FBI Investigating Rupert Murdoch Company For Spying On 9/11 Victims

The FBI has reportedly opened an investigation into allegations that employees of Rupert Murdoch attempted to bribe New York City police officers in order to obtain personal information of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This opens up the possibility of even more criminal liability in the United States for Murdoch's News Corp., who may also face charges for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing London officials in order to spy on the Royal Family. The news comes a day after Murdoch was forced to abandon his attempted acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting as a result of the massive phone hacking scandal.

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  Cameras are aimed at Chairman of News Corporation Rupert Murdoch, obscured at left, as he leaves News International's office in London, Wednesday, July 13, 2011. NEW YORK (AP)--The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday. The decision to investigate was made after U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Republican, wrote FBI Director Robert Mueller demanding an investigation, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The FBI had received letters from King and other members of Congress. News Corp., based in New York, has been in crisis mode because of a scandal that sank its U.K. newspaper the News of the World.

• A rival newspaper reported last week that the News of the World had hacked into the phone of U.K. teenage murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 and may have impeded a police investigation into her disappearance. More possible victims soon emerged: other child murder victims, 2005 London bombing victims, the families of dead soldiers and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The FBI's New York office didn't immediately comment Thursday. There was no immediate response to a phone message left for News Corp. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan referred a call to the Department of Justice, which declined immediate comment. On Thursday, Murdoch caved in to pressure from Britain's Parliament as he and his son James first refused, then agreed, to appear next week before lawmakers investigating phone hacking and bribery by employees of their newspaper empire.

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  Senate Commerce Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., presides over a hearing of the committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Rockefeller urged an investigation into whether Rupert Murdoch's U.K. newspapers had violated U.S. law in the phone hacking scandal. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Murdoch began his media career in Australia in 1952 after inheriting The News newspaper after the death of his father, and he has built News Corp. into one of the world's biggest media groups. Assets include Fox News, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and three newspapers in Britain--down from four with the death of the News of the World. Also Thursday, Scotland Yard said it had made its seventh arrest related to the inquiry into phone hacking at the now-defunct tabloid, whose closure was a doomed effort to keep alive a bid for the highly profitable network British Sky Broadcasting. Police didn't disclose the name of the arrested man.

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  News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch arrives at his residence in central London, Thursday, July 14, 2011. Rupert Murdoch and his son James first refused, then agreed Thursday to appear before U.K. lawmakers investigating phone hacking and police bribery, while in the U.S., the FBI opened an investigation into allegations the Murdoch media empire sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims. (AP Photo / Sang Tan)