agent accused of stealing about $1 million in cryptocurrency from a foreign adversary is expected to plead guilty Thursday after prosecutors say he used classified access to enrich himself and began planning a new life in Portugal, The Washington Post reports.

Patrick Yaroch, 37, previously worked as a supervisor in the FBI’s counterintelligence and espionage division. Federal prosecutors in Virginia allege he accessed classified records unrelated to his assignments, memorized passphrases to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by an unnamed adversarial nation, and transferred roughly $1 million to his own account.

Prosecutors say Yaroch later turned to ChatGPT for advice on leaving the U.S. with about $1 million and becoming a resident or citizen of a European Union country. When he asked what it would recommend, the chatbot pointed to Portugal as the “top choice for your specific situation.” Yaroch traveled there in May, gave Portuguese attorneys power of attorney while exploring the purchase of a vineyard, and had another family trip planned when he was arrested in July.

Yaroch has been charged with interstate transportation of stolen money and receipt of stolen goods. Court records say he did not spend the cryptocurrency, has not been accused of disclosing classified information, and agreed to plead guilty before prosecutors obtained an indictment.

His attorney, Kyle Boynton, has said Yaroch reported his own conduct and was “cooperative and contrite.” Before the plea agreement, Boynton accused senior Justice Department and FBI officials of turning what Yaroch believed was an administrative matter into an unnecessarily public criminal case, writing that prosecutors had no knowledge of the alleged crimes until Yaroch, “overcome with remorse, confessed to them.”

By Steve Neavling

A major cyberattack that exposed sensitive information about FBI employees also compromised personal data belonging to employees across the Justice Department, expanding the scope of a breach that has raised concerns about the safety of federal workers and their families, Politico reports.

The breach originated with FBIJobs.gov, an unclassified system that contained personal information used in background checks for employees and job applicants. Hackers obtained Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers and emergency contact information belonging to thousands of people. The cybercrime group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the attack, which the FBI classified as a “major” cybersecurity incident in September.

Francey Hakes, who leads the Justice Department’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, warned select employees in U.S. attorney offices in a memo that their information may also have been stolen. The Justice Department said the FBI was reviewing the compromised data and verifying contact information so affected employees could be notified, but officials have not said how many Justice Department workers were caught up in the breach.

The exposure has generated particular concern because Justice Department employees and federal prosecutors routinely work cases involving violent criminals, organized crime and national security threats. The FBI previously told its workforce it was “operating under the premise” that hackers had taken personally identifiable information belonging to all bureau employees. The agency later blamed the breach on a contractor that failed to install a security patch and said the contractor had been removed.

By Steve Neavling

The Justice Department has identified prominent Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias as a target in its rapidly expanding investigation into whether Democrats recruited a similarly named candidate to confuse voters in Alaska’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, The Washington Post reports.

Prosecutors have issued more than 20 target and preservation letters as they investigate how Dan J. Sullivan Jr., who is running without a party affiliation, came to challenge Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Investigators are exploring whether Democrats helped recruit the challenger to peel votes away from the incumbent and benefit Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. Elias’ firm represents Peltola’s campaign.

Elias did not say whether he received a target letter, but accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department against political opponents.

“No one should be surprised that President Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me and my law firm on Election Day,” Elias said. “This administration has repeatedly weaponized the DOJ against the President’s political enemies despite zero evidence of wrongdoing, and we are the latest targets.”

The investigation has drawn scrutiny because of its timing. Justice Department officials have traditionally avoided public investigative steps involving political candidates in the weeks before an election, but prosecutors have taken a number of actions against Trump opponents ahead of this year’s midterms.

Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman publicly confirmed the investigation last week, telling reporters, “Every Alaskan deserves a fair election.”

A target letter generally means prosecutors believe they have substantial evidence connecting someone to a possible crime, although it does not mean charges are certain.

By Steve Neavling

The former head of the FBI’s Chicago field office says he was forced to resign after being blamed for the collapse of a politically charged prosecution of immigration protesters, The New York Times reports.

Douglas DePodesta sued the Justice Department on Monday, accusing U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros of making him a “scapegoat” after the government’s case against six protesters known as the Broadview Six unraveled. The lawsuit says Boutros told Justice Department officials that DePodesta had “conspired to destroy” the case, an allegation DePodesta denies.

The protesters were arrested in 2025 after demonstrating outside a federal immigration detention site near Chicago during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz. Prosecutors accused them of blocking and damaging a federal vehicle, but the case was plagued by prosecutorial missteps, and all charges were eventually dropped. A federal judge said in May that she was shocked by the conduct of prosecutors handling the case.

DePodesta alleges Boutros aggressively pushed for charges even after some assistant U.S. attorneys raised objections. According to the lawsuit, Boutros at one point personally addressed a grand jury after it initially declined to indict the protesters and urged jurors to consider whether they were biased in immigration cases.

About a month after an FBI official confronted DePodesta over Boutros’s allegations, DePodesta was told that FBI Director Kash Patel wanted him to resign, the lawsuit says. DePodesta “understood that he had no real choice in the matter,” according to the complaint. His attorney, Ronald Safer, said DePodesta is seeking “accountability, the correction of the record, and restoration of his professional reputation.”

By Steve Neavling

A federal judge threw out criminal charges Monday against two former FBI officials accused of misleading Congress about Hunter Biden, sharply criticizing the Justice Department for pursuing what he called a politically driven case just before the midterm elections, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said the investigation of Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides was rushed, plagued by “critical mistakes,” and undertaken at the urging of President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel.

“I am deeply troubled by what has happened here,” Faruqui said. “What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization.”

Prosecutors accused Floris and Benavides of falsely minimizing what they knew about investigations involving Hunter Biden and the laptop he left at a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019. But Faruqui found that the government had failed to establish that statements the former officials made to Congress in 2023 were intentionally false or interfered with lawmakers’ investigation.

The judge also questioned the timing of the charges, noting that the Justice Department could have sought an indictment earlier instead of filing a criminal complaint immediately before Tuesday’s election.

“I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar,” Faruqui said.

The dismissal does not necessarily end the case. The Justice Department could still seek an indictment from a grand jury, though the Trump administration has struggled to secure indictments in Washington in other politically sensitive cases.

By Steve Neavling

A federal judge has ordered immigration agents in Southern California to stop detaining people simply because they appear Latino, finding that ICE and Border Patrol agents engaged in unconstitutional racial profiling.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong found that agents had “engaged in an unlawful, officially sanctioned practice of detaining individuals solely based upon their appearance as Latino or Latino and working class,” according to NPR. The ruling applies to seven Southern California counties, including Los Angeles.

The decision follows months of additional evidence gathered by the ACLU and other civil rights groups, including declarations from Latinos who said they were wrongly detained, some of them U.S. citizens. Evidence turned over by the government also included text messages containing racial slurs and body-camera footage from immigration operations.

It is the second time Frimpong has tried to impose restrictions on immigration agents over racial profiling. The Supreme Court tossed out an earlier temporary order last year without explaining why, though Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately that race could be considered along with other factors when agents suspect someone is in the country illegally. The underlying lawsuit continued, allowing civil rights attorneys to gather more evidence.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied that its agents engage in racial profiling and has appealed the latest ruling. NPR reported that the case could ultimately return to the Supreme Court

By Steve Neavling

North Korea has pulled off what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, according to the FBI, which says hackers working for the isolated regime stole more than $6 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

The FBI on Saturday blamed the Oct. 29 attack on TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation that has repeatedly targeted cryptocurrency companies. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs estimated that about $6.36 billion disappeared from Binance wallets across 10 blockchains, most of it in roughly 20 minutes. The company had already attributed the attack to North Korea before the FBI confirmed the connection.

It’s the latest and largest in a yearslong campaign by North Korea to steal cryptocurrency and turn cybercrime into a major source of revenue. Treasury officials say the country uses money generated through crypto thefts, fraudulent IT work, and other schemes to help finance its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs while evading international sanctions. North Korean hackers stole at least $2.8 billion in digital assets from January 2024 through September 2025 alone, according to the Treasury Department.

The Binance theft dwarfs even North Korea’s previous record-setting attacks. In February 2025, hackers linked to the country stole nearly $1.5 billion from the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which at the time was the largest crypto heist ever recorded. TRM Labs now estimates North Korea has stolen about $7.4 billion in cryptocurrency this year and about $12.8 billion overall.

The FBI says the hackers are now converting much of the stolen money into Ethereum and are expected to move it through decentralized finance platforms and instant-exchange services in an effort to obscure where it came from. Federal authorities are urging cryptocurrency companies and blockchain operators to block transactions tied to wallets connected to the theft.