http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/nov/04/110410819.html FBI says Patriot Act used in Vegas strip club
corruption probe
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The FBI used the USA Patriot Act to obtain
financial information about key figures in a political corruption
probe centered on striptease club owner Michael Galardi, an
agent said.
Investigators used a section of the Patriot Act to get subpoenas
for financial documents, said Special Agent Jim Stern, a
spokesman for the Las Vegas FBI office.
"It was used appropriately by the FBI and was clearly within the
legal parameters of the statute," Stern said.
...
The Patriot Act, passed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, was originally touted by the government as a tool to help
federal law enforcers combat and prevent terrorism.
Civil libertarians have criticized the Bush administration for
employing the wide-ranging act to also crack down on drug
traffickers and child pornographers.
The measure lets federal investigators seek financial records of
people suspected of being terrorists or laundering money.
Malone's lawyer called it an outrage that the FBI used
anti-terrorism measures in an effort to gather information on his
client.
"The Patriot Act ... clearly was not intended for this," Las Vegas
lawyer Dominic Gentile said.