Federal investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in the past six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion rebuilding program.
Some of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or stuffed the money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through wire transfers. Suspects then used cash to buy BMWs, Humvees, expensive jewelry and plastic surgery, or to pay off enormous casino debts.
Some suspects also tried to conceal foreign bank accounts in Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain, the investigators said, while in other cases, cash was simply found stacked in home safes.
It is near impossible to make sense – at least from the justifications on offer –...
US investigators probing an attack on a school in Iran that killed 165 people believe it...
A new video released by Iranian state media shows what appears to be a U.S. cruise...
Israel's military said it launched a "broad wave" of strikes on Iran's capital of Tehran targeting...
