Criminals Exploiting COVID-19 Outbreak for Financial Gain through Procurement and Consumer Fraud (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
| Tracking # |
1465360-000 1465360-002 1465360-000 |
| Multi Request | Criminals Exploiting COVID-19 Outbreak for Financial Gain through Procurement and Consumer Fraud |
| Submitted | April 19, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Emma Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Documents, memos, emails, reports and other records describing exploitation by criminals of the COVID-19 the outbreak as well as records mentioning or generated as part of or as a result of Liaison Information Report (LIR) 200323006, titled "Criminals Exploiting COVID-19 Outbreak for Financial Gain through Procurement and Consumer Fraud."
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.
As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A fix is required to perfect the request.
From: Emma Best
I am still waiting for the determination of my fee waiver. In your initial acknowledgment letter, you informed me that I would be told of your decision and the reasons if there were any fees. Your next letter has requested fees but not answered on the matter of the fee waiver, whether it was granted or denied and if it was denied, why.
Please send a proper response.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Good morning Ms. Best,
We're contacting you in reference to the FOIPA request number included in the subject line of this email. The FBI located approximately 11,927 pages and 6 minutes of audio media potentially responsive to your request. For clarification audio media releases are made in 30-minute increments per CD (1 release).
Requests are processed in the order in which they are received through our multi-track processing system:
Small track requests (no media releases/only 0-50 pages) current average time is approximately 4 months to complete;
Medium track requests (up to 2 releases/media) current average time is approximately 41 months to complete;
Large track requests (3-16 releases/media) current average time is approximately 67 months to complete; and
Extra-large track requests (17+ releases/media) current average time is approximately 79 months to complete.
The current average time to complete your extra-large track request is at least 79 months. Reducing the scope of your request may accelerate the processing, allow for a timelier receipt of the information you seek, and reduce the duplication costs, if applicable. Would you be willing to consider reducing the scope of your request to place it in a smaller, potentially faster processing track?
Please let us know if this is something you would be interested in further discussing. If you chose to narrow the scope of your request, you will be able to request remaining material via a new FOIPA request submission at the completion of this request, subject to applicable fees.
Best regards,
Negotiation Team
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov<mailto:Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov>
Status Checks: https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps | foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>
For additional information, please visit the www.fbi.gov/foia<http://www.fbi.gov/foia> website.
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From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Good afternoon,
Thank you for contacting foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>. Correspondence in response to your fee waiver request is forthcoming.
Respectfully,
Public Information Officer
FBI - Information Management Division
200 Constitution Drive
Winchester, VA 22602
O: (540) 868-4593
E: foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>
Do you have further questions about the FOI/PA process? Visit us at http://www.fbi.gov/foia
Please check the status of your request online at https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps Status updates are performed on a weekly basis.
Note: This is a non-emergency email address. If this is an emergency, please call 911 directly. If you need to report a tip for immediate action, please contact FBI Tips at http://tips.fbi.gov/ or reach out to your local field office.
-
~WRD0005
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Good morning Ms. North-Best,
Apologies for using the older name previously. We hadn’t heard back from you and wanted to follow up.
Best regards,
Negotiation Team
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov<mailto:Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov>
Status Checks: https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps | foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>
For additional information, please visit the www.fbi.gov/foia<http://www.fbi.gov/foia> website.
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From: Emma Best
>Apologies for using the older name previously. We hadn’t heard back from you and wanted to follow up.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Negotiation Team
Negotiations will not proceed until you respond to the fee waiver. Asking for several hundred dollars in FOIA fees and to negotiate the scope without responding to the fee waiver request isn't proper or productive, and I suspect falls outside the guidelines.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Thanks for letting us know.
Best regards,
Negotiation Team
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov<mailto:Fbi.foipa.negotiation@fbi.gov>
Status Checks: https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps | foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>
For additional information, please visit the www.fbi.gov/foia<http://www.fbi.gov/foia> website.
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From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Just as a heads up, a letter with that information was mailed to you on August 2, 2023.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
An interim response, stating the request is being processed. Postmark: August 02, 2023
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A fix is required to perfect the request. Postmark: August 02, 2023
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A letter stating the requester must agree to or prepay assessed or estimated fees in order for the agency to continue processing the request. Postmark: August 24, 2023
