Birotte

Andre Birotte Jr., who for the last six years has served as the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general, has been tapped by President Obama to become the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, the White House announced Thursday. If confirmed by the Senate, Birotte, 43, would become the first black man to serve as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. The Times reported in October that he was the likely nominee. "I am honored and humbled by this nomination," said Birotte, who learned of the news early Thursday while visiting family on the East Coast for the holidays.

Andre Birotte Jr., who for the last six years has served as the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general, has been tapped by President Obama to become the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, the White House announced Thursday. If confirmed by the Senate, Birotte, 43, would become the first black man to serve as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. The Times reported in October that he was the likely nominee. "I am honored and humbled by this nomination," said Birotte, who learned of the news early Thursday while visiting family on the East Coast for the holidays.

After months of speculation about whom President Obama will appoint as the new U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, there is growing consensus as to the most likely nominee: Andre Birotte Jr., the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general. Neither the White House nor U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who nominates candidates to the president, would comment. But people who have worked closely with Birotte have been interviewed by FBI agents conducting background checks on the 43-year-old attorney, sources said.

After months of speculation about whom President Obama will appoint as the new U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, there is growing consensus as to the most likely nominee: Andre Birotte Jr., the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general. Neither the White House nor U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who nominates candidates to the president, would comment. But people who have worked closely with Birotte have been interviewed by FBI agents conducting background checks on the 43-year-old attorney, sources said.

Seven reputed Montebello-area gang members have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in at least half a dozen killings stemming from ongoing rivalries over drugs and turf, authorities said Wednesday. The arrests made by Montebello police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, coupled with several dozen federal and state indictments, are part of a bid to clear a backlog of unsolved gang homicides. The operation targeted Southside Montebello, a gang rooted in the community for half a century.

A San Fernando Valley jeweler agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge and return nearly $1.3 million in stock-trading gains he made from allegedly illegal tips provided by a former partner at accounting giant KPMG. Bryan Shaw, 52, of Lake Sherwood admitted in a plea agreement that he conspired with KPMG's Scott London to trade in the stocks of the accounting firm's clients. The pair were longtime friends who enjoyed golfing together. In addition to forfeiting his ill-gotten gains, Shaw faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a fine, the Justice Department said.

A onetime rising star in national labor circles who headed California's biggest union local was convicted Monday on federal charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his low-income members. Tyrone Freeman, who represented about 190,000 homecare workers as a leader of the Service Employees International Union, was found guilty on 14 counts after a 10-day trial in Los Angeles. Jurors deliberated two and a half days before returning their verdict. The trial followed a nearly four-year investigation triggered by a series of Times reports on Freeman's financial practices.

A ring of Southern California businesses has been illegally selling nitrous oxide for use as a recreational drug, federal and local law enforcement officials said Friday afternoon in announcing a regional crackdown. Three auto supply employees were arrested earlier in the day in a federal law enforcement sweep that included searches of 17 businesses and nine delivery vehicles linked to the ring, authorities said. A fourth suspect is still being sought. Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, can be used for welding, as a speed booster in cars or as an as anesthetic by dentists and doctors.

Prosecutors filed a criminal charge against disgraced former KPMG partner Scott London, saying he gave a stock-trading friend inside information about his firm's clients in exchange for cash, jewelry and expensive dinners. The criminal case filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles conflicted with the version a contrite London gave reporters earlier this week; London said that the information he gave his buddy was sparse and that his involvement in the stock trades was minimal.

Federal agents arrested 14 people, including a former deputy district attorney, on suspicion of running a stock manipulation scheme from Southern California that cost investors more than $30 million. Authorities said the scheme involved the heavy promotion of worthless stocks, which the perpetrators later sold for huge profits in a classic "pump-and-dump" scheme. More than 20,000 investors worldwide are believed to have been victims. Investigators with the FBI and Internal Revenue Service used wiretaps to secretly record thousands of telephone calls and text messages during a three-year investigation, building what U.S. Atty.

Two reputed Latino gang members are facing federal hate crime charges for allegedly carrying out racially motivated attacks on four black youngsters as part of a wider campaign of terror aimed at forcing African Americans out of a west Compton neighborhood, the U.S. attorney said Friday. Jeffrey Aguilar, 19, and Efren Marquez, 21, were indicted Thursday by a grand jury on five felony civil rights charges in connection with a series of incidents that began New Year's Eve. Authorities allege they beat a young black man with a pipe and then turned their threats and racial epithets toward members of a black household where he fled.

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday appointed Andre Birotte Jr. inspector general, the central post in providing civilian oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department. Birotte, 36, a lawyer, has been acting inspector general since Jeffrey C. Eglash resigned in December after playing a prominent role in the Rampart police corruption investigation. Birotte was the only candidate among the six finalists from within the office, which he joined two years ago as assistant inspector general.