Frank Lautenberg is asking authorities to consider a 2005 complaint against News Corp. Senator asks Justice, FBI to revisit '05 News Corp. allegation

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) urged the Justice Department and FBI on Wednesday to revisit a years-old but never resolved allegation of hacking by a News Corp. subsidiary as the law enforcement agencies look at whether the media giant illegally wiretapped U.S. citizens.

Lautenberg, a longtime critic of the company, told Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller III in a letter that they should consider a 2005 complaint that employees at a News Corp. subsidiary hacked into computers owned by a New Jersey company.


“In connection with the FBI's review of News Corp.'s conduct, I wanted to bring to your attention the attached letter that I wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in June 2005 regarding another incident involving News Corp. and allegations of illegal conduct,” the lawmaker wrote.

Lautenberg contends that the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey and the Secret Service launched an investigation into allegations that employees of the subsidiary, News America Marketing, hacked into the New Jersey company FLOORgraphics’s computers in 2005. But the senator said he has heard nothing of it since.

“At the time of my letter in 2005, I was informed by FLOORgraphics that the U.S. attorney's office for the District of New Jersey, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service initiated an investigation into allegations that News America illegally gained access to FLOORgraphics's password-protected computer system and obtained FLOORgraphics's confidential data,” Lautenberg wrote on Wednesday.

“In response to my letter, the Department of Justice informed me that, as a matter of policy, it was not in a position to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into News America's conduct, but that the Department of Justice took all allegations of criminal conduct very seriously.”

According to Lautenberg’s 2005 missive, FLOORgraphics provides in-store advertising in grocery stores for makers of food and household items. The News Corp. subsidiary at issue, News America Marketing In-Store, was a competitor of FLOORgraphics.

Lautenberg contends that the 2005 case might have a bearing on the current investigation.

“As the Department of Justice and FBI examine the recent hacking allegations involving News Corp. and its subsidiaries more closely, I wanted to make sure that you were fully aware of the case of FLOORgraphics and News America, as it may be relevant to your current investigation,” he wrote.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 1:21 p.m. on July 20, 2011.