Letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Fine

 

 

          January 31, 2009

               4204 Lakeside Way   

                   Newnan, Georgia 30265

 

 

Glenn A. Fine – Inspector General

Office of the Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
Investigations Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Room 4706
Washington, DC 20530

SUBJ:  WHISTLEBLOWING UNITED PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Dear Mr. Fine,

The Whistleblowing United Pilots Association is a national grassroots coalition comprised of employees and retirees from all airlines whose purpose is to help discover the truth regarding alleged white-collar criminality associated with post-9/11 airline bankruptcies and serve justice on the criminals who perpetrated these crimes.  I serve as a public spokesperson for this group.

Since November 20, 2006, the Department of Justice has been apprised of the availability of criminal evidence in support of allegations of corruption in the United Airlines bankruptcy when a letter was mailed to District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office advising him of this.

On December 26, 2006, a letter was received from his screening committee advising me to contact Chicago FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant with this information.

On April 1, 2007, a letter was sent to Mr. Grant advising him of the same, while addressing concerns that, in light of the recent district attorney firings at the time, perhaps untoward upper-echelon Department of Justice pressures were being exerted to preclude the continuance of an investigation on related evidence and witnesses that had stepped forth.

Mr. Grant never responded to this letter, but on April 16, 2007 a letter was received the Public Corruption Unit of the Washington FBI office, a branch with a purely administrative function, suggesting that I contact the office of the FBI in Atlanta, Georgia.  Since FBI Chicago had already been briefed on some of the legal matters pertaining to this case, and since many of the witnesses resided there, I decided that at that point in time, this not to be the most prudent course of legal action.

Because of persistent stonewalling regarding other branches of government, on September 1, 2007, I sent a letter to then Assistant Attorney General-Criminal Division Alice Fisher, Senator Leahy, Senator Schumer, and Congressman Conyers a letter to inform them of the availability of witnesses and criminal evidence, while describing our frustration in moving the case forward in the legal/political arena without adequate witness protection for criminal informants.

On October 18, 2007, under the auspices of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, I filed for federal whistle blower protection in letters to Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Christopher Cox, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which included signed and sworn affidavits provided by myself and an associated.  Additionally, federal witness protection was requested, given the critical issues that had been addressed in these affidavits.

On October 22, 2007, an unsolicited letter was received by me from my home-state of Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss advising me that he had contacted the Department of Justice on this matter and would respond to me as soon as information became available to him.

On November 5, 2007, Senator Chambliss responded to me by saying, “that, I, as a U.S. senator, have no jurisdiction over matters such as these.”

On November 5, 2007, a letter was received from SEC Senior Counselor Juliet Gardner thanking me for my ‘views’, while advising that if the SEC had any further questions, they would contact me, which they have not.

On December 12, 2007, a letter was received from Gerald Toner, DOJ Assistant Chief for Labor-Management Racketeering-Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, with a letter enclosed from John Keeney, DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in response to the letter that I had mailed to Ms Fisher on April 1, 2007.  Unfortunately, Mr. Keeney skirted the very issues I had addressed in my letter to Ms Fisher.

On February 10, 2008, I responded to Mr. Keeney by pointing out the fact that my originally questions had not been addressed, while specifically quoting the exact text of sections of the Fisher letter.  Unfortunate for me, I believe that it was during this time frame that Mr. Keeney left DOJ, as there were other allegations he was facing at the time.  I did not receive a response to this letter from anyone else at DOJ.

Recognizing that I had already exposed myself to criminal elements with the information provided, and that I was not being afforded Sarbanes-Oxley whistle blower or other protections as prescribed by federal law, with no congressional committee response to letters written either, on February 14, 2008, I filed a criminal complaint (#2008-9580) with Agent David Barusko of the Chicago FBI office pending forthcoming evidence and witness testimony, which required witness protection for criminal informants.  During this conversation, Agent Barusko advised me that a meeting could be arranged with agents at an undisclosed location of our time and choosing to present evidence, but I informed him that I would have to consult with attorneys and associates before accepting this offer.

(A few weeks ago I confirmed that the file on this complaint was still open and requested that the agent I talked to hold the complaint file open, which he assured me he’d do).

On February 22, 2008, a letter was mailed to Robert Grant advising him of my phone conversation with Mr. Barusko, while establishing self-protective conditions for arrangement of the meeting.  Mr. Grant never responded to this letter.

It has now been twenty-six months since the Department of Justice was notified of the availability of criminal evidence.  There has been no legal or political response from the Department of Justice or Congress.

Recently, letters were mailed to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation, Labor, and Treasury,  as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and Social Security Administration requesting that these offices conduct investigate allegations of potential criminality on a number of issues all pertaining to this case.  Ordinary citizens should not have to go to these lengths to solve crimes, as this is the function of the Department of Justice.

President Obama campaigned on a promise of open government, which included the exposition of white-collar corruption, untoward lobbyist pressures, and excessive executive compensation.  In this regard, the Whistleblowing United Pilots Association fully supports and encourages his agenda.

Last week, the Government Accountability Project office transmitted the attached letter petitioning President Obama to move forward with pending enhanced whistle blower protection legislation.  You will note that my name/association appear as signatory toward the bottom of this document.  It is because of my personal past abuse as a whistle blower on numerous counts, as well as the thousands of other unheard informants, that I strongly support passage of this legislation

When individual whistle blowers garner the courage to step forth with criminal evidence, they do so with the hope and promise that laws will be upheld and the agencies assigned to enforce them will perform these duties.  I am presently a disenfranchised federal whistle blower on a number of related issues who foolishly believed that there were whistle blower laws and law enforcement agencies to protect me once I spoke out.  Fool me once…

We want to believe that Lady Justice is blind in the criminal prosecution of unlawful behavior in this country.  Based on the frustrating past several years experiences of our association, we’ve come to believe this only to be the case with selective issues and individual cases.  Kindly prove us wrong in this instance.

In the near future, our association members will be providing evidence and witness testimony to the Department of Justice and expect full cooperation and protection.

Very respectfully,

Dan Hanley

Spokesperson – Whistleblowing United Pilots Association