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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Southern District of New York
U.S. ATTORNEY PREET BHARARA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Ellen Davis, Carly Sullivan,
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ADRIAN BUSBY, 37, a former Special Agent with the New York Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), was convicted today in Manhattan federal court of
four counts of making false statements. U.S. District Judge HAROLD BAER, JR. presided over the five-day jury trial.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “In roughly three hours, Adrian Busby was found guilty by a jury of his peers on all four counts of making false statements that were contained in the indictment. Law enforcement agents who break the law dishonor their fellow officers, disserve the public and must be held to account.”
According to the trial evidence and other documents filed in the case:
In early 2008, BUSBY signed up a woman who was the target of an identity theft case being prosecuted by the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office as an FBI confidential source (the “Confidential Source”). When he signed up the Confidential Source, BUSBY wrote on an FBI form that she was not the subject or target of any investigation. In truth, mere days before making this representation on the form, BUSBY had called both the lead NYPD detective and the Queens Assistant D.A. investigating the identity theft case to try to convince them to halt their investigation of the Confidential Source.
Notwithstanding BUSBY’s efforts, the Confidential Source was ultimately indicted on felony charges in Queens County. BUSBY also began an affair with the Confidential Source.
As she began preparing for her trial, BUSBY assisted with her defense, in violation of FBI rules.
For example, BUSBY supplied the Confidential Source and her defense attorney with copies of confidential FBI and Internal Revenue Service reports of interviews he and other agents had conducted as part of a separate federal mortgage fraud investigation. He also supplied the Confidential Source and her attorney with secret information gathered pursuant to federal grand jury subpoenas. In addition, he unsuccessfully lobbied his supervisor and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in another office for permission to testify on the Confidential Source’s behalf at her trial. He also repeatedly asked the Assistant U.S. Attorney to ask the Queens Assistant D.A. to dismiss the case against her. After the Confidential Source was convicted at trial, BUSBY called
up the main witness who had testified against her, and insisted that the witness submit to an interview with him at his FBI offices.
In December 2009, when BUSBY’s supervisor learned that confidential FBI and IRS reports had been disclosed to the Confidential Source’s attorney, his supervisor confronted him.
BUSBY denied having intentionally given any reports to the defense attorney. He subsequently put that denial in writing, stating that he must have accidentally left copies of the reports in the lawyer’s office. As BUSBY’s actions were coming under closer scrutiny, allegations came to light that he had had an inappropriate sexual relationship with the Confidential Source. When his supervisor asked about these allegations, BUSBY denied them as well.
In April 2011, after the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (“DOJOIG”) began investigating him, BUSBY attended a meeting with DOJ-OIG and a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. During that meeting, BUSBY claimed that he had not known the Confidential Source was under investigation when he signed her up, and that he did not begin any sexual relationship with her until after she was no longer an FBI source. BUSBY also repeated his false claim that he had not intentionally given any FBI or IRS reports to her attorney.
BUSBY was charged and convicted of making four false statements: (i) lying to the FBI on the January 2008 form opening the Confidential Source; (ii) lying to the FBI in December 2009 about whether he had intentionally given FBI reports to the Confidential Source’s attorney; (iii) lying to DOJ-OIG in April 2011 about whether he knew the Confidential Source was under investigation when he had signed her up as a source; and (iv) lying to DOJ-OIG in April 2011 about whether he had intentionally given the FBI reports to the Confidential Source’s attorney.
The evidence presented at trial included text messages BUSBY sent the defense attorney and witness testimony, including testimony from the defense attorney.
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Each false statement charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. BUSBY
is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge BAER on March 8, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. Mr. BHARARA thanked the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) for their assistance in the investigation.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys ALVIN BRAGG and SARAH McCALLUM are in charge of the prosecution.
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