Three former American intelligence officials admitted to engaging in illicit computer hacking activities for the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported on Tuesday.

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, a Turkish tycoon now on the run over a half-billion-dollar fraud scheme involving members of fundamentalist Mormon sect, hosted influential Americans on a backchannel trip to Turkey to free jailed American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Garrison Kenneth Courtney, the former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer who pleaded guilty earlier this summer to impersonating a CIA officer and defrauding several companies for some US$4.4 million, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

A former US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) employee pleaded guilty on Thursday to orchestrating a multimillion dollar fraud scheme in which he impersonated a CIA officer and persuaded several companies to hire him so he could conduct his secret activities while pretending to be their employee. 

Saudi authorities charged 126 local government employees across the country with corruption, abuse of power and other crimes as part of a controversial anti-corruption campaign that started in 2017.

Amnesty International’s report for 2014 has condemned the response of the international community to worsening human rights abuses across the globe.