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U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation

In Reply, Please Refer to Release No.

219 South Dearborn Street Chicago, Illinois 60604

September 20, 2002 FBI Statement Regarding Former Chicago Tribune Columnist Bob Greene Thomas J. Kneir, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is releasing the following information regarding the FBI's investigation of alleged violations of federal law involving former Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene. This information is being released in response to recent published reports regarding Mr. Greene and to clarify the FBI's role in this matter. Department of Justice policy generally prohibits the FBI from commenting on investigations that have not resulted in the filing of criminal charges or the arrest of suspects. However, due to the extensive publicity that this matter has received in recent days, it is felt that the release of this information is necessary to reassure the public that this matter was handled appropriately by the FBI. On June 20th of this year, Bob Greene contacted the FBI and expressed concerns over a series of telephone calls that he had recently received, which he felt were threatening in nature. A preliminary inquiry was opened and assigned to a senior Supervisory Special Agent for further investigation. This included an in-depth interview of Mr. Greene regarding these perceived threatening calls and his identification of the individual he felt was responsible for them. As part of the inquiry, the individual believed responsible for these calls was also interviewed. In summary, while this individual admitted placing telephone calls to Mr. Greene, she denied that they were threatening in nature. This individual was informed of the serious ramifications telephone calls such as these might pose and was apprized of the federal statues covering extortion, threatening and harassing communications. In reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding this matter, it was subsequently determined that there was insufficient evidence to warrant additional investigation or criminal prosecution and the preliminary inquiry was closed on June 28th. Due to privacy concerns for both parties, no further information regarding this investigation will be released.

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