Irish Independent July 03, 2003 FBI investigated spy over $655,000 fraud  by Diarmaid Mac Dermott and Liz Walsh FBI agent David Rupert was investigated for "wire fraud" amounting to $655,000 in the early 1990s, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday. But he told the court: "As they say in the States it's just zeros."  Mr Rupert (51), the key witness against alleged leader of the Real IRA Michael McKevitt, told defence counsel Hugh Hartnett SC that, although aware of a lawsuit by B&W Carthage, he had no idea he was under investigation by the FBI until some years later when he was informed by agent Mark Lundgren.  Wire fraud is the illegal movement of money via mail or wire services. Mr Rupert said the amount started off at $50,000 but "every time I got a letter from them it seemed to go up 50,000".  He said he heard that B&W turned the $655,000 into a claim against their insurance company and received a large sum of cash. He told the court that the people who owned B&W were "federal felons themselves".  Mr Rupert also told the court that when Agent Ed Buckley first came to his Chicago office in 1994 seeking to recruit him as a spy, he thought the visit was in connection with his trucking business. He had 30 or 40 drivers working for him and said that "every type of scam" was commonplace.  "It never entered your head that he could be there about the wire fraud?" counsel asked. No, the witness replied, the first he heard about the investigation was when Agent Mark Lundgren told him in 2000.  Earlier, Mr Rupert admitted hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service arising from staff tax which he should have forwarded to the US government.  "I believe in the end it was $750,000," he said.  Prosecuting counsel George Birmingham SC said he was worried that the trial would become a judicial inquiry into the life of David Rupert. However, Mr Hartnett replied that the "character and credibility" of the witness was a crucial factor in the case.  Earlier, it emerged that a journalist and newspaper are to be investigated for contempt of court for reporting of the trial. Mr Birmingham said he wanted to refer to a series of articles "under the byline of one particular individual in one particular publication."  Mr Birmingham said that these articles seemed "designed to prevent a fair trial".It was the ninth day of the trial of Michael McKevitt (53), of Beech Park, Blackrock, Dundalk, Co Louth, who is charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army between August 29, 1999 and March 28, 2001. He is also charged with directing the activities of the same organisation.  Mr Rupert, was cross-examined by Mr Hartnett about the circumstances of his bankruptcy in 1984.  The trial continues today.