Month: May 2021

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has named Steven B. Merrill as the special agent in charge of the Honolulu Field Office. Mr. Merrill most recently served as a financial crimes section chief in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Merrill joined the FBI as a forensic scientist in 1991 and was selected as a special agent in 1994. His first assignment as an agent was to the San Francisco Field Office, where he worked on the investigation and prosecution of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and also conducted public corruption investigations.

In 2006, Mr. Merrill served as an acting supervisory special agent at FBI Headquarters as a Department of Justice advisor to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. He was promoted to assistant legal attaché to New Delhi in 2007 and was the first FBI agent to respond to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Mr. Merrill supervised public corruption, civil rights, and antitrust investigations in San Francisco in 2010. He resumed work as assistant legal attaché in 2013, this time in Manila, Philippines.

In 2017, Mr. Merrill was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the Boston Field Office, where he managed white collar crime matters in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. He also managed the forensic accountant program and oversaw the Varsity Blues college admissions case and the Insys Therapeutics health care fraud case.

He was promoted to section chief at Headquarters in 2019, leading the FBI’s efforts to identify, deter, and disrupt complex financial cases involving health care, money laundering, virtual assets, intellectual property crime threats, and economic crimes. He also led the FBI’s efforts to combat fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Merrill earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and master’s degree in forensic science from the George Washington University.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has named Brian C. Turner as the executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. He will oversee criminal and cyber investigations worldwide, as well as international operations, critical incident responses, and assistance to victims.

Mr. Turner most recently served as the as the assistant director of the Operational Technology Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. OTD provides technology-based solutions to enable and enhance the FBI’s intelligence, national security, and law enforcement operations.

Mr. Turner began his FBI career as a special agent in 2002 in the Philadelphia Field Office, where he investigated white-collar crimes and criminal enterprises and supported surveillance operations. He deployed to Iraq in 2008 to support FBI operational priorities in the region and joined the Counterterrorism Division Fly Team when he returned.

In 2012, Mr. Turner transferred to the Tucson Resident Agency of the Phoenix Field Office to supervise a criminal enterprise squad that targeted violent crimes of Mexican drug cartels along the U.S. border. He later supervised the Tucson Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Mr. Turner was promoted in January 2016 to assistant special agent in charge of criminal and administrative programs in the Minneapolis Field Office. In 2017, he was promoted to section chief in the International Operations Division at Headquarters, where he oversaw the FBI’s legal attaché operations in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.

In 2018, Director Wray named Mr. Turner the special agent in charge of the New Haven Field Office in Connecticut and as assistant director of OTD in 2020.

Mr. Turner earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served in the U.S. Army for about 10 years. He also taught at West Point before joining the FBI. Mr. Turner earned a master’s degree from Long Island University.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has named Jill Sanborn as the executive assistant director (EAD) of the National Security Branch. As the EAD, Ms. Sanborn will make sure the FBI executes its mission to defend the United States and its interests from national security threats.

Ms. Sanborn most recently served as the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. She began her FBI career as a special agent in 1998 and was assigned to the Phoenix Field Office to investigate bank fraud and computer intrusions. She joined the Phoenix Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2001 and has held primarily counterterrorism assignments since.

In 2006, Ms. Sanborn was added to the Counterterrorism Division’s Fly Team and deployed to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Pakistan. She was detailed to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center as the acting deputy director for law enforcement in 2010.

Ms. Sanborn was promoted to unit chief in the Counterterrorism Division in 2011, leading more than 400 extraterritorial investigations covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia. She returned to the field in 2012 as a supervisory special agent at the Washington Field Office, where she managed overseas kidnapping cases and the extradition of four high-value terrorism subjects.

In 2015, Ms. Sanborn was promoted to assistant special agent in charge (ASAC) in the Los Angeles Field Office, where she directed counterterrorism matters in Orange County and the cities of West Covina and Riverside. As ASAC, she oversaw the investigation of the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack that left 14 dead and 22 injured.

Ms. Sanborn was promoted to section chief in the Counterterrorism Division at Headquarters in 2016 and was responsible for managing all counterterrorism investigations overseas. Director Wray named her the head of the Minneapolis Field Office in 2018 and as the assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division in 2020.

Ms. Sanborn earned a bachelor’s business administration in finance from the University of Portland. Prior to joining the FBI, she was an investigator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.