It looks like the FBI is in for yet another scandal.
According to a new report from the LA Times, FBI agents busted into thousands of safety deposit boxes in California. After they rummaged through the private property of innocent people, it turns out they lied to a federal judge to get access to the boxes in the first place.
"The privacy invasion was vast when FBI agents drilled and pried their way into 1,400 safe-deposit boxes at the U.S. Private Vaults store in Beverly Hills. They rummaged through personal belongings of a jazz saxophone player, an interior designer, a retired doctor, a flooring contractor, two Century City lawyers and hundreds of others," the LA Times reports. "Agents took photos and videos of pay stubs, password lists, credit cards, a prenuptial agreement, immigration and vaccination records, bank statements, heirlooms and a will, court records show. In one box, agents found cremated human remains."
"Eighteen months later, newly unsealed court documents show that the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles got their warrant for that raid by misleading the judge who approved it," the report continues. "They omitted from their warrant request a central part of the FBI’s plan: Permanent confiscation of everything inside every box containing at least $5,000 in cash or goods, a senior FBI agent recently testified."
FBI agents drilled and pried their way into 1,400 safe-deposit boxes.
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 23, 2022
18 months later, newly unsealed court documents show that the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles got their warrant for that raid by misleading the judge who approved it.https://t.co/zygb4JQG3u
Those who watch the FBI closely, particular the Bureau's political misconduct and persecution of conservatives, aren't surprised.
Well, the last time I recall an FBI agent lying to get a warrant he wasn’t even disbarred. So why wouldn’t they keep doing it? https://t.co/RAljAuvfYn
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) September 25, 2022
Afterall, it's the same FBI that lied to the FISA court in order to illegally surveil Trump campaign advisor Carter Page during the 2016 presidential election. Not to mention their most recent raid on Mar-a-Lago.