Lawmakers pile on, asking the administration to investigate Rupert Murdoch's embattled media empire
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) joined Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday in asking Attorney General Eric Holder and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro to investigate whether News Corp. broke any U.S. laws.
The scandal over Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper in London has already cost his company British broadcaster BSkyB. Boxer and Rockefeller want to know if any of Murdoch's media holdings pulled similar tricks in the United States. They also want to know if it's possible to prosecute any of his executives under U.S. law.
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The tabloid was closed after allegations that its reporters hacked into cell-phone voice-mail accounts of a young murder victim, politicians, and the royal family, and bribed police to get phone records of victims of the 9/11 attacks.
"The allegations, if true, may constitute a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corrupt payments intended to influence any act or decision of a foreign official," Rockefeller and Boxer wrote in a joint statement.
"The reported allegations against News Corporation are very serious and indicate potentially thousands of victims and a pattern of illegal activity. It important to ensure that no United States laws were broken and no United States citizens were victimized."
