They want your keys

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

A former federal organized-crime prosecutor in Los angeles has pleaded guilty
to three felony charges in a scandal involving death threats, hundreds of
thousands of dollars' worth of fraud and the acceptance of cash payments 
from defendants.

The former prosecutor, Andrew Pitt, 39, faces between 24 and 30 months in a
federal prison. Last month Pitt filed a sworn statement admitting, among other
things, that he had taken $98,000 from one infrmer facing criminal charges 
and $35,000 from another. He said he then recommended probation, instead of 
a prison sentence, for the first informer and repeatedly asked that the second
informer be given additional time at large before reporting to prison. In 
addition Pitt admitted taking $33,000 from an illegal stock deal and transferr
it to his own account.

But Securities and Exchanges commission charged that Pitt also obtained at
least $400,000 in illegal profits by manipulating stock in a company he
controlled while serving as a prosecutor. And federal officials also charged
that Pitt was associated with a group of stock swindlers who went to Montreal
in 1995 with $350,000 to bribe people described in an indictment as "belived
to be" Quebec government officials.

A former assistant Los Angeles district attorney, Pitt was hired in 1988 as a
prosecutor with a federal organized-crime task force  The task force was
merged the following year with the U.S. attorney's office. Pitt was the lead
prosecutor in a high-profile case lining organized crime to the recording
business.

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<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps