The Manhattan District Attorney's Office authorized a Search Warrant of the fifth-floor office of Newsweek. Authorities took photos of computers and servers. Newsweek confirmed that investigators had visited their New York office but no private corporate information (including stories and corporate documents) was taken. Newsweek has said that they will continue to cooperate with investigators.
The search warrant is tied to a financial investigation of Newsweek owner Etienne Uzac, who has been investigated by the District Attorney's Major Economics bureau for over a year now.
Company officials gave DA representatives access to the servers and allowed a technical inspection.
Staffers originally had no clue what was going on and originally thought it was in relation to a mysterious white substance that was mailed to Newsweek executive Ken Li, but was later determined to be a false alarm. The New York Police Department confirmed that no officers were involved. The only police involved were part of the New York County District Attorney's office. Some people have even taken to Twitter to poke fun at Newsweek's disastrous week.
Looks like Newsweek is having a bad day. https://t.co/tmOf3YI7bM
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 18, 2018
Investigators arrived at Newsweek's offices at 8 a.m.
and were focused on the computers' serial numbers. They eventually left carrying several servers. It's believed that the probe is connected to Olivet University, which is connected to South Korean pastor David Jang. Last year, Uzac was issued a $1.2 million federal tax lien by the IRS. The IRS has not commented on whether the raid was tied to the tax lien.
Newsweek originally sold in 2010 for $1, while the buyer was responsible for the company's financial liabilities. Newsweek has been failing to attract readers and was forced to issue 20 corrections in 2017 and in 2016 admitted more than 50 mistakes. They recently had to issue a retraction regarding a story about the life of the Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend, which turned out to be false.
Staffers inside Newsweek said they were upset because they were not told about the 17-month long investigation. Newsweek has said that no arrests or indictments have been made. Investigators were seen giving special attention to serial numbers on the servers. Meanwhile, Newsweek continues to operate as normal. Newsweek's troubles come just days after publishing a report claiming that Donald Trump could be having an issue with erectile dysfunction because he takes a drug that helps with hair loss.
