District Not Recorded

Lam Research Corp. and KLA-Tencor Corp. abandoned their plans to merge after the Department of Justice informed the companies that it had serious concerns that the proposed transaction would harm competition.

"Innovation in the semiconductor industry is critically important to the American economy, and the proposed transaction presented concerns about the ability of the merged firm to foreclose competitors' development of leading edge fabrication tools and process technology on a timely basis,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

The proposed merger of Lam Research and KLA-Tencor would have combined a leading supplier of semiconductor fabrication equipment with a leading supplier of metrology and inspection equipment.  Metrology and inspection technologies are growing increasingly important to the successful development of semiconductor fabrication equipment and process technology.  KLA-Tencor's leading position in several metrology and inspection markets could have created the potential for Lam Research to foreclose its competitors by reducing their timely access to key KLA-Tencor equipment and related services.

During the investigation, the division cooperated with the Korean Fair Trade Commission, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission and China's Ministry of Commerce.

Lam Research, based in Fremont, California, is a leading provider of etch, deposition and clean tools and process technology used in the fabrication of semiconductors with approximately $6 billion in 2015 revenue.

KLA-Tencor, based in Milpitas, California, is the leading provider of semiconductor fabrication metrology and inspection equipment with approximately $3 billion in 2015 revenue.

The Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a comprehensive report today that examines barriers and promising practices – in recruitment, hiring and retention – for advancing diversity in law enforcement.  The report, developed with support from the Center for Policing Equity, aims to provide law enforcement agencies, especially small and mid-size agencies, with a resource to enhance the diversity of their workforce by highlighting specific strategies and efforts in place in police departments around the country.   

The department and EEOC engaged with dozens of law enforcement leaders, officials and officers; researchers; civil rights advocates and other experts to produce the report.  The report, which builds on the recommendations of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, notes that while greater workforce diversity alone cannot ensure fair and effective policing, a significant – and growing – body of evidence suggests that diversity can make policing more effective, more safe and more just.  For example, among other benefits, increasing diversity can improve relations with the communities agencies serve, address language barriers to serve all residents, make agencies more open to reform and potentially reduce racial bias.

“This report is a resource for law enforcement agencies as they work to ensure that their ranks reflect the communities they serve – not simply by identifying the traditional barriers to a diverse work force, but also by highlighting real-world examples of law enforcement agencies that have effectively implemented smart policies in this area,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates.  “We hope that law enforcement agencies will find this report useful in their ongoing efforts to strengthen trust with the broader community.”

“Ensuring that law enforcement agencies represent the diversity of the communities they serve can help restore trust and improve policing,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “Building on innovative and creative strategies implemented by law enforcement around the country, our report highlights how agencies are bridging divides and creating lasting results.  We hope agencies utilize this resource as they strive to strengthen their diversity and we look forward to engaging with law enforcement on this critical topic over the coming months.”

“When law enforcement agencies remove barriers to equal opportunity, the agencies and the diverse communities that they serve both stand to benefit,” said EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang.  “Departments from around the country have been working to build a robust and diverse talent pipeline to strengthen their workforce.  This report raises up some of the most promising recruitment and retention practices of these departments.”

The promising practices highlighted in this report vary considerably.  The report demonstrates, however, that successful diversity-building efforts by law enforcement agencies share several common themes, including:

• ensuring that the agency’s organizational culture is guided by community policing, procedural justice and cultural inclusivity;
• engaging stakeholders – both from within and outside the law enforcement agency – to help create a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community; and 
• being willing to re-evaluate employment criteria, standards and benchmarks to ensure that they are tailored to the skills needed to perform job functions and  consequently attract, select and retain the most qualified and desirable sworn officers.

The full report is available online here. 

From October to December, the department and the EEOC will continue engaging with law enforcement by partnering with U.S. Attorneys around the country to host “Diversity Dialogues” in Madison, Wisconsin; Savannah, Georgia; and San Francisco.  These sessions will facilitate working-group discussions with local law enforcement agencies about how to address the barriers and implement the promising practices outlined in the report.  Members of law enforcement who would like to learn more about the Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement initiative or the Diversity Dialogues, should email police.diversity@usdoj.gov.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) have awarded a total of 10 grants worth $9.85 million to various national and local organizations that will use the funding to implement the department’s Guidance on Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. 

The department’s guidance reflects input from a wide array of stakeholders and experts, including police leaders, victim advocates and civil rights advocates.  The guidance intends to both examine how gender bias can undermine law enforcement’s response to sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as provide key principles to help ensure that gender bias does not impede efforts to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable.  Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to incorporate the guidance into clear policies, comprehensive training and effective supervision protocols.

The ten grant awards announced today will provide enhanced training and technical assistance nationally, support research and evaluation and provide resources to law enforcement agencies to implement the guidance. 

Technical Assistance Awards:

• OVW award to International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), $599,742: IACP, in partnership with Futures Without Violence, will implement the Technical Assistance Initiative to Prevent Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.  This project is designed to provide national technical assistance in order to build law enforcement capacity through trainings, highlighting promising practices and developing assessment tools and additional resources to assist local law enforcement agencies in implementing the guidance.
• OVW award to Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), $599,983: PERF, in partnership with End Violence Against Women International with the support of expert practitioners, will provide training and technical assistance to up to five law enforcement agencies and their partner advocacy organizations in implementing the principles identified in the department’s guidance.  The project will also develop and disseminate a guidebook to help other law enforcement agencies implement the guidance.
• OVW award to End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI), $450,000: EVAWI will provide training and technical assistance for law enforcement on identifying and preventing gender bias, with a focus on sexual assault cases. The target audience for this project includes grantees and potential grantees of the Improving Criminal Justice Responses (ICJR) Grant Program, the Rural Grant Program, the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grants Program, and the Grants to Tribal Governments Program.

OVC Demonstration Initiative Award to IACP, $5 million: With this award, IACP will lead the Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Victims Demonstration Initiative.  The overall goal of this initiative is to build law enforcement’s capacity to develop sustainable strategies to address and eliminate the impact of gender bias on police response to, and investigation of, sexual and domestic violence; and implement agency-wide procedures that are trauma-informed and victim-centered.  IACP, in collaboration with the National Crime Victims Law Institute and federal partners, will competitively select, provide oversight and manage awards for up to six demonstration sites to implement the department’s guidance and improve services to sexual assault and domestic violence victims, including underserved populations.  The National Institute of Justice will assist in developing the evaluation plan and research model for the demonstration initiative. 

OVW Research Award to Sam Houston State University, Texas, $393,049: The team will evaluate a training program based on the department’s guidance for all sworn law enforcement personnel in an urban police department.

OVW Improving Criminal Justice Response Awards: Five grantees under OVW’s Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking Grant Program identified plans to integrate the principles outlined in the department’s guidance as part of the implementation of their grant project: the city of Salem, Massachusetts, $450,000; St. Louis County, Missouri, $750,000; the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio, $450,000; the South Dakota Office of the Attorney General, $750,000; and Human Options, California, $450,000.

Attorney General Lynch made this announcement during a Town Hall at Howard University with youth and law enforcement on increasing diversity in policing and building trust, as part of National Community Policing Week, which President Obama designated as Oct. 2 through 8, 2016, in a proclamation issued on Friday, Sept. 30.  The week is also an extension of the Attorney General’s 12-city Community Policing Tour that highlighted collaborative programs and policing practices designed to advance public safety, strengthen police-community relations and foster mutual trust and respect between law enforcement and citizens.  National Community Policing Week builds on President Obama’s efforts to engage with law enforcement and other members of the community to implement key recommendations from the 21st Century Policing Task Force report.  As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to building stronger relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve, the Department of Justice is leading nearly 400 events in support of community policing efforts around the country. 

For more information, please visit National Community Policing Week or the Attorney General’s Community Policing Tour.

***The information regarding the grant awards was revised on Oct. 28, 2016, to reflect an additional award that had been made.

Today a federal court in Jackson, Mississippi permanently barred Christopher Chamberlin from preparing federal tax returns for others.  In addition to enjoining Chamberlin from preparing, filing, or assisting in the preparation or filing of federal tax returns and amended returns, the court ordered Chamberlin to deliver a copy of the injunction to all customers for whom he prepared a return after Jan. 1, 2014, and deliver a list of those customers to the United States.  The court also ordered Chamberlin to turn over copies of all returns he prepared since Jan. 1, 2014, to the United States.

On April 8, the government filed suit against Chamberlin and alleged that he prepared federal income tax returns for customers that claimed fabricated business losses for customers who did not have a business and fictitious losses from farming businesses for customers who did not own farms.  The government alleged that Chamberlin reported the fictitious losses and expenses to generate and/or increase the Earned Income Tax Credit or to create a larger refund than his customers otherwise would have been able to claim.

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.  In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website.  An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page.  If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the filing of a complaint against NGL Crude Logistics LLC (NGL) and Western Dubuque Biodiesel LLC and a settlement with Western Dubuque to address alleged violations of the Renewable Fuel Standard. 

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, alleges that NGL entered into a series of transactions with Western Dubuque in 2011 that resulted in the generation of approximately 36 million invalid renewable identification numbers (RINs).  RINs are credits created when a company produces qualifying renewable fuel and can be traded or sold to refineries and importers to use for compliance with renewable fuel production requirements.

Under the settlement, Western Dubuque has agreed to pay $6 million to resolve alleged Renewable Fuel Standard program violations for generating RINs for renewable fuel that was produced using unapproved feedstocks and production processes.  A feedstock is the basic material used in the production of renewable fuel.  The consent decree does not resolve any claims against NGL.

“Congress passed the Renewable Fuels Standards program to incentivize production of biofuels in order to achieve substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign oil and modernize the United States’ renewable energy industry,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that Congress’ goals are not undermined by entities that attempt to compromise the integrity of the incentive program.”

“These cases uphold the energy independence and greenhouse gas reduction purposes of the law that Congress passed,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.  “EPA is committed to a level the playing field for responsible companies, and to ensuring that companies that illegally obtain an unfair competitive advantage are held to account.”

“The Department of Justice is committed to maintaining the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard program,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin W. Techau for the Northern District of Iowa.  “Congress enacted incentives for the production of biofuels to make the United States stronger and more energy independent.  This $ 6 million settlement supports that goal.”

The allegations in the complaint remain assertions until they are proved.

The complaint alleges that in 2011, NGL purchased more than 24 million gallons of biodiesel on the open market, and that approximately 36 million RINs had been assigned to the biodiesel.  NGL sold most of the RINs to other entities.  NGL then sold the biodiesel to Western Dubuque, but designated it as a “feedstock.” Western Dubuque reprocessed the biodiesel provided by NGL and generated a second set of RINs for the same fuel. Western Dubuque sold the reprocessed biodiesel and the second set of RINs back to NGL.  NGL then sold most of these RINs to other entities.

The complaint asks the court to require NGL to retire 36 million RINs to offset the harm caused by the alleged violations and to pay a civil penalty. 

EPA estimates that the generation of the second set of RINs alleged in this case resulted in excess greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 151,319 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

EPA learned that Western Dubuque used improper feedstocks during a 2011 inspection of the company’s biodiesel facility, located in Farley, Iowa.  EPA then conducted an extensive investigation into transactions between Western Dubuque and NGL and determined that the feedstocks that NGL supplied to Western Dubuque were biodiesel, which is not a permitted feedstock and that other companies had already generated RINs for the product.  Western Dubuque informed EPA that it has not used biodiesel as a feedstock since 2011. 

EPA is responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel.  The Renewable Fuel Standard program - created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 - was developed in collaboration with refiners, renewable fuel producers, and many other stakeholders.  It was expanded and strengthened under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which was designed to encourage the blending of renewable fuels into our nation’s motor vehicle fuel supply and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, help grow the nation's renewable energy industry and achieve greenhouse gas reductions.

Western Dubuque owns and operates a 30 million gallon biodiesel plant located in Farley, Iowa.  NGL is an energy service company that transports fuel and other products.  At the time of the alleged violations, NGL was known as Gavilon LLC.

The settlement with Western Dubuque is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.  A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

For more information about the settlement and the complaint, visit https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/western-dubuque-biodiesel-llc-clean-air-act-settlement.

A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revenue officer pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of North Carolina to one count of tax evasion and one count of corruptly endeavoring to impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand of the Middle District of North Carolina.

According to documents filed with the court, Henti Lucian Baird, 60, and a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, filed tax returns each year but has not paid his self-assessed taxes since at least 1998.  Baird was an IRS revenue officer for 12 years before he established HL Baird’s Tax Consultants, which he operated from 1989 to 2014.  Baird advertised himself to clients as specializing in “IRS problems, delinquent returns, offer-in-compromise, tax problems, delinquent employee taxes and release of liens and levies.”  Baird, in turn, used his knowledge and experience to evade payment of his own taxes, creating over 10 nominee bank accounts in the names of his children to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars, submitting false Form 433-A to the investigating revenue officer that did not reveal all of his nominee bank accounts, filing, in bad faith, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, a cash offer in compromise, a request for discharge and an application for subordination of his federal tax lien and transferring funds out of nominee accounts to avoid impending IRS levies.  During this time, Baird continued to pay the mortgage on his 4,300 square-foot home, annual fees for his timeshare in Florida and car payments on his BMW.  Baird admitted to the revenue officer and the mortgage holder that he did not keep money in bank accounts because he feared a levy or garnishment.

Baird also used his stepson’s identity, without his knowledge, to apply for a Preparer Tax Identification Number, which Baird then used to file over 900 income tax returns for clients, as well as his own income tax returns.  Additionally, Baird submitted, under penalties of perjury, at least 120 Forms 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, on behalf of clients that falsely stated he was an enrolled agent, even though the IRS revoked his authorization to represent taxpayers.

The penalties and interest on Baird’s taxes will continue to accrue until he pays the IRS in full.  As of Sept. 20, Baird’s evasion of payment totals $477,028.80 in tax, penalties and interest for tax years 1998 through 2013.

U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder for the Middle District of North Carolina set sentencing for Jan. 17, 2017.  Baird faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for his conviction on the tax evasion count, and a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison on the obstruction count, as well as a period of supervised release and monetary penalties.  As a condition of the plea agreement, Baird agreed to pay full restitution to the IRS. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Rand commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifton T. Barrett of the Middle District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Kathryn A. Kimball of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. (PRMI) and SecurityNational Mortgage Company (SecurityNational) have agreed to pay the United States $5 million and $4.25 million, respectively, to resolve separate allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today.  Both lenders are headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“The FHA program provides important economic support for homeownership and community development,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “The department has and will continue to ensure that program participants adhere to applicable requirements and will pursue those that knowingly misuse the program for their own gain and to the detriment of homeowners and the public.”

“PRMI obtained HUD insurance by intentionally claiming its loans met HUD’s quality standards while knowing many of its loans did not meet those standards,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer for the District of Colorado.  “When those loans failed, it was the government who suffered the loss.  We will continue our efforts to hold housing lenders accountable for fraudulent conduct.”

“HUD relies on the Direct Endorsement Lenders like SecurityNational to make sure their loans are made only after a rigorous and thorough review,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman for the District of New Jersey.  “In this case, SecurityNational has admitted it approved loans that it had no business endorsing, potentially damaging a vital FHA program and other potential borrowers.”

Since at least January 2006, SecurityNational and PRMI have participated as Direct Endorsement Lenders (DELs) in the FHA insurance program.  A DEL has the authority to originate, underwrite and endorse mortgages for FHA insurance.  If a DEL approves a mortgage loan for FHA insurance and the loan later defaults, the holder of the loan may submit an insurance claim to HUD, FHA’s parent agency, for the losses resulting from the defaulted loan.  Under the DEL program, the FHA does not review a loan before it is endorsed for FHA insurance for compliance with FHA’s credit and eligibility standards, but instead relies on the efforts of the DEL to verify compliance.  DELs are therefore required to follow program rules designed to ensure that they are properly underwriting and certifying mortgages for FHA insurance.

As part of the settlements announced today, both PRMI and SecurityNational admitted they certified loans for FHA mortgage insurance that did not meet HUD underwriting requirements regarding borrower creditworthiness and eligibility. 

PRMI admitted it endorsed loans that were not eligible for FHA mortgage insurance, including loans where:

• PRMI failed to document the assets used to qualify the borrower for FHA mortgage insurance and omitted liabilities owed by the borrower from the underwriting analysis;
• PRMI failed to document income used to qualify the borrower for FHA mortgage insurance;
• PRMI failed to verify the borrower’s earnest money deposit; and
• The borrower was delinquent on a second, pre-existing FHA mortgage.

SecurityNational admitted it endorsed loans that were not eligible for FHA mortgage insurance, including loans where:

• The borrower was delinquent on federal debt and had an unpaid court-ordered judgment;
• The borrower was four months delinquent on the underlying mortgage SecurityNational refinanced into an FHA loan;
• The mortgage loan amount exceeded HUD’s loan to value requirements;
• SecurityNational failed to document income used to qualify the borrower for FHA mortgage insurance; and
• SecurityNational failed to analyze the borrower’s delinquent credit history.

As a result of PRMI’s and SecurityNational’s conduct and omissions, HUD insured loans endorsed by each lender that were not eligible for FHA mortgage insurance under the DEL program and that HUD would not otherwise have insured.  HUD subsequently incurred substantial losses when it paid insurance claims on those loans.

“Today’s settlements resolve allegations that these lenders, entrusted by American taxpayers to abide by FHA rules, failed to comply with certain FHA origination, underwriting and quality control requirements,” said Inspector General David A. Montoya for HUD.  “The settlements demonstrate a continued commitment to address the failures and halt the business practices that potentially harm the FHA program and its participants.”

The settlement with SecurityNational is the result of a joint investigation conducted by HUD, the HUD Office of Inspector General, the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.  The settlement with PRMI is the result of a joint investigation conducted by HUD, the HUD Office of Inspector General, the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.

The claims asserted against SecurityNational and PRMI are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya announced that the VCF began payments today on Group B claims after the funding to pay became available on Oct. 1 as set forth in the 2015 Reauthorization Act of the VCF.  Group A claims are claims for which a loss was determined and a letter notifying the claimant of the award decision on the claim was issued on or before Dec. 17, 2015.  Group B claims are those that are not in Group A.

The VCF has been preparing to issue Group B payments for several weeks and the Special Master has authorized more than 500 claims for payment.  Payments will be made first to those with exigent circumstances and then in order based on the date the claimant was notified of his or her award.  Once the Department of Justice provides the payment information to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, it may take up to three weeks for the payment to be made to the claimant’s designated bank account.

“In the last 10 weeks since I transitioned into the role of Special Master, the VCF has issued determinations on more than 900 compensation claims and amendments and just under 1,200 eligibility claims and amendments,” said Special Master Bhattacharyya.  “This reflects the overall hard work done by the VCF team over the last several months and continues to demonstrate our progress and commitment to the 9/11 community and to providing deserved compensation to those who have suffered as a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

The VCF continues to focus on processing Group B claims that were submitted before Aug. 1, when the new claim form became available.  Claims are being processed in priority order, with decisions being rendered on the oldest claims before claims that have been pending for less time.  As of early September, there were nearly 1,300 of these claims - approximately 800 of which were submitted more than one year ago.  The VCF anticipates that compensation claims that include all information required for review and that were submitted more than two years ago should be completed by year end and hopes to also make substantial progress on similarly situated claims submitted over one year ago.

As of Oct. 3, the VCF has issued more than 10,700 awards over the life of the program, including 9,130 awards in Group A and 1,573 awards in Group B.  When combined, these awards total approximately $2.05 billion ($1.822 billion to Group A and $228 million to Group B).

For additional information about how to file a claim, please visit the “How to File a Claim” page on the VCF’s website at www.vcf.gov and information on policies and procedures can be obtained at https://www.vcf.gov/pdf/VCFPolicy.pdf.  If you have any questions about the claim form, the website, or the VCF process, please contact the VCF’s toll-free Helpline at 1-855-885-1555.  Individuals who have been diagnosed with a 9/11-related illness that is not currently on the list of eligible conditions should periodically check the World Trade Center Health Program website at http://www.cdc.gov/wtc/conditions.html to see if the condition is added to the list.

INTERPOL Washington FBI Academy Alumni from Birmingham, Alabama, Visit INTERPOL Washington's International Operations and Command Center.

On September 29, 2016, members of the Birmingham Chapter of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Citizens Academy Alumni Association (FBICAAA) visited INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB). 

The visit was one of several the group took to federal law enforcement organizations in the Washington, D.C. area this week. The group received an overview of the operations and capabilities of the USNCB followed by an opportunity to ask questions of USNCB staff. They also toured the INTERPOL Operations and Command Center (IOCC).

FBI Citizens Academy programs give business, religious, civic, and community leaders around the United States a six-to-eight week look inside the FBI. Classes meet in the evening in FBI offices.

The mission of the Academies is to foster greater understanding of the role of federal law enforcement in the community through frank discussion and education. Candidates are selected by the special agent in charge of the local FBI field office.  To find out more about the FBI Citizens Academy in your area, contact your local field office at https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us .

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch today announced $119 million in grant funding through the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP).  The Attorney General announced funding awards to 184 law enforcement agencies across the nation, aimed at creating, or in some cases protecting, more than 900 law enforcement positions. The Attorney General made today’s announcement in Dallas, where the Dallas Police Department will receive $3.1 million through the COPS Hiring Program to hire 25 officers.

CHP provides funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies for the hiring and rehiring of entry-level career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.  All CHP applicants were asked to identify a specific crime and disorder problem area and how funding would be used to initiate or enhance their capacity to implement community policing approaches to that problem area.

In 2016, the COPS Office gave additional consideration to applicant agencies selecting the category of “Building Trust,” based on the final report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.  Additional consideration was also given to agencies that selected the areas of school-based policing, homicide or violent crime, and homeland security.  Applicants who committed to hiring or rehiring at least one military veteran under CHP also received additional consideration for funding.  The complete list of award recipients can be found here: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=2888.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has invested over $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 129,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training, and technical assistance.

 

Attorney General Lynch, Dallas Cowboys to hold 21st Century Community Policing Youth Forum on Facebook Live!

Justice Department to Announce nearly $119 million in Grant Awards to Advance Community Policing Efforts

As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to building stronger relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve, the Department of Justice will lead nearly 400 events in support of community policing efforts around the country.  To further that effort, President Obama has designated the week of Oct. 2-8, 2016, as National Community Policing Week.  The week is also an extension of the Attorney General’s 12-city Community Policing Tour that highlighted collaborative programs and policing practices designed to advance public safety, strengthen police-community relations, and foster mutual trust and respect between law enforcement and citizens.  National Community Policing Week builds on President Obama’s efforts to engage with law enforcement and other members of the community to implement key recommendations from the 21st Century Policing Task Force report.

“Strengthening the relationship between law enforcement officers and the communities we serve and protect is one of my top priorities,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.  “During National Community Policing Week, we will be hosting hundreds of events around the country designed to foster dialogue, promote cooperation, and help citizens and law enforcement officers get to know one another as partners in our shared efforts to build stronger, safer, and more just communities for every American.”

Community policing is a public safety philosophy based on partnership and cooperation between law enforcement and the communities that they are sworn to protect and serve.  At the center of community policing is the idea that all members of the community, both officer and civilian, have a stake in the safety of their neighborhoods where they live and work. 

To launch the national week of engagement, Attorney General Lynch will visit Dallas, Texas on MONDAY, OCT. 3, hold a 21st Century Community Policing Youth Forum with students,  officer cadets, and Jason Witten and Barry Church of the Dallas Cowboys known for their work to bring communities and law enforcement together.  The forum will also be featured on the Department of Justice Facebook Live page.

While in Dallas, the Attorney General will announce $119 million in grant funding through the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP).  These grants will provide matching funding awards to 184 law enforcement agencies across the nation, aimed at creating, or in some cases protecting, more than 900 law enforcement positions.  CHP provides funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies for the hiring and rehiring of entry-level career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

The following day, TUESDAY, OCT. 4, the Attorney General will join Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Erik Wilson at a National Night Out event at the University of North Texas at Dallas.  National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, better places to live.  Established in 1984 from a Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grant, the goal of National Night Out is to build relationships with and between communities and law enforcement, to promote crime prevention efforts, and to foster collaborative engagement amongst neighbors who are committed to working together to keep each other safe.  The Attorney General also attended National Night Out earlier in the summer during her visit to Detroit for the Justice Department’s first Justice Forum.

Also while in Dallas, the Attorney General will attend several meetings with rank-and-file officers, hold a roundtable discussion with local police chiefs, and pay respects to the families of those officers who tragically lost their lives in the line of duty this past July. 

Later in the week, Attorney General Lynch will participate in a Town Hall on diversity in law enforcement hosted by Howard University.  This discussion is part of the Engaging College Students in 21st Century Law Enforcement Project that resulted from a grant provided by the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to explore strategies that encourage recruitment among diverse millennials for law enforcement positions.

On THURSDAY, OCT. 6, Attorney General Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates will deliver remarks at the inaugural Attorney General’s Awards for Distinguished Service in Community Policing, along with Director Ronald Davis of the COPS Office.  The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing recognizes individual state, local or tribal sworn police officers and deputies who exemplify remarkable achievements in innovative community policing strategies, criminal investigations, and field operations.

Attorney General Lynch will conclude National Community Policing week in Newark, New Jersey, where she will hold the last in a series of regional Justice Forums on FRIDAY, OCT. 7.  In the wake of the recent events, including both the tragic officer-involved deaths of civilians and appalling, premeditated attacks on police officers, the Department of Justice launched a series of convenings—Justice Forums—in cities across the nation to provide a forum for local community leaders, youth advocates, law enforcement, and state and local officials to critically examine police-community issues in their respective cities and regions in order to seek solutions together.  Thus far, Attorney General Lynch has hosted a Justice Forum in Detroit, and Deputy Attorney General Yates has hosted a Justice Forum in Denver. 

Additionally, Deputy Attorney General Yates will hold a Justice Forum in Atlanta on MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, to commence National Community Policing Week.  Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division, and Director Paul Monteiro of the Community Relations Service (CRS) will join Deputy Attorney General Yates at the Atlanta Justice Forum.  Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) will also attend the Newark Justice Forum, along with Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta and Director Davis of the COPS Office. 

For more information on National Community Policing Week or the Attorney General’s Community Policing Tour, please visit https://www.justice.gov/ag/community-policing-tour.

21st CENTURY COMMUNITY POLICING YOUTH FORUM ON FACEBOOK LIVE

WHO:           Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Attorney John R. Parker of the Northern District of Texas

Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys

Barry Church of the Dallas Cowboys

WHEN:         MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016

2:30 p.m. CDT

WHERE:       Sunset High School

2120 W. Jefferson Boulevard

Dallas, TX 75208

OPEN PRESS (Media Gather: 1:30 p.m. CDT // Final Access: 2:00 p.m. CDT)

DOJ FACEBOOK LIVE

NOTE: Please RSVP to press@usdoj.gov by Sunday, Oct. 2, at 8:00 p.m. CDT.  Media inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to press@usdoj.gov and Rebecca.L.Stewart@usdoj.gov. 

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT EVENT WITH THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT

WHO:           Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Attorney John R. Parker of the Northern District of Texas

Mayor of Dallas Mike Rawlings

Director Ronald Davis of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

WHEN:         TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2016

5:30 p.m. CDT

WHERE:       University of North Texas at Dallas

7300 University Hills Boulevard

Dallas, TX 75241

OPEN PRESS

NOTE: Following the Attorney General’s remarks at National Night Out, Attorney General Lynch will participate in a media availability.  Media interested in attending National Night Out and the media availability should RSVP to press@usdoj.gov by Monday, Oct. 3, at 5:00 p.m. CDT.  Media inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to press@usdoj.gov and Rebecca.L.Stewart@usdoj.gov. 

DIVERSITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT TOWN HALL WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY

WHO:             Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

WHEN:          WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2016

3:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE:       Howard University

Armour J. Blackburn University Center

2397 Sixth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20059

OPEN PRESS (Media Access: 2:30 p.m. EDT // Final Access: 3:15 p.m. EDT)

INAUGURAL ATTORNEY GENERAL’S AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE IN COMMUNITY POLICING CEREMONY

WHO:           Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates

Director Ronald Davis of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

WHEN:          THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016

2:00 p.m. EDT

WHERE:       U.S. Department of Justice

Great Hall

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

OPEN PRESS (Media Access: 1:00 p.m. EDT // Final Access: 1:45 p.m. EDT)

LIVESTREAMED AT WWW.JUSTICE.GOV/LIVE-STREAM.

REGIONAL JUSTICE FORUM IN NEWARK

WHO:           Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman of the District of New Jersey

Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason of the Office of Justice Programs

Head of the Civil Rights Division Vanita Gupta

Director Ronald Davis of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

WHEN:         FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016

10:30 a.m. EDT

WHERE:       Newark Public Library

5 Washington Street

Newark, NJ 07102

OPEN PRESS (Media Access: 9:30 a.m.EDT //Final Access 10:10 a.m. EDT)

NOTE: Additional details for each event will be issued as they become available.  Media inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to press@usdoj.gov and Rebecca.L.Stewart@usdoj.gov. 

Additionally, the event information for Deputy Attorney General Yates National Community Policing Week events can be found below:

REGIONAL JUSTICE FORUM IN ATLANTA

WHO:           Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates

Head of the of the Civil Rights Division Vanita Gupta

Director Paul Monteiro of the Community Relations Service

U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia

WHEN:         MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016

10:30 a.m. EDT

WHERE:       National Center for Civil and Human Rights

100 Ivan Allen Jr Boulevard NW

Atlanta, GA 30313

OPEN PRESS AT THE TOP (Media Gather: 9:45 a.m. EDT // Final Access: 10:15 a.m. EDT)

NOTE: All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) as well as valid media credentials.  Space is limited and not guaranteed.  Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Robert Page at Robert.page@usdoj.gov.

EVENT ANNOUNCING A NEW INTERAGENCY REPORT ON ADVANCING DIVERSITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

WHO:          Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Jenny R. Yang

WHEN:         WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5, 2016

9:30 a.m. EDT

WHERE:       U.S. Department of Justice

7th Floor Press Conference Room

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

OPEN PRESS (Media Access: 8:45 a.m. EDT // Final Access: 9:15 a.m. EDT)

NOTE: Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to the Office of Public Affairs at press@usdoj.gov or 202-514-2007. 

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Southern Coal Corporation and 26 affiliated mining companies that requires the companies to make comprehensive upgrades to their coal mining and processing operations to prevent discharges of polluted wastewater from their mines in Appalachia.  The estimated cost of these measures is $5 million.

The settlement also requires the establishment of a $4.5 million letter of credit and a standby trust that will guarantee sufficient funding for and a mechanism to accomplish, compliance with the Clean Water Act and the work the companies have agreed to perform under the settlement, should the companies fail to do so.  The companies will also pay a $900,000 civil penalty, divided among the federal government and the four state co-plaintiffs, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

The settlement resolves alleged violations of state-issued Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits by illegally discharging various pollutants at the companies’ mining and processing operations in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia and violations of the companies’ legal responsibilities to sample the quality of their discharges to rivers and streams.  The estimated annual pollutant reductions through implementation of the settlement is approximately five million pounds.

“This settlement is designed to bring the companies into compliance with the Clean Water Act and requires actions that should prevent future violations,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “We appreciate our state partners working with us on the consent decree and for their joint oversight efforts with us in the future.”  

“Discharging pollution from coal mining into waterways is a serious threat to clean water, and that’s why EPA stepped in on behalf communities across Appalachia,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Company-wide compliance programs like the one Southern Coal Corporation will establish are critical to protecting our lakes, rivers and streams and the people who depend on them.”

Under the settlement, Southern Coal Corporation and its affiliated mining companies must implement a series of measures to ensure compliance and prevent future Clean Water Act violations at their coal mining operations, including:

• Implementing a company-wide, EPA-approved environmental management system.
• Maintaining a centralized data management system to track audit results, violations, water sampling data and compliance efforts.
• Constructing a public website for posting documents such as NPDES permits, discharge monitoring reports, water sampling data, effluent violation information, notices of violations and compliance orders.
• Conducting regular internal and independent third-party environmental audits and outlet inspections and undertaking necessary alterations or maintenance measures.
• Providing training for all employees whose responsibilities include environmental compliance and contractors hired to perform duties required by the consent decree.
• Paying a civil penalty of $900,000.  
• Paying escalating stipulated penalties if Clean Water Act permit violations continue to occur.
• Providing for a letter of credit and a standby trust and trustee to ensure that there is sufficient money and a mechanism to achieve compliance with the consent decree and the Clean Water Act, if Defendants fail to perform.

The government complaint filed concurrently with the settlement alleged that over the last five years, Southern Coal Corporation mining and processing operations have violated discharge limits for pollutants including iron, total suspended solids, aluminum, pH and manganese in their state-issued permits.  The complaint also alleged that Southern Coal Corporation failed to submit complete and timely discharge monitoring reports, made unauthorized discharges and failed to respond to EPA requests for information.  

EPA discovered the violations through investigations and inspections of several Southern Coal Corporation mining operations, reviewing various information provided by the companies and coordinating with the affected state governments.

Created in 1972 by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program addresses water pollution by authorizing states, with EPA oversight, to issue permits that set strict limits for the discharge of certain types of pollutants by certain types of entities.

The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.

Information about submitting a public comment is available at: www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

For more information on this settlement and to read the consent decree, go to: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/southern-coal-corporation-clean-water-settlement

This Case is the Third Mobile Home Park Race Discrimination Case the Justice Department Has Filed in the Middle District of Florida in the Last Year

The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against James C. Goss, the owner, and Cathy Plante and Joey Gwozdz, the managers, of May Grove Village Mobile Home Park, an 81-lot property in Lakeland, Florida.  The lawsuit alleges that the defendants discriminated against African Americans in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleges that the managers falsely told African Americans that no mobile homes, or fewer mobile homes, were immediately available for sale, but told similarly situated white persons that more mobile homes were available.  According to the complaint, the managers also quoted prospective African-American purchasers higher prices and worse financial terms than similarly situated white purchasers.  The lawsuit is based on the results of testing conducted by the department’s Fair Housing Testing Program, in which individuals pose as buyers to gather information about possible discriminatory practices. 

“Housing providers cannot pick and choose homebuyers based on race,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “We will continue to vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act to ensure that all people in this country are able to secure housing without facing unlawful barriers.”

The suit seeks monetary damages to compensate victims, civil penalties against the defendants to vindicate the public interest and a court order barring future discrimination.

Individuals who have information about, or who believe they may have been discriminated against at May Grove Village, located at 1725 Gibsonia Galloway Road, in Lakeland, should contact the Justice Department toll-free at 1-800-896-7743, option 94, or by email at fairhousing@usdoj.gov.  The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.  More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt.

Goss Complaint

Today the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) announced nine new research projects—the first in its Research and Evaluation Initiative launched earlier this year.  All nine awards focus on learning more about effective approaches for doing the life-saving work authorized through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and examine specific issues related to victims from underserved and marginalized populations.

The Research and Evaluation Initiative emphasizes researcher-practitioner partnerships that can identify effective strategies and lead to sustainable ways of responding to sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking, and reducing the harmful impact of these crimes on victims and communities.

“These new research and evaluation studies are critical because they focus on issues that are extremely understudied – such as culturally-specific programs for Latina victims, the effects of victimization on incarcerated women, restorative justice and gender bias,” said OVW Principal Deputy Director Bea Hanson, Ph.D.  “The more we identify approaches and models that effectively work with specific populations, the more effective we can be in helping victims find the justice they need and deserve.”

OVW’s Research and Evaluation Initiative is developing a comprehensive understanding of what we know about the effectiveness of approaches funded by the VAWA and determine which practices require a closer look and further study.

The nine studies are: 1. University of California, Los Angeles, $399,998: A study of the effects of violence and victimization on incarcerated women and an evaluation of a program designed to reduce the recurrence of violence and victimization in their lives.

2. Washington University, $379,980: An evaluation of an approach to using cognitive processing therapy in rape crisis centers.

3. Community Health and Social Services Center, $348,339: A study of how a culturally-specific program for Latina victims of domestic and sexual violence meets victims’ self-defined needs.

4. University of New Hampshire, $398,857: A study of a trauma-informed residential program for victims of domestic violence who struggle with substance use disorders.

5. International Rescue Committee Inc., $314,666: A study of the experiences, service needs and help-seeking strategies of refugees, asylum-seekers and other newly-arrived immigrants who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

6. University of Kentucky Research Foundation, $499,999: An examination of the healing and self-sufficiency benefits of an agriculture-based program for residents of a domestic violence shelter.

7. Portland State University, $400,000: A study of patterns and disparities in the family court experiences of litigants from cultural and linguistic minority groups.

8. Sam Houston State University, $393,049: An evaluation of a training program for all sworn law enforcement personnel in an urban police department on the Justice Department’s guidance on gender-bias policing.
9. Fund for the City of New York, $271,720: A survey of programs that use restorative justice to address domestic violence and the development of guidelines for these programs.  Restorative justice seeks to rehabilitate offenders through reconciliation with the people and communities they have victimized.

* * *

OVW provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of VAWA and subsequent legislation.  Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.  In addition to overseeing 21 federal grant programs, OVW often undertakes initiatives in response to special needs identified by communities facing acute challenges.

A Northern California real estate investor pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.

Stephan Florida, a real estate investor of Danville, California, pleaded guilty to one count of bid rigging in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland yesterday.  The defendant was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California on November 19, 2014.

According to court documents, between May 2008 and December 2010, Florida conspired with others not to bid against one another and instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda County.  Florida made and received payoffs for the agreements not to bid, diverting money that would have otherwise gone to mortgage holders and other beneficiaries.

Yesterday’s charges are the latest filed by the department in its ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, California.  These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office, in connection with the president’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. 

The president established the task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.  Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants. 

For more information about the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.  Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300 or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.

The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) today announced 61 grants totaling $25 million to help students who are victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.  In fiscal year 2016, OVW is awarding twice as many grants (45) to institutions of higher education compared to last year.  Also this year, OVW is awarding 16 grants to organizations that will provide legal assistance to victims on campuses.

The recipients of these competitive awards will work to deliver effective, comprehensive and coordinated strategies that help survivors heal; reduce campus sexual and domestic violence; and improve the institution’s response to these crimes.  The awards will make possible a range of services, including specialized training for campus law enforcement, healthcare providers, university housing personnel and others who are often first responders.  The Legal Assistance for Victims Program grant recipients will assist students – who generally do not know about legal options and resources – with legal needs associated with these crimes.

OVW encourages colleges and universities to use data from a campus climate survey to determine their institution’s specific needs and create a customized plan to respond.  Campus climate surveys identify the nature and scope of the problem by describing student behaviors and perceptions, as well as pointing out opportunities for intervention and prevention.  The department developed and validated a free survey that is particularly useful. 

“Schools that individualize their response to sexual, dating and domestic violence are better able to meet the unique needs of their student populations, especially underserved groups,” said OVW Principal Deputy Director Bea Hanson, Ph.D.  “Coordinated, comprehensive responses allow college communities to develop sustainable strategies to address these crimes.” 

Also during September, which is National Campus Safety Awareness Month, OVW has published a series of blog posts on best practices for keeping campuses safe for all.

For more information about campus sexual assault, visit www.changingourcampus.org.

Recipients of Awards under OVW’s Campus Grant Program

Northwest Arkansas Community College; Scripps College (California); Saint Leo University Inc. (Florida); Columbus State University (Georgia); Georgia College and State University, Georgia; Mercy College of Health Sciences (Iowa); Upper Iowa University; Regents of the University of Idaho; Benedictine University (Illinois); Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Manchester University (Indiana); Grambling State University Student Counseling WRC (Louisiana); Springfield Technical Community College (Massachusetts); Wheaton College (Massachusetts); Loyola University Maryland Inc.; Prince Georges Community College (Maryland); Siena Heights University (Michigan); Winona State University (Minnesota); The Curators of the University of Missouri (Rolla); Coahoma Community College (Mississippi); Jackson State University (Mississippi); North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University; North Carolina Central University; Doane College (Nebraska); Nebraska Wesleyan University; Saint Anselm College (New Hampshire); Felician University, a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation; Georgian Court University (New Jersey); College of Mount Saint Vincent (New York) Kent State University (Ohio); The University of Toledo (Ohio); The University of Tulsa (Oklahoma); Western Oregon University; Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania); York College of Pennsylvania; Benedict College (South Carolina); University of South Dakota; Austin College (Texas); Texas Lutheran University; Utah State University; Emory & Henry College (Virginia); University of Mary Washington (Virginia); President and Fellows of Middlebury College (Vermont); Carroll University (Wisconsin); and Fairmont State University (West Virginia).
Recipients of Awards under OVW’s Legal Assistance for Victims Program:

Peace Over Violence (California); Pine Tree Legal Assistance (Maine); Casa Myrna Vazquez (Massachusetts); Tubman (Minnesota); Legal Services Eastern Missouri; SAFE Harbor (Montana); Capital District Women’s Bar Association Legal Project (New York); Sanctuary for Families (New York); Legal Aid Society Rochester (New York); Unity House of Troy (New York); Victim Rights Law Center (Massachusetts); Prairie State Legal Services (Illinois); End Domestic Abuse/Wisconsin Coalition; Mid-Minnesota Legal Services; Manhattan Legal Services (New York); and Legal Aid Society of Mid-NY.

* * *

OVW provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation.  Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.  In addition to overseeing 21 federal grant programs, OVW often undertakes initiatives in response to special needs identified by communities facing acute challenges.

On September 20, 2016, INTERPOL Washington’s Deputy Director Wayne Salzgaber briefed the Story County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors on current programs with the County Sheriff’s Department. The meeting took place during the Board’s regularly scheduled Business Meeting, chaired by Rick Sanders.  Board Members Wayne Clinton and Martin Chitty also attended.

Deputy Director Wayne Salzgaber summarized how the Story County Sheriff’s Office and the State of Iowa support INTERPOL Washington, also known as the U.S. National Central Bureau. Salzgaber said that under Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, the relationship between INTERPOL Washington and Story County is flourishing.  This is exemplified by the county’s participation in, and support of, numerous INTERPOL Washington initiatives.

For example, Story County consistently sends officials to INTERPOL Washington as “secondees” or “detailees.” Under this program, representatives from federal and local law enforcement organizations work at INTERPOL Washington on a temporary basis, during which time they apply investigative techniques from their home agencies to INTERPOL Washington cases. In return, they learn to leverage INTERPOL’s tools at their home agencies when they return.

Earlier this year, Elizabeth Quinn, Story County Deputy Sheriff, spent 6 months in Washington working In the Human Trafficking and Child Protection Division.  Currently Micah Andersen, Story County Assistant Jail Administrator, is assigned to the Fugitive and Alien Division at INTERPOL Washington. With partnership a core value of INTERPOL, important assignments like these help INTERPOL Washington grow its global police network by maintaining partnerships with federal and local law enforcement agencies as well as international organizations. Salzgaber thanked the Sheriff and the Board for allowing this relationship to grow.

From his prior position as President of the National Sheriff’s Association and other key leadership positions in NSA and Iowa, Sheriff Fitzgerald also strongly advocates state-wide and nationally for INTERPOL’s State and Local Liaison program. This program establishes an INTERPOL liaison in every state, as well as in some large metropolitan areas. The liaisons are officers in the field who can follow up on leads, locate and identify individuals, and make notifications.  According to Salzgaber, “This, the relationship we have with state and locals, is what we value the most . . . because we need to make sure on the federal side that we’re connecting up to our local communities.”

Iowa is also an early adopter, and one of only 12 states participating in, one of INTERPOL Washington’s key tools known as Federation.  Federation allows all U.S. law enforcement agencies to query both domestic and INTERPOL indices in a single search. This enables officers to find out in real time whether the subject of an investigation poses a known transnational and or terrorist criminal threat.  These combined searches can be conducted from both fixed and mobile platforms, including vehicle-mounted and hand-held devices. Salzgaber said that INTERPOL Washington wants to “make sure that every law enforcement officer is connected.”

INTERPOL Washington presents the Story County Board of Supervisors with a token of appreciation for their continued support.  Left to right are: Wayne Clinton, Wayne Salzgaber, Rick Sanders, and Martin Chitty. 

He ended the discussion with his desire to expand and further strengthen the connection that INTERPOL Washington has with state and local law enforcement agencies.

INTERPOL Washington facilitates the exchange of police information and promotes cooperation and assistance among law enforcement authorities around the world. U.S. law enforcement agencies can gain more information about federation by contacting INTERPOL Washington’s Office of the Chief Information Officer at 202-616-9000 or on-line at Nlets at  http://www.nlets.org .

A federal court in Helena, Montana has permanently barred Montana-based attorney James Tarpey, as well as two companies he founded, including Project Philanthropy Inc., a District of Columbia corporation which does business as Donate for a Cause, and Timeshare Closings Inc., a Colorado corporation which does business as Resort Closings Inc., from promoting an allegedly abusive timeshare donation scheme, the Justice Department announced today.  Tarpey and the two companies agreed to the injunction.

According to the complaint, based on false promises of generous tax savings, Tarpey, Donate for a Cause and Timeshare Closings encouraged timeshare owners to donate their unwanted timeshares to Donate for a Cause, a tax-exempt entity organized and operated by Tarpey.  The complaint alleges that the customers receive an appraisal that grossly overvalues the donated timeshare rights and customers use that appraisal to claim a large charitable donation deduction, even when the true market value of the timeshare right is a small fraction of the appraised value.

According to the complaint, the timeshare donation scheme was aggressively marketed via the Internet and through national and local media outlets, including ABC 7 News in Los Angeles, Fox 10 News in Phoenix, Arizona, the TODAY Show and Fox 4 News in Kansas City, Missouri. 

The orders permanently bar Tarpey, Donate for a Cause and Timeshare Closings from promoting or marketing any arrangement that involves charitable contribution deductions claimed on federal tax returns.  The orders also bar Tarpey, Donate for a Cause and Timeshare Closings from preparing, or assisting others in preparing, any property appraisal that will be used in connection with federal taxes.  The orders require Tarpey, Donate for a Cause and Timeshare Closings to post a copy of the injunction on websites that they use to advertise timeshare donations, including but not limited to www.donateforacause.org.  The orders also require that Donate for a Cause notify all of its customers of the injunction and that Tarpey and Timeshare Closings notify their employees involved with timeshare donations of the injunction.

The United States also sued three individuals alleged to be Tarpey’s associates Ron Broyles of California, Curt Thor of Washington and Suzanne Tarpey of Montana.  According to the complaint, these individuals assisted Tarpey in facilitating the timeshare donation scheme.  Thor previously consented to an order permanently barring him from preparing timeshare appraisals and giving advice regarding charitable contribution deductions on federal tax returns.  The government’s claims against Broyles and Suzanne Tarpey remain pending with the court.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warns taxpayers to be wary of scams that involve claiming inflated charitable contribution deductions and recommends anyone who may have improperly claimed such deductions to consult a tax professional.  Guidelines for valuing and deducting property donations to charity can be found in Publication 526 and Publication 561, available on IRS.gov.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked Revenue Agent Kate Lopez of the IRS, who conducted the investigation and Trial Attorneys Richard G. Rose, Harris J. Phillips and Gretchen E. Nygaard of the Tax Division, who are litigating this case.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax return preparer and tax fraud promoters.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website.  An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page.  If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

 

The Department of Justice today awarded grants totaling more than $49 million to state, local and tribal jurisdictions, law enforcement agencies and victim service providers to combat human trafficking across the United States.

Today’s awards include funding to provide comprehensive and specialized services for human trafficking victims, support task forces that investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases, assist child victims of sex trafficking, and support research designed to improve understanding of the nature of human trafficking crimes and develop best practices to prevent and respond to such crimes. Funding comes out of the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP’s) Office for Victims of Crime, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and National Institute of Justice, and DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women.

Human trafficking includes sex and labor trafficking of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens of all ages.

“The true measure of our strength as a society is how we treat the most vulnerable among us,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “That is why the Department of Justice is committed to fighting human trafficking, a heinous crime that preys on the young and the defenseless. These critical grants will fund efforts across the country to deepen our understanding of this appalling practice, to bring traffickers to justice, and to support survivors as they heal and begin their lives anew.”

This year’s announcement includes awards for $15.8 million to 22 law enforcement agencies and victim service providers to operate multidisciplinary task forces, enabling them to conduct criminal investigations, prosecutions, prevention and community education initiatives to combat human trafficking as well as to provide comprehensive services to trafficking victims. Within each task force location, one award supports the lead law enforcement agency and another award supports the lead victim service provider. The grantees will work collaboratively with other members of the task force, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office; the local prosecutor’s office; federal, state and local law enforcement agencies; and community and system-based service providers. 

More than $20 million was awarded to 34 victim service providers. Some providers received grants to provide comprehensive services to any human trafficking victim identified within a target geographic region. Other providers received grants to offer specialized services for victims of human trafficking, including culturally, linguistically and developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed services for underserved victims. 

Two states will receive a total of $4.75 million for improving outcomes for child and youth trafficking victims, while three organizations have been awarded a total of $1.2 million to increase services for urban American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking. Two individuals have been awarded grants to provide the Office for Victims of Crime with in-house subject matter expertise on the topics of human trafficking task forces and survivor-informed services. In addition, $2.9 million was awarded for training and technical assistance, and more than $2.6 million was awarded to six nonprofit and faith-based organizations to provide mentoring and other direct services to youth victimized by or at risk of domestic sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. A $300,000 grant will fund training and assistance for Office on Violence Against Women grantees to help them plug gaps in services for youth victims of sex trafficking.

Finally, more than $1.7 million supports four research and evaluation projects designed to address gaps in knowledge about human trafficking. Funds will be used to evaluate investigation and prosecution strategies, identify effective approaches for serving human trafficking victims, measure the prevalence of trafficking among homeless and runaway youth, and assess human trafficking in Indian Country.

Twenty five states and the District of Columbia were impacted by these awards: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

 

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and today announced a settlement with Chemoil Corporation that requires the company to retire 65 million renewable fuel credits to resolve alleged violations of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.  The current market value of the credits -- along with an additional 7.7 million renewable identification numbers (RINs) already retired by Chemoil in the lead up to this settlement -- is more than $71 million.  Chemoil will also pay a $27 million civil penalty under the settlement, the largest in the history of the EPA’s fuel programs.

The Department of Justice and EPA allege that Chemoil exported at least 48.5 million gallons of biodiesel from 2011 to 2013, but failed to retire the more than 72 million RINs that were generated for the exported fuel.  RINs are credits created when a company produces or imports renewable fuel and can be traded or sold to refiners and fuel importers or exporters to help them comply with the RFS program requirements.

The RFS program requires exporters to retire RINs for renewable fuel like biodiesel, because the fuel exported is no longer available for blending into United States’ fossil fuel supply and, for that reason, cannot be used to meet the renewable fuel volume mandate established by Congress.  If exporters fail to retire the appropriate number and type of RINs associated with the exported fuel, as the United States alleges happened here, it artificially inflates the volume of renewable fuel available for blending in this country and the number of RINs available to meet the renewable fuel volume mandate.  Ensuring exporters comply with the regulations for RIN retirement is critical to the proper functioning and integrity of the RFS program.

“Congress adopted the Renewable Fuel Standards program to achieve significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions, reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and grow our domestic renewable energy industry,” said Assistant Attorney John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “By ensuring a level playing field within the industry through vigorous compliance monitoring and enforcement, we help ensure that these important Congressional goals are met.”

“This settlement delivers on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals that Congress envisioned for the Renewable Fuel Standard,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.  “It’s vital that companies retire renewable fuel credits when exporting fuel abroad.  Upholding this requirement is a key way EPA is working to maintain program integrity and a level playing field for companies that follow the law.” 

EPA discovered the alleged violations as a result of tips from RFS program participants.

EPA is responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel.  The RFS program - created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 - was developed in collaboration with refiners, renewable fuel producers and many other stakeholders.  It was expanded and strengthened under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which was designed to encourage the blending of renewable fuels into our nation’s motor vehicle fuel supply to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, help grow the nation’s renewable energy industry and achieve greenhouse gas reductions.

Chemoil is based in San Francisco, California, and sells marine, aviation, diesel, renewable fuels and residual oil products.

The proposed settlement, lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

For more information on the settlement and for information on how to submit a comment, visit: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/chemoil-corporation-renewable-fuel-standard-settlement.

Branch Banking & Trust Company (BB&T) has agreed to pay the United States $83 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today.  BB&T is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“The FHA program depends on Direct Endorsement Lenders endorsing only eligible loans for FHA mortgage insurance, and complying with HUD’s quality control requirements,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Lenders like BB&T that participate in the FHA program must make adherence to the FHA program rules a priority.  The Department has and will continue to hold accountable those lenders that prioritize profits over program compliance.”

“While profiting from the FHA program, BB&T exposed the taxpayers to losses by failing to comply with HUD guidelines, and then took the additional step of falsely certifying that it had complied with such guidelines,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn of the Northern District of Georgia. “This settlement recovers substantial losses caused by BB&T’s decision to place its own profits above its commitment to adhere to HUD underwriting and quality control requirements.”

Since at least January 2006, BB&T has participated as a Direct Endorsement lender (DEL) in the FHA insurance program.  A DEL has the authority to originate, underwrite, and endorse mortgages for FHA insurance.  If a DEL approves a mortgage loan for FHA insurance and the loan later defaults, the holder of the loan may submit an insurance claim to HUD, FHA’s parent agency, for the losses resulting from the defaulted loan.  Under the DEL program, the FHA does not review a loan before it is endorsed for FHA insurance for compliance with FHA’s credit and eligibility standards, but instead relies on the efforts of the DEL to verify compliance.  DELs are therefore required to follow program rules designed to ensure that they are properly underwriting and certifying mortgages for FHA insurance.

The settlement announced today resolves allegations that BB&T failed to comply with certain FHA origination, underwriting and quality control requirements.  As part of the settlement, BB&T admitted to the following facts: Between Jan. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2014, it certified for FHA insurance mortgage loans that did not meet HUD underwriting requirements and did not adhere to FHA’s quality control requirements.  BB&T significantly increased its loan volume between 2006 and 2009—more than doubling all loan originations, while increasing the number of FHA insured loans six fold.  This increase in volume was accompanied by an increase in the number of loans internally rated “Serious-Marketability” by BB&T’s quality control department —the most significant quality control defect rating and a defect that rendered a loan ineligible for FHA insurance.  Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of loans underwritten by BB&T each year that were rated Serious-Marketability by its quality control department always exceeded 30 percent, and exceeded as much as 50 percent in 2010 and 2011.  BB&T nevertheless endorsed many of these loans for FHA insurance and, if they defaulted, sought payment from HUD for the insured loans.

The monthly reviews and reports that BB&T’s quality control department shared with management alerted BB&T to deficiencies in many of its FHA loans.  A 2010 internal memorandum at BB&T stated that “increased volume of FHA requests and changes to regulatory requirements have resulted in origination, processing and underwriting errors.  Some employees are not applying current and accurate FHA guidelines.”  A proposal to improve BB&T’s underwriting of FHA loans with additional training as well as a testing and certification process for underwriters was prepared in 2010, but neither recommendation was implemented until after 2014.

Additionally, between 2006 and 2014, BB&T’s quality control process did not satisfy certain FHA requirements.  Although loan volume more than doubled from 2006 to 2009, the number of quality control employees remained the same.  The quality control department requested additional employees in 2009, yet new employees were not added until 2013.  Because BB&T’s quality control department did not have adequate staff, it instituted a cap on the number of loans it reviewed.  As a result, between 2009 and 2014, the quality control department did not always review the number of loans necessary to comply with HUD’s loan review sampling requirements.  Additionally, BB&T did not perform reviews of its lender branch offices, as required by HUD, before beginning the reviews again in late 2014.

Finally, since at least 2006, HUD has required self-reporting.  However, despite internal ratings showing that 30 percent or more of the loans underwritten by BB&T between 2007 and 2011 had Serious-Marketability findings, and were thus ineligible for FHA insurance, BB&T did not self-report any loans containing material underwriting defects until 2013.

As a result of BB&T’s conduct and omissions, HUD insured loans endorsed by BB&T that were not eligible for FHA mortgage insurance under the DEL program, and that HUD would not otherwise have insured.  HUD subsequently incurred substantial losses when it paid insurance claims on those loans.

“Lenders are required to apply FHA’s standards to each mortgage loan we insure and to honestly certify to us that they’ve done so,” said Associate General Counsel Dane M. Narode for HUD’s Program Enforcement.  “Today’s settlement reminds all lenders that sound underwriting is the bedrock of a healthy housing market and the financial futures of homeowners we support.”

“Today’s settlement agreement resolves allegations that BB&T, entrusted by American taxpayers to comply with FHA regulations, failed to conform with certain FHA origination, underwriting and quality control requirements,” said Inspector General David A. Montoya for HUD.  “This settlement demonstrates a continued commitment to address the failures and halt the business practices that potentially harm the FHA program and its participants.”

The settlement was the result of a joint investigation conducted by HUD, the HUD Office of Inspector General, the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.  The claims asserted against BB&T are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Vibra Healthcare LLC (Vibra), a national hospital chain headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, has agreed to $32.7 million, plus interest, to resolve claims that Vibra violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for medically unnecessary services, the Department of Justice announced today. 

“Medicare beneficiaries are entitled to receive care that is determined by their clinical needs and not the financial interests of healthcare providers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “All providers of taxpayer-funded federal healthcare services, whether contractors or direct billers, will be held accountable when their actions cause false claims for medically unnecessary services to be submitted.”

Vibra operates approximately 36 freestanding long term care hospitals (LTCHs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) in 18 states.  LTCHs provide inpatient hospital services for patients whose medically complex conditions require long hospital stays and programs of care.  IRFs are intended for patients needing rehabilitative services that require hospital-level care.  The government alleged that between 2006 and 2013, Vibra admitted numerous patients to five of its LTCHs and to one of its IRFs who did not demonstrate signs or symptoms that would qualify them for admission.  Moreover, Vibra allegedly extended the stays of its LTCH patients without regard to medical necessity, qualification and/or quality of care.  In some instances, Vibra allegedly ignored the recommendations of its own clinicians, who deemed these patients ready for discharge.

“Pursuing and recovering fraudulent billing for unnecessary services is a priority of my office,” stated U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr. for the Western District of Kentucky.  “This significant case against Vibra Healthcare and today’s settlement agreement is but one example of the vigorous work against healthcare fraud taking place in the Western District of Kentucky and across the nation.”

As part of the settlement, Vibra also agreed to enter into a chain-wide corporate integrity agreement with the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Medical necessity is fundamental if health providers wish to claim taxpayer funds for medical care,” said Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  “OIG is committed to protecting precious Medicare dollars and ensuring that beneficiaries receive quality, necessary long term care.”

Part of the allegations resolved by this settlement were originally filed under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Sylvia Daniel, a former health information coder at Vibra Hospital of Southeastern Michigan.  Daniel filed her suit in the Southern District of Texas, where one of Vibra’s LTCHs was located.  Under the False Claims Act, a private party, known as a relator, can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of the recovery.  Daniel will receive at least $4 million.   

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $30.7 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $18.5 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal healthcare programs.

This matter was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch; the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern District of Texas in Houston and for the Western District of Kentucky; and the HHS-OIG.  The qui tam case is captioned United States ex rel. Daniel v. Vibra Healthcare, LLC, Civil Action No. 10-5099 (S.D. Tex.).              

The claims resolved by the settlements are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.  

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Sears Home Improvement Products Inc. that resolves alleged violations of the federal Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule for work performed by Sears’ contractors during home renovation projects across the country.  Under the settlement, Sears will implement a comprehensive, corporate-wide program to ensure that the contractors it hires to perform work are properly certified and follow required procedures to prevent exposure to lead dust from home renovation activities.  Sears will also pay a $400,000 civil penalty.

“This settlement will help prevent children and workers’ exposure to lead during home renovations in communities across the United States by ensuring that Sears’ contractors are fully aware of their obligations under lead safety regulations,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “Sears is required to implement system wide changes across the corporation which will provide additional protection for consumers and bring the company into compliance with the law.”   

“Today’s settlement will have a widespread impact across the home improvement industry, significantly reducing exposure to lead paint dust among children and vulnerable citizens,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.  “In order to contract with Sears, a worker must follow lead safe practices. Contractors will carry this certification to every job they do.  EPA expects all renovation companies to ensure their contractors follow these critical laws that protect public health.”

EPA discovered the alleged violations through a review of Sears’ records from projects performed by the company’s renovation contractors at numerous projects in cities across California and in Georgia, Minnesota, Nevada, New York and Wisconsin. 

The government also alleged that Sears failed to establish, retain, or provide compliance documentation showing that specific contractors had been certified by EPA, had been properly trained, had used lead-safe work practices, or had performed required post-renovation cleaning.

Under the settlement, Sears will implement a company-wide program to ensure that the contractors it hires to perform work for its customers comply with the RRP Rule during renovations of any child-occupied facilities, such as day-care centers and pre-schools and any housing that was built before 1978.  For these projects, Sears must contract with only EPA-certified and state-certified firms and renovators, ensure they maintain certification and ensure they use lead safe work practices checklists during renovations.

Sears will also add a link on its website to EPA’s content on lead-safe work practices and use a company-wide system to actively track the RRP firm and renovator certifications of its contractors.  In addition, Sears must suspend any contractor that is not operating in compliance with the RRP Rule, investigate all reports of potential noncompliance and ensure that any violations are corrected and reported to EPA.

EPA reached a similar settlement with home improvement retailer Lowe’s Home Centers in 2014 requiring the company to implement a comprehensive, corporate-wide compliance program at its over 1,700 stores nationwide to ensure that the contractors it hires to perform work minimize lead dust from home renovation activities.

The RRP Rule, which is a part of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, is intended to ensure that owners and occupants of housing built before 1978, as well as any child-occupied facilities, receive information on lead-based paint hazards before renovations begin, that individuals performing such renovations are properly trained and certified by EPA and follow specific work practices to reduce the potential for lead-based paint exposure.  Home improvement companies such as Sears that contract with renovators to perform renovation work for their customers must ensure that those contractors comply with all of the requirements of the RRP Rule.

Lead-based paint was banned in 1978 but still remains in many homes and apartments across the country.  Lead dust hazards can occur when lead paint deteriorates or is disrupted during home renovation and remodeling activities.  Lead exposure can cause a range of health problems, from behavioral disorders and learning disabilities to seizures and death, putting young children at the greatest risk because their nervous systems are still developing.  A blood lead test is the only way to determine if a child has a high lead level.  Parents who think their child has been in contact with lead dust should contact their child's health care provider.

Renovation firms that are certified under EPA’s RRP Rule are encouraged to display EPA’s “Lead-Safe” logo on worker’s uniforms, signs, websites and other material, as appropriate.  Consumers can protect themselves by looking for the logo before hiring a renovation firm.  Consumers can learn more about the RRP Rule and hiring a certified firm by calling the National Lead Information Center at 1 (800) 424-LEAD or visiting www.epa.gov/lead.

Sears Home Improvement Products is part of the Sears Home Services division, within Sears Holdings Corporation.  The Home Services division makes over 12 million service and installation calls annually through a network of 6,700 technicians and Sears’ 705 retail stores in the United States.  Sears Home Improvement Products is headquartered in Longwood, Florida, does business in 45 states, and maintains 58 district offices.

The consent decree was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District Court of Illinois.  Notice of the lodging of the consent decree will appear in the Federal Register allowing for a 30-day public comment period before the consent decree can be entered by the court as final judgment.  To view the consent decree: www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

More information about EPA’s enforcement of the RRP Rule: www.epa.gov/lead/enforcing-lead-laws-and-regulations

Violations of the lead-based paint RRP Rule regulations can be reported to EPA: www.epa.gov/enforcement/report-environmental-violations

Used Secret Foreign Accounts to Hide over $7 Million in Funds and Evade Taxes

A New York City man pleaded guilty today to a criminal information charging him with tax evasion for tax years 2003 through 2005 and 2007 through 2010, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers of the Eastern District of New York.

“Mr. Hager concealed over $7.3 million in undeclared foreign accounts in Switzerland and Israel and used a sham British Virgin Island entity in order to evade over $650,000 in U.S. taxes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “As this case demonstrates, the Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), together with our global partners, are successfully working on a daily basis to locate such undeclared accounts, identify those responsible and hold them accountable.”

According to information presented in court, between 1987 through 2011, Markus Hager, 68, utilized a series of undeclared foreign financial accounts to evade his individual income taxes by concealing assets and income from the IRS in those accounts.  Between 1987 and 2008, Hager maintained several undeclared accounts at UBS, including two numbered accounts and an account held in the name of Contactus Partnership Associated S.A. (Contactus), a sham British Virgin Islands entity.  By the close of 2004, the value of Hager’s undeclared accounts at UBS exceeded $7.3 million. 

Hager closed the UBS accounts in 2008 and transferred the assets to a newly opened account at Clariden Leu, which he controlled and held in the name of Contactus.  Shortly thereafter, Hager closed the Contactus account at Clariden Leu and transferred the assets to a newly opened account held in the name of the same sham entity at a different Swiss bank.  Hager caused that Swiss bank to falsely record Hager’s Belgian cousin as the owner of the assets in the Contactus account.  Approximately six months later, Hager closed the Contactus account at the Swiss bank and transferred the assets to an account at a bank in Israel that Hager caused to be opened in the name of a different Belgian cousin.

From 2005 to 2011, Hager also controlled an undeclared account at Bank Leumi in Israel, which he falsely held under the name of a relative who was not a U.S. person and who resided outside the United States.  In February 2010, after obtaining an Israeli Identity Card, Hager opened an account in his own name at Bank Leumi in Israel but falsely reported that he lived in the United Kingdom and signed a document, under the penalties of perjury, on which he falsely claimed that he was not a U.S. citizen.

According to the information filed, Hager repatriated funds from his undeclared foreign financial accounts by having an attorney draft a sham loan agreement between himself and Contactus and wiring funds from some of his undeclared foreign financial accounts into his attorney’s escrow account.

According to the information filed, Hager filed false federal and New York State income tax returns on which he failed to report the income from his foreign financial accounts and failed to pay tax on that income.  According to the information, Hager evaded approximately $652,580 in federal taxes for tax years 2003 through 2005 and 2007 through 2010.  Hager also failed to report his ownership and control of his foreign financial accounts to the Department of the Treasury on a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account even though an accounting firm had informed Hager of his obligation to do so and advised him of the civil and criminal penalties he could suffer for the failure to do so.

“In pleading guilty today, Markus Hager became another example of an individual who attempted to conceal the true source of his money‎ and was caught,” said Chief Richard Weber of  IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).  “IRS-CI will continue to take every step necessary to ferret out those who attempt to avoid their reporting obligations under the law.”

Sentencing has been set for ­Jan. 4, 2017.  Hager faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a term of supervised release and monetary penalties.  According to the plea agreement, Hager agreed to pay restitution to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Capers commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Senior Litigation Counsel Mark F. Daly and Assistant Chief Andrew Kameros of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Paulsen of the Eastern District of New York, who are prosecuting this case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website. 

On September 27, 2016, Massachusetts State Representative Harold P. Naughton, Jr., (D-MA), and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, met with INTERPOL Washington leadership to discuss matters of mutual interest.

 

The visit included an overview of INTERPOL Washington operations as well as a discussion of how Massachusetts’ law enforcement agencies can benefit from federation. This process enables investigators to query both domestic and INTERPOL indices in a single search transaction, and to make real-time, concurrent determination of the domestic and/or international criminal or terrorist threat posed by persons of investigative interest. Federated searches can be conducted from both fixed and mobile platforms, including vehicle mounted and hand-held devices. Currently, 12 states and the District of Columbia have federated their search queries.

 

The decision to federate rests with individual states.  U.S. law enforcement agencies can gain more information about federation by contacting INTERPOL Washington’s Office of the Chief Information Officer at 202-616-9000 or on-line at Nlets at  http://www.nlets.org .

 

A retired officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pleaded guilty today to 10 money laundering offenses in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  Gregory R. Logan, 59, of St. John, New Brunswick, was extradited to the United States on March 11.  Logan, who has been detained since his extradition, will remain in jail pending his sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. for the District of Maine in Bangor, Maine.

Logan was indicted in the District of Maine in November 2012 and charged with conspiracy, smuggling and money laundering.  All of the counts arose from Logan’s scheme to smuggle narwhal tusks from Canada to the United States for sale to American customers and transfer the proceeds of those sales back to Canada.  Logan was arrested in Canada, based on a request from the United States, in December 2013.  Logan pleaded guilty to a related wildlife smuggling crime in Canada and the terms of his extradition limited the case against him in the United States to the money laundering offenses.  Also charged in the original indictment was Andrew J. Zarauskas of Union, New Jersey.  Zarauskas was convicted after a jury trial in Bangor and sentenced to 33 months in prison.

Narwhals are medium-sized toothed whales that are native to the Arctic.  They are known for their distinctive ivory tusk which can grow to more than eight feet in length.  Given the threats to their population, narwhals are protected domestically by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and internationally by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – an international treaty to which more than 170 countries, including the United States and Canada, are parties.  It is illegal to import narwhals, or their parts, into the United States for commercial purposes.  Further, any importation must be accompanied by a permit and must be declared to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

According to the indictment, Logan smuggled more than 250 narwhal tusks into the United States between 2000 and 2010.  As part of the plea agreement, Logan agreed that the market value of the narwhal tusks in this case was between $1.5 million and $3 million. Knowing that the tusks were illegal to bring into the United States and sell, Logan transported them across the border in false compartments in his vehicle and trailer.  Logan utilized a shipping store in Ellsworth, Maine, to send the tusks to customers throughout the United States, including Zarauskas and others.  Logan knew that his customers would re-sell the tusks for a profit and in an attempt to increase that re-sale price, Logan would occasionally provide fraudulent documentation claiming that the tusks had originally belonged to a private collector in Maine who had acquired them legally.

In addition to shipping the tusks from Maine, Logan maintained a post office box the Ellsworth shipping store as well as an account at a bank in Bangor.  Logan instructed his customers to send payment in the form of checks to the post office box, or wire money directly to his Maine bank account.  Logan then transported the money to Canada by having the shipping store forward his mail to him in Canada, and by using an ATM card to withdraw money from his Maine bank account at Canadian ATM machines.  At times, Logan also directed his customers to send funds directly to him in Canada.

Logan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a $500,000 fine, per count of conviction.  The case was investigated by special agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Law Enforcement; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement; and Wildlife Officers from Environment and Climate Change Canada.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James B. Nelson and Lauren D. Steele.   

El Acuerdo Conciliatorio Prevé Más de $165.000 en Indemnizaciones a Prestatarios Hispanos Quienes Obtuvieron  Préstamos al Consumidor en Texas

El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que Charter Bank de Corpus Christi, Texas, mantendrá políticas de establecimiento de precios uniformes y pagará más de $165.000 dólares como parte de un acuerdo conciliatorio en resolución de alegatos de que adoptó un patrón o una práctica de discriminación en base al origen nacional.

El acuerdo conciliatorio, que está sujeto a la aprobación del tribunal, fue radicado junto con la demanda del departamento en el Tribunal Federal de Distrito del Distrito Sur de Texas.  La demanda alega que Charter violó la Ley de Igualdad de Oportunidades de Crédito [Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)] entre 2009 y 2014 al cobrar tasas de interés más altas a prestatarios hispanos que a prestatarios no hispanos con perfiles similares, en préstamos al consumidor garantizados por vehículos.  La discriminación afectó a alrededor de 500 préstamos realizados a través de las sucursales del banco.  El préstamo al consumidor con garantía vehicular le permite al consumidor pedir prestado dinero del banco utilizando el capital de un vehículo que ya pertenece al cliente.  La demanda alega que la discriminación se produjo porque Charter les permitió a sus empleados utilizar su propio criterio para ajustar las tasas de interés al alza o a la baja  por aproximadamente tres puntos porcentuales, sin que esto se basara en el riesgo de crédito del prestatario.

“Las prácticas de otorgamiento de préstamos que discriminan a los clientes debido a su origen nacional violan la ley y ponen en peligro la base de una economía libre y justa,” declaró la Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Adjunta Principal Vanita Gupta, jefa de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia.  “Las familias trabajadoras dependen del acceso al crédito para poder tomar dinero prestado para pagar por las necesidades de la vida diaria.  Este acuerdo conciliatorio garantizará que Charter Bank cumpla con la ley, proporcione reparación a los consumidores y protecciones contra la discriminación en el futuro.”

“El otorgamiento justo de préstamos por los bancos, independientemente del origen nacional, está garantizado por la ley,” declaró el Fiscal Federal Kenneth Magidson del Distrito Sur de Texas.  “Este caso asociado a Charter Bank demuestra nuestro compromiso de asegurar que esto se cumpla.”

La demanda se originó a partir de una remisión en el 2014 a la División de Derechos Civiles del departamento por parte del Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  Charter es regulado por el FDIC.

Según el acuerdo conciliatorio, Charter pagará $165.820 a víctimas hispanas de la discriminación, monitoreará sus préstamos con respecto a potenciales disparidades basadas en el origen nacional y brindará capacitación en oportunidades iguales de crédito a sus empleados.  Con anterioridad al acuerdo conciliatorio, Charter realizó una revisión de sus políticas de establecimiento de precios de modo a incluir normas objetivas, no discrecionales y no discriminatorias para la determinación de las tasas de interés para préstamos a consumidores.  Este acuerdo conciliatorio exige que Charter mantenga las políticas revisadas durante al menos cuatro años.

La Sección de Vivienda y Cumplimiento de la Ley Civil de la División de Derechos Civiles es responsable, en el Departamento de Justicia, de hacer valer las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos.  Desde 2010, la División de Derechos Civiles ha provisto más de $ 1,5 mil millones en reparación monetaria para prestatarios individuales y comunidades afectadas al hacer valer la Ley de Vivienda Justa, la ECOA y la Ley de Amparo Civil para Miembros del Servicio Militar  [Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)].  Los informes anuales del Secretario de Justicia de EE.UU. al Congreso sobre el cumplimiento de la ECOA destacan los logros del departamento en el otorgamiento de préstamos justos y están disponibles en www.justice.gov/crt/publications/.

La División de Derechos Civiles y la Fiscalía Federal del Distrito Sur de Texas son miembros del Grupo de Trabajo de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero, establecido por el Presidente Obama para llevar adelante una iniciativa agresiva, coordinada y proactiva para la investigación y el enjuiciamiento de los delitos financieros.  El grupo de trabajo incluye a representantes de una amplia gama de dependencias federales, autoridades reguladoras, inspectores generales y miembros de las fuerzas del orden público estatales y locales, quienes, trabajando en conjunto, aprovechan un poderoso espectro de recursos de coacción penal y civil.  El grupo de trabajo está trabajando para mejorar la labor en todo el poder ejecutivo federal, y con asociados estatales y locales, para investigar y enjuiciar delitos financieros importantes, asegurar un castigo justo y eficaz para quienes cometan delitos financieros, combatir la discriminación en los mercados de préstamos y financieros, y recuperar fondos para las víctimas de delitos financieros.  Para obtener más información sobre el grupo de trabajo, visite www.StopFraud.gov.

Para obtener información adicional sobre la labor del Departamento de Justicia para hacer valer las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos, visite el portal del departamento www.justice.gov/fairhousing.

A dual Jamaican and U.S. citizen pleaded guilty for her role in a Jamaican-based fraudulent lottery scheme, the Department of Justice announced today.

Felecia Roxanne Lindo, 32, who is currently residing in New York, pleaded guilty in the Western District of North Carolina to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Lindo was charged in connection with a fraudulent lottery scheme based in Jamaica that induced victims in the United States to send Lindo hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover purported fees for lottery winnings that victims had not won and never received.  Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

“The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting those responsible for fraudulent international lottery schemes, which frequently target elderly Americans,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “We will continue to pursue and prosecute this criminal activity, wherever the fraudsters may be.”

“Today’s prosecution represents another step in our efforts to stem the tide of international scams preying on innocent Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Jill Westmorland Rose for the Western District of North Carolina.  “Fraudsters located outside the United States frequently rely on co-conspirators in the United States to help their scams succeed.  Such illegal conduct will be investigated and prosecuted.”

This prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s effort working with federal and local law enforcement to combat fraudulent lottery schemes in Jamaica preying on American citizens.  According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Americans have lost tens of millions of dollars to fraudulent foreign lotteries.

Lindo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud with enhanced penalties for telemarketing.  As part of her guilty plea, Lindo acknowledged that from in or about 2011 through at least in or about September 2012, Lindo was a member of a conspiracy that targeted victims in the United States. Victims of the scheme received a telephone call stating that they had won money in a sweepstakes or lottery.  Victims were instructed to send thousands of dollars for fees or other expenses in order to release their purported lottery winnings.  Victims sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lindo in the United States, who then forwarded a portion of the money to Jamaica.  Lindo acknowledged there was no lottery and no winnings were paid and that she kept some the victims’ money for her own benefit.

“The Postal Inspection Service seeks to stop the victimization of American citizens, many of whom are older Americans, by those engaged in international lottery schemes,” said Inspector in Charge David W. Bosch of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Division. “Regardless whether these criminals reside within our borders or beyond, we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners here and abroad to bring these offenders to justice.”

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mizer and U.S. Attorney Rose commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelli H. Ferry of the Western District of North Carolina.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.  For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc.

The Department of Justice announced today that Vania Lee Allen has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for her role in a Jamaica-based lottery fraud scheme, followed by three years of supervised release.  Allen was also order to pay $117,000 in restitution.

Allen, 30, pleaded guilty on June 22 in the Southern District of Georgia to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and false impersonation of an employee of the United States.  

“Lottery fraud scams based in Jamaica targeting Americans typically need help from at least one co-conspirator in the United States,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Impersonating an FBI agent to convince an innocent victim that this so-called international lottery is real is deceitful, pure and simple.  The Justice Department will actively pursue and charge those who participate in such criminal activity.”

As part of her guilty plea, Allen acknowledged that she and a co-conspirator in Jamaica sought to unlawfully enrich themselves through a fraudulent lottery scheme targeting an elderly resident of Evans, Georgia. 

An indictment charging Allen was filed on March 3.  According to the indictment, Allen’s co-conspirator falsely informed the victim that he had won money in a lottery and instructed the victim to make payments to various people in order to collect the purported lottery winnings.  As part of her plea agreement, Allen acknowledged that in order to induce the victim to continue to make payments as directed by her co-conspirator, Allen traveled from Jamaica to the United States to meet with the victim personally.  Allen also acknowledged that when she met the victim, she falsely portrayed herself as a FBI agent, provided the victim with a cell phone, and directed him to speak with the person on the line, who was Allen’s co-conspirator in Jamaica.

“The prison sentence given by the Court demonstrates the significant consequences of engaging in fraud designed to steal from Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Edward J. Tarver of the Southern District of Georgia.  “International lottery scams will not be allowed to continually target the most vulnerable segments of our communities without fear of severe consequences.  This U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch will prosecute fraudsters whether they operate from inside or outside of the United States.”

“The Postal Inspection Service seeks to stop the victimization of American citizens, many of whom are older Americans, by those engaged in international lottery schemes,” said Inspector in Charge David W. Bosch of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Division. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates there are no safe havens for these international criminals, who attempt to hide their criminal misdeeds behind their country’s borders.”

This prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s effort to work with federal and local law enforcement to combat fraudulent lottery schemes in Jamaica that prey on U.S. citizens.  According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Americans have lost tens of millions of dollars to fraudulent foreign lotteries.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Clint Narver of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Troy Clark of the Southern District of Georgia.  The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Columbia County Georgia Sherriff’s Office.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.  For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga.

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement on the departure, effective Oct. 15, 2016, of Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin: 

“John Carlin has been a trusted and tireless leader of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.  He is wholly devoted to the department’ s most important mission – protecting our country against acts of terrorism and other national security threats – and he has set a high standard by relentlessly pursuing those who seek to harm our people and threaten our assets.  For the better part of two decades at the Department of Justice, John distinguished himself as a leader who skillfully used all the tools at his disposal to enhance our public safety and uphold our national security.  I have come to rely heavily on his sound judgment and clear vision as he handled some of the most challenging issues the department faced.  He exemplifies the highest standards of excellence, integrity, and professionalism in public service.” 

“As Assistant Attorney General, John helped lead the department’s response to terrorist threats ranging from the Boston Marathon bombing to the recent bombings in New York and New Jersey.  He oversaw the unprecedented indictment of five members of the Chinese military for cyber-enabled economic espionage and the investigation of the attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems.  And he forged crucial collaborations with our partners in the intelligence community, law enforcement, and the private sector, enhancing our collective ability to detect and deter threats as they arise.”

“I thank John for his extraordinary service to the Department of Justice and to the nation, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

The owner and manager of a New Jersey feedstock collector and processor pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction for his role in a scheme that generated over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuels credits (RIN credits) connected to the purported production of biodiesel fuel.

Malek Jalal, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King for the Southern District of Ohio, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman for the Southern District of Ohio, Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Enstrom for the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation and Acting Special Agent in Charge John Gauthier of EPA’s Criminal Enforcement Program in Ohio.

According to his plea, Jalal engaged in a scheme with other coconspirators to fraudulently claim tax credits and RIN credits multiple times on the same loads of fuel.  Jalal, who owned Unity Fuels, bought fuel from a New York-based company that arranged for tax credits and RIN credits to be claimed on it.  Unity Fuels then blended the fuel with other material and sold it back to the New York company in order to claim tax credits and RIN credits again.  Jalal also admitted to obstruction of justice for providing a federal grand jury with altered and falsified documents and to destroying other documents in connection with the subpoena.

“Congress enacted programs incentivizing the production of biofuels in order to make the United States more energy independent and to modernize our energy economy,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “The fraud perpetrated by Mr. Jalal and his co-conspirators undermines these important public policies.  This case demonstrates that the Justice Department will vigorously prosecute those seeking to manipulate these programs for personal gain.”

“Violations of renewable fuels laws can have serious impacts on the marketplace and hurt companies that play by the rules,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Gauthier.  “EPA and its law enforcement partners will continue to protect public health and the environment by prosecuting those who blatantly violate laws that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Conspiracy is punishable by up to five years in prison. Obstruction is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge Graham will determine the sentence following a pre-sentence investigation by the court.

Assistant Attorney General Cruden and Acting U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by law enforcement, as well as Department of Justice Trial Attorney Adam Cullman, Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy Korzenik and Assistant United States Attorney J. Michael Marous, who represented the United States in this case. 

Kirby Inland Marine L.P. has agreed to pay $4.9 million in Clean Water Act civil penalties and to implement fleet-wide operational improvements to settle claims stemming from a 4,000-barrel (168,000-gallon) oil spill in the Houston Ship Channel in March 2014, the Department of Justice and the Coast Guard announced today.  

In its complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas along with the notice of lodging of a consent decree, the United States alleges that Kirby is liable under the Clean Water Act for the oil spill.  The spill occurred on March 22, 2014, when a Kirby tow boat, the Miss Susan, was pushing two 300-foot oil barges in the “Texas City Y” area of the Houston Ship Channel in fog conditions.  Despite detecting the nearby presence of a 585-foot bulk cargo ship, the Summer Wind, traveling up the Houston Ship Channel, Kirby’s tow boat and barges tried to cross the channel in front of the cargo ship.  As a result, Kirby’s lead oil barge was struck by the cargo ship and approximately 4,000 barrels of heavy marine fuel oil spilled out of the barge into the waterway. From there, oil flowed out of the channel and spread down the Texas coastline.  Approximately 160 miles of shoreline were oiled as a result of the spill, including sensitive marsh habitat, the national wildlife refuge on Matagorda Island, Mustang Island State Park and Padre Island National Seashore.  A full assessment of the injuries caused by the spill to marine and terrestrial natural resources is ongoing and will be addressed separately.

“This settlement sends a clear message that vessel owners and operators have a responsibility to protect our waters, people and the environment from oil spills and those who violate that duty will be held accountable under the law,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “The remedial measures in this agreement will upgrade navigational equipment, provide employee training, and improve operational practices across an entire fleet of vessels.” 

“This case illustrates the inherent risk in transporting oil and other chemicals along our waterways,” said Eighth Coast Guard District Commander, Rear Adm. David Callahan. “The Coast Guard remains committed to enforcement, prevention and response with regards to our nation's waterways and natural resources.”

In addition to payment of the civil penalties, Kirby in the consent decree commits to improve its operations across its entire fleet of hundreds of vessels operating in the inland waters of the United States.  These remedial measures require Kirby to install enhanced navigational equipment on vessels, provide employee training on the new and enhanced equipment, provide additional navigation skills training, including a simulator-based exercise involving a Texas City Y scenario and improved operational practices such as entering complete tow dimensions in each vessel’s automatic identification systems before embarking on every transit.  As part of the settlement, Kirby also agrees to waive any limits on its liability under the Oil Pollution Act related to the oil spill incident at issue in this case.

The remedial measures and the penalties to be paid by Kirby under the consent decree are in addition to the costs the company has already incurred or will incur to clean up the oil spill, reimburse federal and State response efforts, compensate victims of the oil spill and compensate the public for injuries to natural resources.

Section 311(b) of the Clean Water Act makes it unlawful to discharge oil or hazardous substances into or upon the navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines in quantities that may be harmful to the environment or public health.  The penalty paid for this spill will be deposited in the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund managed by the National Pollution Funds Center.  The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is used to pay for federal response activities and to compensate for damages when there is a discharge or substantial threat of discharge of oil or hazardous substances to waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines.

The proposed consent decree, lodged in the Southern District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court review and approval. A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a $1 million settlement with Ralph J. Cox III, the former chief executive officer of Sumter, South Carolina-based Tuomey Healthcare System, for his involvement in the hospital’s illegal Medicare and Medicaid billings for services referred by physicians with whom the hospital had improper financial relationships. 

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Cox will also be excluded for four years from participating in federal health care programs, including providing management or administrative services paid for by federal health care programs.  The illegal physician arrangements resulted in a $237.4 million judgment against Tuomey following a jury verdict.  On Oct.16, 2015, the United States resolved its judgment against Tuomey for payments totaling $72.4 million, and the hospital was sold to Palmetto Health, a multi-hospital healthcare system based in Columbia, South Carolina.

“Sweetheart deals between hospitals and referring physicians distort medical decision making and drive up the cost of healthcare for patients and insurers alike,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Patients have a right to be confident that a physician who orders a procedure or test does so because that service is in the patient’s best interest, and not because the physician stands to gain financially from the referral.  Today’s settlement demonstrates that the Justice Department and its law enforcement partners will hold individual decision makers accountable for their involvement in causing the companies and facilities they run to engage in unlawful activities.”

The judgment against Tuomey related to violations of the Stark Law, a statute that prohibits hospitals from billing Medicare for certain services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, that have been referred by physicians with whom the hospital has an improper financial relationship.  The Stark Law includes exceptions for many common hospital-physician arrangements, but generally requires that any payments that a hospital makes to a referring physician be at fair market value for the physician’s actual services, and not take into account the volume or value of the physician’s referrals to the hospital.  The government alleged that Cox, fearing that Tuomey could lose lucrative outpatient procedure referrals to a new freestanding surgery center, caused Tuomey to enter into contracts with 19 specialist physicians that required the physicians to refer their outpatient procedures to Tuomey and, in exchange, paid them compensation that far exceeded fair market value and included part of the money Tuomey received from Medicare for the referred procedures.  During the trial against the hospital, the government argued that Cox ignored and suppressed warnings from one of Tuomey’s attorneys that the physician contracts were “risky” and raised “red flags.” 

On May 8, 2013, after a month-long trial, a South Carolina jury determined that the contracts violated the Stark Law.  The jury also concluded that Tuomey had filed more than 21,000 false claims with Medicare.  On Oct.  2, 2013, the trial court entered a judgment under the False Claims Act in favor of the United States for $237.4 million.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment on July 2, 2015.  Cox was terminated as Tuomey’s chief executive officer in the fall of 2013.

“Our office was pleased to partner with the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) in this important case,” said U.S. Attorney John Stuart Bruce for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  “The lengthy legal process has vindicated the government’s position that the financial arrangement between this hospital corporation and certain physicians was improper and not in the interest of patients.”

“Individuals and entities that defraud Federal health care programs face exclusion from those programs by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG),” said Gregory E. Demske, chief counsel to the HHS Inspector General.  “OIG is committed to protecting the programs and patients from health care executives who, like Mr. Cox, lead or participate in schemes to defraud Medicare or Medicaid. Entities engage in fraud because of actions by individuals and OIG will continue to identify and take administrative enforcement actions against such individuals.”

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $30.7 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $18.5 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.”  Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

The judgment against Tuomey and this settlement were the result of a coordinated effort by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina and HHS and its OIG.     

The case against the hospital is captioned United States ex rel. Drakeford v. Tuomey Healthcare System, Inc., Case No. 3:05-cv-02858 (MBS) (D.S.C.).  The claims resolved by the settlement with Cox are allegations only, and there has been no determination of his individual liability.   

The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced awards totaling more than $38 million to help state, tribal and local government agencies to process sexual assault kits in law enforcement custody that have not been submitted to forensic laboratories.

Funded under BJA’s National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, this program provides funding to support a community-based comprehensive approach to inventory and test kits that were housed in law enforcement storage rooms or other facilities that have never been submitted to the lab for testing. The program also enables jurisdictions to assign personnel to pursue leads and criminal investigations based on evidence discovered through kit testing, as well as to develop evidence-based tracking systems and train law enforcement on sexual assault investigations.  Further, grantees can use the funds to conduct research on outcomes in sexual assault cases and increase collection of DNA that may lead to identification of serial sex offenders.

“Reducing the backlog of untested sexual assault kits is a complex issue that requires a comprehensive, evidence-based and community-supported approach to resolve,” said Director Denise O’Donnell of the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  “These grants provide resources and improve processes to test kits, provide training to law enforcement personnel and improve the justice system while providing justice and resolution to the victims of sexual assault.”

In FY 2016, BJA made 19 grant awards totaling $25 million to state, local and tribal jurisdictions in support of new efforts to improve the processing of sexual assault kits and improve their capacity to act on evidence resulting from these efforts.  BJA also made seven supplemental awards totaling over $6 million to grantees that received National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative awards in previous years to help them continue their efforts to address the challenges surrounding the processing of untested sexual assault kits.

An additional $5 million was awarded to Research Triangle Institute to provide training and technical assistance to the grantees in the development and implementation of sexual assault kit submission, tracking and investigation processes.  BJA provided $2 million to the National Institute of Justice to support evaluation of the programs funded by the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.

For a complete monetary and geographical breakdown of the grants awarded under this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKFcx.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced funding of more than $5.6 million through two separate programs.  One is a new initiative designed to help communities reduce and prosecute gun crime; the other is an annual grant that enables jurisdictions to leverage technology and information sharing to enhance criminal justice operations.

Nearly $3 million was awarded to three cities—Metropolitan Police Dept. of the District of Columbia ($999,129), Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Police Dept. ($1 million), and the City of Los Angeles ($1 million)—via BJA’s National Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative, a newly developed initiative in 2016.  The program, which is supported and administered in partnership between BJA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), supports the implementation of three crime gun intelligence centers in the above listed cities.  These centers employ multidisciplinary teams to identify perpetrators and connect criminal activity and sources of gun crime for immediate disruption, investigation and prosecution.  Each site will also work closely with a research partner to help guide implementation and evaluate program outcomes.

Another $2.6 million was awarded to six cities and the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation ($499,826) to enhance information sharing capacities through the use of innovative technological solutions to reduce crime.  Funded through BJA’s annual competitive grant Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program, the resources provided through this grant are intended to help selectees address a precipitous or extraordinary increase in crime in individual jurisdictions.  To combat this, awardees are enabled to share information across crime-fighting agencies.  This collaboration can help address specific local crime problems, which often require multidisciplinary responses involving public safety agencies, personnel and shared investment in technology.

“The Office of Justice Programs is committed to giving our state and local partners the tools they need to drive down crime and maintain public safety for the long run,” said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Office of Justice Programs.  “These new resources will expand community capability to investigate and prosecute gun offenses and support data sharing and other technological solutions to serious violence challenges.”

The six cities and police departments awarded under the Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program include: the New Castle County Division of Police, Del. ($306,700); the City of Hartford, Connecticut ($245,681); the City of Cincinnati, Ohio ($370,673); the Los Angeles Police Department ($395,717); the City of Memphis, Tennessee ($401,193); and the St. Louis, Missouri, County Government ($400,636).

For additional information about the National Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKefx. For additional information about the Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKefa.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims.  OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced funding of more than $34.5 million, through nine separate grant programs, to more than 40 jurisdictions, research institutions and other grantees, to reduce crime, improve community safety and provide a science-based approach to criminal justice operations.                          

Administered under OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the “Smart Suite” of programs represents a strategic approach that brings more science into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology and evidence-based practices with the goal of improving performance and effectiveness while containing costs.  The Smart Suite touches every aspect of the criminal justice system, from arrest to prosecution to reentry, relying on practitioner-researcher relationships that use data, evidence and innovation to enable jurisdictions to understand the full nature and extent of local crime challenges.

During the Sept. 7, 2016, Smart Suite Summit, Assistant Attorney General Mason described the programs’ proven track records of helping communities target crime hot spots, promote neighborhood revitalization and increase public safety.  She noted that Corning, California—a Byrne Criminal Justice Program grant recipient—saw a 30 percent decrease in violent crime since early 2015.  Under the Smart Prosecution Initiative, the St. Louis, Missouri, Circuit Attorney’s Office is now working with police, courts and local university researchers on a gun diversion program that targets individuals convicted of a felony.

“These successes are no accident,” said Assistant Attorney General Mason.  “They happened because of a commitment to smart, sustainable public safety strategies grounded in data and research.  These awards help communities pursue evidence-based and community partnerships to reduce crime and increase public safety.”

Grants awarded to specific jurisdictions under individual 2016 Smart Suite programs include the following:

Enhancing Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships: Smart Suite Training and Technical Assistance Program: More than $2.1 million was awarded to Michigan State University under this program, which supports the development, enhancement, and needs of researcher-practitioner relationships in all of the Smart Suite programs. The training and technical assistance includes measuring individual program outcomes; using data to identify criminal justice and public safety-related problems; assessing implementation fidelity; developing logic models; developing “real time” products and resources for strategic decision making; and making recommendations for program improvement. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKep8.

Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program: About $8 million was awarded to 10 local criminal justice and community agencies and research institutions via  this program, which helps  communities develop comprehensive strategies that target neighborhoods with hot spots of crime and violence. Awardees include: the Boston Public Health Commission; the City of Battle Creek, MI; the Board of Highland County Ohio Commissioners; Rockdale County, GA; the City of Hartford, CT; the City of Shreveport, LA; the Milwaukee Police Dept., WI; the University of Maryland; Northwest N.J. Community Action Program, Inc.; and the City of Tulsa, OK. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKeyw. 

Smart Policing Initiative. More than $4.4 million was awarded to five jurisdictions and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council under this program. This initiative seeks to promote analysis-driven, evidence-based policing by encouraging state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to develop effective, economical and innovative responses to crime. Awardees include: The City of Lowell, MA; the City of Madison, WI; the Detroit Police Dept.; the Kansas City, MO Board of Police Commissioners; and the County of Sacramento, CA. Nearly $1 million went to CNA Corporation to provide training and technical assistance to grant recipients. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKeyf.

Project Safe Neighborhoods: More than $5.7 million was awarded to 16 jurisdictions under this program, which creates safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in gang violence and gun crime. PSN has a cooperative approach and unified strategies led by the U.S. Attorney (USA) who with a collaborative PSN task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement, community members, and other key partners to implements using data and research with a local research partner.

Smart Prosecution Initiative: More than $2.2 million was awarded to five jurisdictions under this program, which encourages state, local, and tribal prosecutorial agencies to develop analysis-driven, evidence-based and economically-sound practices. Awardees include: Essex County, N.J. Prosecutor’s Office; D.C. Office of the Attorney General; Chatham County, GA Board of Commissioners/District Attorney; Jackson County, MO Prosecutor’s Office; and the Florida State Attorney’s Office, 11th Judicial Circuit. This award includes $461,852 in funding to the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys for training and technical assistance. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKeyd.

Smart Defense Initiative Answering Gideon’s Call: Improving Public Defense Delivery Systems Competitive Grant: Nearly $400,000 was awarded to support the expansion of the Smart Defense program to Contra Costa County, CA, in addition to the five sites funded in FY 2015.  Smart Defense strives to ensure that all persons accused of a crime have the aid of a lawyer with the time, ability, and resources to present an effective defense. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKeyU.

Smart Pretrial Initiative: Nearly $300,000 was awarded to support the sustainment phase of this effort to enhance the pretrial process in three locations, to enhance the use of risk assessment in pretrial decisions, enhance the fairness of the process and to increase pretrial detention and use of jail for low risk persons in the pretrial process. 

Smart Reentry: Focus on Evidence-based Strategies for Successful Reentry from Incarceration to Community Program: Nearly $6 million was awarded to six jurisdictions under this program, which helps communities develop strategies that increase formerly incarcerated individuals’ successful reentry into their communities. Awardees include: the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice; Newark, N.J.; Contra Costa County, CA; Fulton County, GA; Prince George’s County, MD; and Muscogee Creek Nation, OK. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKepm

Smart Supervision Program: More than $5.4 million was awarded to seven jurisdictions under this program. This initiative is designed to improve supervision strategies that will reduce recidivism through evidence-based probation and parole approaches.  Awardees include: Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court; Office of the Attorney General of Virginia; the Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections; the Connecticut Judicial Branch; the Louisiana Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections; the Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction; and the Virginia Dept. of Corrections. Two additional awards totaling $737,886 will be awarded separately to the National Reentry Resource Center for training and technical assistance for this program. For more information about this program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKeV3.

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The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

Dewey W. Willis Jr. of Newport, North Carolina, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, North Carolina, to federal charges regarding the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic striped bass from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina during 2010, the Justice Department announced today. 

This multi-defendant investigation began as a result of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) receiving intelligence and directing the U.S. Coast Guard to board the fishing vessel Lady Samaira in February 2010, based on a complaint that multiple vessels were fishing Striped Bass illegally.  Along with 13 other commercial fishermen, Willis was charged with violating the Lacey Act, a federal law that prohibits individuals from transporting, selling or buying fish and wildlife harvested illegally.  Additionally, Willis, along with 11 of these fishermen, also has been charged with filing false reports in connection with the illegally harvested fish.  Specifically, the indictment against Willis alleges that the he transported and sold Atlantic striped bass, knowing that they were unlawfully harvested from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.  In an effort to hide his illegal fishing activities, Willis, falsely reported harvesting these fish from state waters, where it would have been legal.

Willis is licensed by the state of North Carolina and NOAA to fish in state waters only for striped bass.  The defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 12.

“The illegal poaching of striped bass by commercial fishermen has a major impact on the survival of this iconic fish resource and has the potential to devastate the future livelihoods of law abiding commercial fishermen,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “Today’s plea agreement demonstrates the department’s dedication to pursuing those who fail to respect the law and fail to adequately monitor their harvest to stay within legal limits.”  

“Our office was pleased to partner with the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice in this significant case,” said U.S. Attorney John Stuart Bruce for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  “This prosecution makes clear that efforts to circumvent laws regulating commercial fishing will be enforced vigorously.”

In early spring each year, wild coastal striped bass, Morone saxatilis, known regionally as “rockfish,” “striper” or “rock,” enter the estuary or river where they were born to spawn and then return to ocean waters to live, migrating along the coastline.  They may live up to 30 years and reach 50 pounds or more.  The population of coastal Atlantic striped bass depends heavily upon the capability of older, larger, female striped bass to successfully reproduce.   

Under federal law, Atlantic striped bass may not be harvested from or possessed in federal waters.  This ban on fishing for Atlantic striped bass in federal waters has been in place since 1990 due to drastic declines of the stock that occurred in the 1970’s.  North Carolina allows fishermen to harvest fish from state waters, but often limits fishermen to no more than 100 fish per fishing trip.  Commercial fishermen are required to report on a fishing vessel trip report the fish harvested from state waters; that report is then submitted to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).  NOAA uses the information on this report to assess the fishery and its sustainability throughout the eastern seaboard.

According to the Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission, “striped bass have formed the basis of one of the most important fisheries on the Atlantic coast for centuries.  Early records recount their abundance as being so great at one time they were used to fertilize fields.  However, overfishing and poor environmental conditions lead to the collapse of the fishery in the 1980s.”

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, along with other states, has reduced the catch limits for the 2015 striped bass commercial fishing season in the Atlantic Ocean and Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River areas, citing a decline in stocks.  The division cited 2013 surveys revealing that the female spawning stock has been steadily declining.  The reduction applies to all commercial and recreational striped bass fishing for all the eastern coastal states.

The Lacey Act makes it unlawful for a person to transport or sell fish that were taken in violation of any law or regulation of the United States and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus the potential forfeiture of the vessels and vehicles used in committing the offense.

The investigation was conducted by the Law Enforcement Offices of NOAA, with assistance of the Investigative Service from the U.S. Coast Guard, the North Carolina Marine Patrol and the Virginia Marine Police.  This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Shennie Patel of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Defendant Failed to Report More than $4.8 Million in Income from Real Estate Transactions and Other Sources

A Chevy Chase, Maryland, man was sentenced to 54 months in prison today after pleading guilty to a federal tax evasion charge stemming from his failure to pay taxes on more than $4.8 million in income that he accrued over a six-year period, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C. Field Office.

Cornell M. Jones Jr., 59, pleaded guilty on Jan. 19 to one count of tax evasion.  According to the government’s evidence, Jones was the managing member of WFJ LLC, a Washington, D.C., company that engaged in real estate transactions.  He was also the executive director of Miracle Hands, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C.  In 2012, the IRS revoked Miracle Hand’s tax-exempt status over its failure to file tax returns for 2009 through 2011.

The government’s evidence showed that neither Jones nor WFJ filed returns for 2008 through 2013.  WFJ generated income through the sale and leasing of commercial properties in Northeast Washington, D.C., and through payments it received for consulting work purportedly done by Jones.  Jones used WFJ’s income for his personal benefit, which included more than $1 million in cash that he withdrew from WFJ bank accounts.  During the years 2008 through 2013, Jones received approximately $4,806,019.04 in taxable income that he failed to report to the IRS.  The tax due and owing to the United States on this amount is approximately $1,759,953.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon for the District of Columbia ordered Jones to serve three years of supervised release, 360 hours of community service and pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $1,759,953.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Special Agent in Charge Jankowski thanked special agents of IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Kenneth C. Vert of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.  Assistance was provided by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David A. Last, Arvind K. Lal and Michael K. Atkinson; Criminal Investigator Juan Juarez; Financial Analyst Bryan J. Snitselaar; and Paralegal Specialists C. Rosalind Pressley and Toni Donato, all of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.

More Than $67 Million in Grants to Support Local Law Enforcement Efforts Also Announced

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch  today announced the addition of two cities—Jackson, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee—to the Justice Department’s Violence Reduction Network (VRN), providing federal resources and funding to help reduce violence in these newly-partnered sites.

Established two years ago, VRN is a comprehensive program designed to leverage existing resources and provide a hands-on approach to reduce violence in some of the country’s most challenging cities.  Partnered cities under VRN have violence levels exceeding the national average.  Cities are selected through a quantitative and qualitative evaluation process in consultation with U.S. Attorneys and Department of Justice law enforcement partners.

Through VRN, the Justice Department enlists tactical and operational expertise available from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorneys, the Community Oriented Policing Services Office and the Office on Violence Against Women.  These resources, in collaboration with resources offered through the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, provide customized training and technical assistance and immediate subject matter expertise tailored to each partnered site’s unique challenges.  As a result, each site receives the benefit of pooled resources, peer-to-peer exchanges, federal site analyses and a variety of regular newsletters, webinars, and other training resources.

“Since launching the Violence Reduction Network with five cities in 2014, we have witnessed extraordinary activity and unprecedented collaboration throughout the VRN,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “Cooperation is the hallmark of the Violence Reduction Network, and the work we have done together reminds us that we are not helpless – or hopeless – in the face of violence.  It makes clear that by bridging divides and building trust, we can shape the direction of our communities.  Today, I am pleased to welcome Jackson and Nashville as new partners.  I applaud the leaders of both cities for their commitment, and I am excited to have them join this innovative network.”

During the event, Attorney General Lynch also announced over $54 million in grants to law enforcement agencies, research institutions, states, cities, tribes and other local government organizations to support body-worn camera programs and address untested sexual assault kits.  Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason announced an additional $13.6 million to help develop innovative, data-driven approaches to crime; reduce and more effectively prosecute gun crimes and increase public safety through community-based partnerships.

“We recognize that federal funding is only part of the solution,” said Assistant Attorney General Mason.  “Success in reducing violence ultimately depends on our ability to work together, to marshal existing resources, and to engage all stakeholders in the work of protecting communities.”

Today’s announcement was made before an audience of U.S. Attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, local leaders from the two sites and Department of Justice representatives at the 3rd Annual VRN Summit.  The addition of Jackson and Nashville brings the total number of partnered sites to 15 since VRN was established in 2014.

For additional information about the Violence Reduction Network, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKePD.

 

FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the investiture of 15 new immigration judges. Acting Chief Immigration Judge Michael C. McGoings presided over the investiture during a ceremony held Sept. 23, 2016, in the ceremonial courtroom of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, in Washington, D.C.

After a thorough application process, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Valerie A. Burch, Timothy M. Cole, Molly S. Frazer, Ivan Gardzelewski, Njeri B. Maldonado, Nancy J. Paul, Robin Kandell Paulino, Jennifer I. Peyton, G. William Riggs, Walter Hammele Ruehle, Ian Robert Simons, Mario J. Sturla, P. Michael Truman, Elizabeth L. Young, and Richard Zanfardino to their new positions.

“We welcome these 15 appointees to the immigration judge corps,” said McGoings. “With these appointments, EOIR now has 291 immigration judges, setting a new all-time high for our immigration judge corps and further strengthening our efforts to address the agency’s pending caseload of more than 500,000.”

Biographical information follows.

Valerie A. Burch, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Valerie A. Burch to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Burch earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2000 from the University of Rochester and a Juris Doctor in 2004 from the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. From 2012 to September 2016, she was an attorney for The Shagin Law Group, in Harrisburg, Pa. From 2007 through 2012, she was a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, Pa. From 2004 through 2007, she was a managing attorney for the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, in York, Pa. Judge Burch is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Timothy M. Cole, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Timothy M. Cole to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Cole earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 2002 from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Juris Doctor in 2007 from the George Mason University School of Law. From April 2014 to September 2016, and previously from 2008 through 2012, he served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Miami. From 2012 through 2014, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, Department of Justice (DOJ). From 2007 through 2008, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Miami Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ. From 2003 through 2004, he was a volunteer for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. Judge Cole is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Molly S. Frazer, Immigration Judge, Florence Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Molly S. Frazer to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Frazer earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 from the University of Iowa and a Juris Doctor in 1986 from the Drake University Law School. From 2004 to September 2016, she served as a senior attorney for Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Tucson, Ariz. From 2000 through 2004 she served as an assistant chief counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DHS. From 1996 through 2000, she served as a sector counsel for the U.S. Border Patrol, INS, DOJ. From 1990 through 1996, she was an assistant county attorney for Story County, Iowa. From 1988 through 1990, she was an assistant city attorney for the City of Waterloo, Iowa. From 1986 through 1987, she was an assistant county attorney for Black Hawk County, Iowa. Judge Frazer is a member of the Iowa State Bar and the State Bar of Texas.

Ivan Gardzelewski, Immigration Judge, Denver Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Ivan Gardzelewski to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Gardzelewski earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2000 from Augustana College and a Juris Doctor in 2004 from the University of Oregon School of Law. From 2007 to September 2016, he served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Denver. From 2009 through 2010, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, Department of Justice, in Denver. In 2007, he served as a deputy district attorney for the Colorado Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, in Breckenridge, Colo. From 2004 through 2007, he served as a municipal prosecutor for the Lakewood City Attorney’s Office, in Lakewood, Colo. Judge Gardzelewski is a member of Colorado Bar.

Njeri B. Maldonado, Immigration Judge, Stewart Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Njeri B. Maldonado to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Maldonado earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2001 from Xavier University of Louisiana and a Juris Doctor in 2005 from the Loyola University School of Law.  From 2009 to September 2016, Judge Maldonado served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Atlanta.  From 2012 through 2013, she served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, Department of Justice, in Atlanta. From 2005 through 2008, she served an associate attorney for Blue Williams LLP, in Metairie, La. Judge Maldonado is a member of the Louisiana State Bar.

Nancy J. Paul, Immigration Judge, Omaha Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Nancy J. Paul to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Paul earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1985 from the University of Nebraska and a Juris Doctor in 1988 from the Creighton University School of Law. From 2010 to September 2016, she served as a board member and treasurer for the Great Plains Colon Cancer Task Force, in Omaha, Neb. From 2008 through 2010, she served as a military commission judge for the Office of the Military Commissions, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From 2003 through 2010, she served as a military judge for the U.S. Air Force (USAF), at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and Travis Air Base, Calif. From 2003 through 2010, she also served as an adjunct instructor for the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School. From 2000 through 2003, she served as the chief of Operations and International Law, USAF, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. From 1997 through 2000, she served as a deputy and acting staff judge advocate for the USAF at Hurlburt Field, Fla. From 1994 through 1997, she served as the chief of the Adverse Actions Division, USAF, at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. From 1993 through 1994, she served as a deputy staff judge advocate for the USAF, at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, N.Y. From 1992 through 1993, she served as area defense counsel for the USAF, at Offutt Air Force Base. From 1988 through 1992, she served as the chief of Military Justice and General Law at Offutt Air Force Base. Judge Paul is a member of the Nebraska State Bar.

Robin Kandell Paulino, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Robin Kandell Paulino to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Paulino earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from the University of Arizona and a Juris Doctor in 1995 from the University of San Diego School of Law. From 2007 to September 2016, she served as a senior attorney and assistant general counsel for Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corporation. From 1998 through 2007, she served as a senior associate and managing attorney for Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, in Santa Clara, Calif. From 1996 through 1998, she served as an associate attorney for Korenberg, Abramowitz & Feldun, in Calif. Previously, she served as an associate attorney for Swanson & Swanson, in Los Angeles. Judge Paulino is a member of the State Bar of California.

Jennifer I. Peyton, Immigration Judge, Chicago Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jennifer I. Peyton to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Peyton earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994 from Trinity College and a Juris Doctor in 1998 from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. From April 2016 to September 2016, she was in private practice as a partner at Brown LLC. From 2003 to April 2016, she was in private practice as managing partner of Jennifer I. Peyton, Attorney at Law LLC, in Cleveland. In 2013, she joined the faculty of the Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where she served as an adjunct clinical professor, and in 2006 she joined the faculty of the Case Western University School of Law, where she served as an adjunct professor. Judge Peyton is a member of the Ohio State Bar.

 

G. William Riggs, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed G. William Riggs to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Riggs earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in 1985 from Florida Atlantic University, a Juris Doctor in 1990 from Nova Southeastern University, and a Master of Laws degree in 2002 from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School. From 2008 to September 2016, he served in various capacities for the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) at Camp Lejeune, N.C., including as deputy assistant chief of staff for Force Preservation, staff judge advocate, and circuit military judge for the Eastern Judicial Circuit. From 2008 through 2009, he served as a senior rule of law advisor and deputy rule of law team leader for the Provincial Reconstruction Team, USMC, at Camp Ramadi, Iraq. From 2004 through 2008, he served as a staff judge advocate for the USMC Forces Central Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. From 2002 through 2004, he served as the head of the Operational Law Branch, Navy International and Operational Law, Department of the Navy, at the Pentagon. Prior to 2002, he served in various legal positions for the USMC, including as a staff judge advocate, deputy staff judge advocate, assistant staff judge advocate, prosecutor, defense counsel, and legal assistance attorney. From 1994 through 1996, he was in private practice at G. William Riggs PA, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Judge Riggs is a member of the Florida Bar.

Walter Hammele Ruehle, Immigration Judge, Buffalo Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Walter Hammele Ruehle to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Ruehle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 from the State University of New York at Oneonta and a Juris Doctor in 1979 from the Union University Albany Law School. From 1993 to September 2016, he served in various capacities for the Legal Aid Society, including as an attorney, director of the Immigration Program, and director of the Upstate New York Immigration Law Project. From 1991 through 1993, he served as an associate attorney for the Law Offices of James J. Piampino, in Rochester, N.Y. From 1990 through 1991, he served as a staff and directing attorney for the Neighborhood Legal Services, in Hartford, Conn. From 1979 through 1990, he served in various capacities for the Farmworker Legal Services of N.Y., including as a staff attorney, supervising and managing attorney, litigation director, and legal consultant. In 2012 and 2013, he also served as an adjunct professor at the Cornell Law School. Judge Ruehle is a member of the Connecticut Bar and the New York State Bar.

Ian Robert Simons, Immigration Judge, Adelanto Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Ian Robert Simons to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Simons earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 from Michigan State University and a Juris Doctor in 2001 from the Michigan State University College of Law. From 2009 to September 2016, he served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Detroit. From 2011 through 2013, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Department of Justice, in Phoenix. From 2001 through 2009, he served as an assistant prosecutor for the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, in Pontiac, Mich. Judge Simons is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

Mario J. Sturla, Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Mario J. Sturla to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Sturla earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003 from Brown University and Juris Doctor in 2006 from the Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. From 2015 to September 2016, he served as a deputy chief counsel, and previously from 2008 through 2015 as an assistant chief counsel, for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Boston. From 2007 through 2008, he served as a staff attorney for the Office of Legal Affairs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York City. From 2006 through 2007, he served as a judicial law clerk for the New York City Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Sturla is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

P. Michael Truman, Immigration Judge, Salt Lake City Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed P. Michael Truman to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Truman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2001 from Brigham Young University and a Juris Doctor in 2004 from the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. From 2011 to September 2016, he served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Denver. From 2005 through 2011, he served as a trial attorney for the Office of Immigration Litigation, Department of Justice. From 2004 through 2005, he served as a law clerk for Justice Michael J. Wilkins, Utah Supreme Court. Judge Truman is a member of the Utah State Bar.

Elizabeth L. Young, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Elizabeth L. Young to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Young earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999 from Hendrix College and a Juris Doctor in 2004 from The George Washington University School of Law. From 2011 to September 2016, she served as an associate professor of law, and previously from 2008 through 2011 as an assistant professor of law, for the University of Arkansas School of Law. From 2007 through 2008, she served as a visiting professor at The George Washington University School of Law. From 2004 through 2007, she served as an attorney advisor for the San Francisco Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice. Judge Young is a member of the Arkansas Bar, the State Bar of California, and the Virginia State Bar.

Richard Zanfardino, Immigration Judge, Portland Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Richard Zanfardino to begin hearing cases in September 2016. Judge Zanfardino earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from North Carolina State University, and a Juris Doctor in 1996 from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. From 2006 to September 2016, he served as a trial attorney for the Office of Immigration Litigation, Department of Justice (DOJ). From 1997 through 2006, he served as an attorney advisor for the Board of Immigration Appeals, Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ. From 2003 through 2004, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DOJ, in Washington, D.C. Judge Zanfardino is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch today announced awards totaling over $20 million to 106 state, city, tribal and municipal law enforcement agencies to establish and enhance law enforcement body-worn camera programs across the United States.

The awards, funded under the Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Fiscal Year 2016 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program, will help law enforcement organizations implement body-worn camera policies, practices and evaluation methods to make a positive impact on the quality of policing in individual communities.  Under this grant announcement, BJA awarded more than $16 million to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, as well as a $3 million supplemental award to continue support for body-worn camera training and technical assistance.  An additional $474,000 was awarded earlier this year under the 2016 Small Agency Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program.

“As we strive to support local leaders and law enforcement officials in their work to protect their communities, we are mindful that effective public safety requires more than arrests and prosecutions,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “It also requires winning – and keeping – the trust and confidence of the citizens we serve.  These grants will help more than 100 law enforcement agencies promote transparency and ensure accountability, clearing the way for the closer cooperation between residents and officers that is so vital to public safety.”

BJA expects award recipients to create programs that will be integrated as part of individual jurisdictions’ holistic problem-solving and community-engagement strategies.

The Body Worn Camera program was launched last year in response to a recommendation by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing that law enforcement agencies use technology to strengthen relations with communities.  BJA convened a Body-Worn Camera Expert Panel that identified issues and considerations confronting communities considering adoption of body camera technology.  Initial research has shown that law enforcement use of body-worn camera programs improve law enforcement’s interaction with the public.

Today’s awardees include law enforcement agencies located in the following 32 states and Puerto Rico: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.  Tribal awardees include: Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi.

For additional information about this grant program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKpJH.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that, as a result of an initiative begun in the summer of this year, the United States has reached settlement with 17 additional tribal governments who alleged that the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury had mismanaged monetary assets and natural resources held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the tribes.  With these resolutions, the Obama Administration will have settled the vast majority of the outstanding claims, some dating back more than a century, with more than 100 tribes and totaling over $3.3 billion.

“These historical grievances were a barrier to our shared progress toward a brighter future,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “With today’s announcement, those barriers have been removed and decades of contention have been ended honorably and fairly.  These settlements reflect the shared vision, the mutual respect and the enduring partnership that we hope to achieve between tribes and the federal government and I look forward to all that we will achieve together in the days to come.”

“Settling these long-standing disputes reflects the Obama Administration’s continued commitment to reconciliation and empowerment for Indian Country,” said Secretary Jewell.  “As we turn the page on past challenges in our government-to-government relationship with tribes, we’re moving forward with tribal governments to ensure proper management of tribal trust assets.  I commend the Department of Justice, our Interior Solicitors, tribal leaders and other key officials for recognizing the importance of communication and mutual respect, opening a new era of trust between the United States Government and tribal governments.”

In April 2012, the Justice and Interior Departments announced more than $1 billion in settlements with 41 federally-recognized tribes for similar claims, the result of nearly two years of negotiations, between 2009 and the 2012 announcement, the Departments of Justice and of the Interior had settled with six other tribes.  Since April 2012, the United States has reached settlement for claims of 57 additional tribes – including 17 reached after negotiations this summer and early fall - for an additional $1.9 billion, following through on its commitment to bring to an end, honorably and fairly, this protracted litigation that has burdened both the plaintiffs and the United States.

Ending these long-running disputes about the United States’ management of trust funds and non-monetary trust resources will allow the United States and the tribes to move beyond the distrust exacerbated by years of litigation.  These settlement agreements represent a significant milestone in the improvement of the United States’ relationship with Indian tribes. 

The Department of the Interior manages almost 56 million acres of trust lands for federally-recognized tribes and more than 100,000 leases on those lands for various uses, including housing, timber harvesting, farming, grazing, oil and gas extraction, business leasing, rights-of-way and easements.  Interior also manages about 2,500 tribal trust accounts for more than 250 tribes.

Under the negotiated settlement agreements, litigation will end regarding the Department of the Interior’s accounting and management of the tribes’ trust accounts, trust lands and other natural resources.  With monies from the congressionally-appropriated Judgment Fund, which is used to pay settlements or final judgments against the government, the United States will compensate the tribes for their breach of trust claims and the tribes will waive, release and dismiss their claims with prejudice.  The parties have agreed to information-sharing procedures that will strengthen the management of trust assets and improve communications between the settling tribes and the Department of the Interior.  The settlement agreements also include dispute resolution provisions to reduce the likelihood of future litigation.

The Department of Justice today announced more than $107 million in grants to American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve public safety help victims and strengthen tribal institutions.  The announcement was made at the Eighth Annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, taking place today and tomorrow.  This amount includes 236 grants under the department’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), totaling more than $102 million, to 131 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal consortia and tribal designees.  In addition, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) announced seven awards worth more than $2 million to help tribes develop plans for implementing changes in their criminal justice systems necessary to exercise their jurisdiction over domestic violence crimes as outlined in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.

Also included in the awards announced today are six awards totaling more than $3 million in juvenile justice grants to support the American Indian/Alaska Native Defending Childhood Policy Initiative and a National Institute of Justice grant to study sex trafficking in Indian country.

 “These vital grants support everything from hiring law enforcement officers to empowering native youth, giving tribes the resources they need to meet the particular challenges facing their communities,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.  “We are also proud to continue support for those tribes exercising greater authority over crimes of domestic violence under the VAWA 2013 tribal provisions, the direct result of a proposal by this Justice Department and written into law by Congress that is today making communities safer and stronger.”  

CTAS provides a single application for tribal-specific grant programs.  The department developed CTAS to streamline support provided through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of Justice Programs and OVW and awarded the first round of consolidated grants in September 2010.

Since then, under CTAS, more than 1,600 grants totaling more than $726 million have been provided to enhance law enforcement practices, victim services and sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts in nine purpose areas: public safety and community policing; justice systems planning; alcohol and substance abuse; corrections and correctional alternatives; children’s justice act partnerships; services for victims of crime; violence against women; juvenile justice; and tribal youth programs.

American Indians and Alaska Natives experience disproportionate rates of violence and victimization and often encounter significant obstacles to accessing culturally relevant services.  CTAS funding helps tribes to develop and strengthen tribal justice systems’ response to crime, while significantly increasing programs and services available to them.

A listing of today’s CTAS awards can be found here.  A fact sheet on CTAS is available at www.justice.gov/tribal/grants.

Today’s announcement is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Read more about the special domestic violence jurisdiction provisions in VAWA 2013: www.justice.gov/tribal/violence-against-women-act-vawa-reauthorization-2013-0

Attorney General Lynch Announces Support, Calls on Governors to Strengthen PDMP Efforts

As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to address the rising public health challenges caused by the national prescription opioids and heroin epidemic, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch issued a memo this week announcing the department’s three-part prevention, enforcement and treatment strategy.  The memo lays out action items, institutionalizes best practices, and builds on existing efforts by U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other Department of Justice components.

Additionally, Attorney General Lynch sent a letter to Governors calling on them to strengthen the effectiveness of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) and to improve data sharing of vital information from doctors and pharmacists about patient prescriptions—both within states and among neighboring states.  To further this effort, the department also announced an $8.8 million grant to 20 states to help reduce prescription drug abuse, misuse and diversion.  The awards, funded under the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)’s Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program FY 2016 Competitive Grant Program, enable awardees to create, implement and enhance PDMPs. 

A fact sheet of the strategy memo is outlined below.  

FACT SHEET ON THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STRATEGY MEMO TO ADDRESS PRESCRIPTION OPIOID ABUSE AND HEROIN EPIDEMIC THROUGH PREVENTION, ENFORCEMENT, AND TREATMENT

The heroin and prescription opioid epidemic is one of the most urgent law enforcement and public health challenges facing our country.  The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that 3.8 million people ages 12 and older are currently misusing prescription pain relievers in our country.  In 2014, more than sixty percent of the 47,000 drug overdose deaths in America involved opioids, reflecting a dramatic increase over the past two decades.   

The Department of Justice memo to federal prosecutors identifies some of the key action items that the department is taking now or will take in the near future to combat the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic as part of the Obama Administration’s overall strategy to address the opioid epidemic.  While the epidemic is a national problem, the department has and will continue to tailor efforts to the needs of each region, implemented by those who know their communities best. 

PREVENTION

Action Items: Strengthen Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs)

• The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will prioritize requests for Harold Rogers PDMP Grant Program funding that involve the development and implementation of information exchanges between state PDMPs (or between PDMPs and other data sharing partners).
• BJA will develop and promote the use of “report cards” and other reports to alert prescribers about potentially inappropriate prescribing practices and encourage use of the PDMP.
• The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) will study the need for the creation of new grant programs or the modification of existing programs to promote formulation of timely, cleaned, de-identified PDMP information and other public data sets that are fully accessible by public health and law enforcement officials.

Action Items:  Ensure Safe Drug Disposal

• The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will expand efforts to develop community coalitions to help prevent the diversion of unused prescription opioids from homes. 
• The DEA will work with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and public health officials to develop “mobile” pick-up programs, which will be designed to make take-back options available to rural and underserved communities through coordinated regional efforts.
• The DEA will expand efforts to engage retail pharmacies seeking to establish permanent collection receptacles.

Action Items:  Prevent Overdose Deaths with Naloxone

• BJA will promote the use of its “Law Enforcement Naloxone Toolkit” by all state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout the country that do not already have a naloxone program.
• OJP will develop plans for continuing to expand access to naloxone and for enhancing information sharing regarding the effectiveness of naloxone programs.

ENFORCEMENT

Action Items: Investigate and Prosecute High-Impact Cases

• Directing the department’s resources towards the greatest threats, including but not limited to individuals and institutions responsible for the trafficking of heroin and fentanyl, those who improperly prescribe or divert opioids and those who use violence to further drug-trafficking activities.

Action Items: Enhance Regulatory Enforcement 

• The DEA will develop metrics for measuring the effectiveness of its expanded regulatory efforts and use these metrics to refine its regulatory efforts.
• The DEA will expand engagement with the registrant community, especially manufacturers, doctors and pharmacists who handle opioid analgesics.

Action Items: Encourage Information Sharing

• The DEA and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) will partner with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and public health partners to better facilitate information sharing through the use of investigative de-confliction tools, including the DEA Analysis and Response Tracking System (DARTS) and the De-confliction and Information Coordination Effort (DICE), as well as other information coordination systems, in coordination with DEA’s Special Operations Division, the OCDETF Fusion Center and the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), with the goal of sharing de-identified, real-time data between public health and public safety, when feasible, to reach maximum harm reduction in communities.
• The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office will require its grant recipients to share with the OCDETF Fusion Center relevant law enforcement information collected as a result of such funding.
• The DEA will expand its Drug/Heroin Data Capture project, a three-part data collection and sharing initiative, based at EPIC. 
• The DEA will convene pathologist, toxicologists, medical examiners and state officials to better understand the challenges faced by overburdened state systems as those resource capabilities inform investigative and prosecutorial resource decisions and to assist those systems when possible.

Fund Enforcement-Related Research

• The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will expand its study of the forensic analysis of evidence from medico-legal death investigations and law enforcement seizures, to develop profiles for fentanyl and other controlled substances to inform trend analysis and provide tactical intelligence.
• NIJ will conduct research on drug intelligence and community surveillance, which are crucial to understanding drug markets and use trends, identifying drug deterrent and interdiction opportunities and pursuing organized crime targets.

TREATMENT

Share Best Practices for Early Intervention

• BJA and COPS will highlight and promote successful models where law enforcement is assisting individuals who have overdosed by directing them to treatment programs, as well as connecting individuals who voluntarily seek help from law enforcement to treatment.

Support Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)

• In the near term, subject to funding, the department will support medication-assisted treatment by taking the following step: the Bureau of Prison (BOP) will commit to implementing a nationwide plan to expand medication-assisted treatment to all Residential Reentry Centers. 

Promote Treatment Options Throughout the Criminal Justice System

In the near term, the department will support criminal justice system treatment models by taking the following steps:

• The National Institute of Corrections will draft and release a document for state, local and tribal correctional agencies compiling research and best practices for residential substance abuse treatment programs.
• BJA will draft and publicly release a document that highlights promising initiatives in communities throughout the United States that address the treatment needs of individuals with opioid use disorders who enter the criminal justice system.

To combat the opioid epidemic, the department’s components must work together and with other federal, state, local and tribal agencies to seek a comprehensive solution.  The strategy outlined in the U.S. Attorney memo, expressed in the Attorney General’s letter to Governors and made possible through grants like BJA’s Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program FY 2016 Competitive Grant Program, embraces an approach that focuses on prevention, enforcement and treatment, and identifies next steps that are immediately actionable.

For more on opioid week, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/opioidawareness/heroin-opioid-awareness-week.

Convicted of Illegally Selling Firearms and Underreporting More than $10 Million in Gross Receipts

A Salt Lake County, Utah man was convicted today by a federal jury of one count of dealing in firearms without a license and five counts of filing false tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney John W. Huber for the District of Utah.

“Individuals such as Mr. Webber, who view themselves above the law and engage in criminal conduct to line their own pockets with funds that belong to the U.S. Treasury, will be held to account for their crimes and face severe consequences, including prosecution and incarceration,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “The Tax Division thanks its colleagues in the District of Utah and other federal agencies for their continued efforts to ensure that everyone pays their fair share.”

Pursuant to an agreement reached with the United States in 2007, Adam Michael Webber, was barred from applying for a federal firearms license or engaging in the business of dealing firearms.  According to the evidence presented at trial, between 2007 and 2008, Webber was the sole owner of HK Parts, an Internet gun parts business that operated originally as a sole proprietorship and later as an S corporation. In 2008, Webber added firearms to his product line and primarily sold them on the Internet at hkparts.net.  He also sold firearms and firearm parts out of the basement of his residence.  Webber never held a federal firearms license and, from 2009 through May 2012, illegally sold firearms under the auspices of a company owned by another Utah resident.  Webber also sold firearms to undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents on two separate occasions, including selling one firearm for cash in a parking lot.  In May 2012, approximately $180,000 in cash, a 70 pound silver bar, silver coins and firearms were found at Webber’s residence during the execution of a search warrant.

From 2007 through 2010, Webber earned more than $10 million in gross receipts from his illegal firearms business.  For those years, he reported only a total of $183,397 in gross receipts, underreporting his earnings on his 2007, 2008 and 2009 individual income tax returns and underreporting gross receipts on his 2009 and 2010 corporate tax returns.  In 2010, Webber paid $670,000 in cash for a new home in Salt Lake County.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 1.  Webber faces a statutory maximum sentence of up to five years in prison for dealing in firearms without a license and up to three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return, as well as a period of supervised release and monetary penalties. 

“This defendant repeatedly purchased firearms for resale without a federal firearms license and substantially under reported the gross receipts of the sales on his taxes,” said U.S. Attorney Huber.  “Around 2,000 firearms were involved in this conduct. Evidence at trial showed that Mr. Webber claimed a mere fraction of his gross receipts on his tax forms over a four-year period.”

“The laws regulating the buying and selling of firearms exist to prevent criminals and other prohibited people from illegally accessing firearms,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Ken Croke.  “By circumventing these laws, Webber knowingly and intentionally put people’s lives at risk.”

“Illegal firearms dealers can create public safety and national security vulnerabilities by potentially arming criminals and terrorists without a traceable paper trail, while also hurting the image and business reputation of licensed law-abiding firearms dealers,” said Special Agent in Charge David A. Thompson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Denver office.  “Frequently, such successful criminal cases are identified, investigated and presented for prosecution by combining the law enforcement resources and authorities of multiple agencies.  Our HSI special agents routinely work cooperatively with other law enforcement partners to shut down these criminal operations that pose a public safety risk to our communities.”

“Mr. Webber's crimes were not victimless,” said Special Agent in Charge Tara Sullivan of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Field Office in Las Vegas, Nevada.   “Reporting inaccurate information on your taxes cheats the government and is unfair to honest taxpayers.  Mr. Webber decided that he was above the law and IRS CI holds all offenders accountable.”

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Huber commended the special agents of ATF, IRS-CI and HSI, who conducted the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cy H. Castle and J. Drew Yeates and Paralegal Heather Nielson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Utah and Trial Attorney Kathleen M. Barry of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

The U.S. Departments of Justice, of the Army, and of the Interior today invited representatives from all 567 federally recognized tribes to participate in formal, government-to-government consultations on how federal decision-making on infrastructure projects can better allow for timely and meaningful tribal input.  Starting with a listening session on Oct. 11, formal tribal consultations are scheduled in six regions of the country, from Oct. 25 through Nov. 21.  The deadline for written input will be Nov. 30.

The three departments previously announced on Sept. 9, the intention to hold these consultation sessions after important issues were raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically and pipeline-related decision-making more generally.

The consultations will focus on how the federal government can better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources and treaty rights and will also explore with tribes whether new legislation should be proposed to Congress to alter the current statutory framework to promote those goals.

For a copy of the invitation letter that was sent to all tribal leaders today, please click here.

The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced funding of more than $8.8 million in 20 separate awards to 19 state health and pharmacy boards and departments to better track and share prescription drug information to help reduce drug abuse, misuse, and diversion.

The awards, funded under the BJA’s Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program FY 2016 Competitive Grant Program, enable awardees to create, implement, and enhance Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs). PDMPs are state-run databases that collect data about controlled substance prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies and doctors. Authorized users, including prescribers and dispensers, are permitted to monitor dispensing activity through these programs. Checking a PDMP before prescribing helps to improve appropriate pain management care, prevent diversion of drugs, and identify patients who may have an opioid use disorder and need treatment.  In certain states, law enforcement officers may also obtain authorization to access PDMP data. Evidence suggests that PDMPs improve patient care while preventing abuse and overdose deaths. 

“Misuse of prescription drugs is a national problem, that requires the cooperative efforts of all medical, health, pharmaceutical, law enforcement agencies, and other partners to solve,” said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Office of Justice Programs. “These awards provide a foundation of resources for enabling data collection, sharing, and collaboration to help prevent prescription medication misuse and abuse.” 

These awards support collaboration between law enforcement, prosecutors, public health, treatment professionals, pharmacies, and the medical community to promote strategies that inform effective policies, support investigations, and offer treatment intervention and prevention efforts for at-risk individuals and communities. The awards are administered by BJA in coordination with a myriad of partners, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of Diversion Control, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration.

Today’s awardees include:

• Alabama Dept. of Public Health
• Arkansas Dept. of Health
• Arizona State Board of Pharmacy
• Connecticut Dept. of Consumer Protection
• Dept. of Public Health Social Services
• Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Human Services
• Illinois Dept. of Human Services
• City of Lowell, Massachusetts
• Maryland Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene
• State of Michigan Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
• Minnesota Board of Pharmacy
• Mississippi Board of Pharmacy
• Multnomah County Health Dept., Oregon
• Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services
• Ohio Board of Pharmacy
• South Dakota Dept. of Health
• Tennessee Dept. of Health
• University of Florida
• Utah Dept. of Health

Today’s awards were announced as part of Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, which President Obama established by proclamation Sept. 16. Departments across the federal government are continuing to use all available tools to combat this epidemic by expanding evidence-based prevention and treatment programs, increasing access to the overdose-reversal medicine naloxone, improving opioid prescribing practices, and supporting targeted enforcement activities.

For additional information about this grant program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKW3Q.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 36 fugitives during concurrent nationwide operations this week – Operation Safe Nation and Operation No Safe Haven III. Of those arrested, 17 were sought because they may pose a threat to public safety or national security, including individuals suspected of providing material support to a terrorist organization and 19 were sought for their known or suspected roles in human rights violations overseas.

 

During the operations that concluded Wednesday, the ICE National Fugitive Operations Program arrested the fugitives in coordination with the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, the ICE Counterterrorism Section and ICE field offices around the country.

 

ICE credits the success of this operation to the combined efforts of the U.S. National Central Bureau-Interpol Washington which provided critical support with deconfliction, foreign criminal history, and identity confirmation information.

 

“Interpol’s investigative tools provide U.S. law enforcement with a suite of databases that provide real-time biometric, travel document, and criminal background information,” according to Interpol Washington Director Geoffrey S. Shank. “These operations exemplify what can be achieved when U.S. and international law enforcement agencies have immediate access to information."

 

Read full article here: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-arrests-36-fugitives-across-us-during-operation-safe-nation-and-operation-no-safe

The government has intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit against Energy & Process Corporation (E&P), of Tucker, Georgia, alleging that E&P knowingly failed to perform required quality assurance procedures and supplied defective steel reinforcing bars (rebar) in connection with a contract to construct a Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear waste treatment facility, the Justice Department announced today.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that construction suppliers who are paid a premium to meet high safety standards actually supply the goods and perform the work for which they are paid,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “When contractors cut corners, they not only cheat American taxpayers, but they also can put public safety at risk, particularly when their misconduct affects a facility that houses and processes nuclear materials.” 

The lawsuit alleges that although the DOE paid E&P a premium to supply rebar that met stringent regulatory standards for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication and Reactor Irradiation Services facility in the DOE’s Savannah River site near Aiken, South Carolina, E&P failed to perform most of the necessary quality assurance measures, while falsely certifying that those requirements had been met.  The lawsuit further alleges that one-third of the rebar supplied by E&P and used in the construction was found to be defective.

“To ensure that the nuclear facility would be safe, the government paid E&P a sizable premium for exhaustive quality control procedures,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn of the Northern District of Georgia.  “This lawsuit alleges that E&P intentionally failed to perform the quality control work, and then concealed its failing by providing false certifications to the government.  In intervening in this lawsuit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office seeks to ensure that entities that defraud the government are identified and held responsible.”

The lawsuit was filed by Deborah Cook, a former employee of the prime contractor building the DOE facility, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.  Under the act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery.  The act permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in this case.  Defendants found liable under the act are subject to treble damages and penalties. 

This matter was investigated by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices of the Northern District of Georgia and the District of South Carolina and the DOE’s Office of Inspector General.

The case is captioned United States ex rel. Cook v. Shaw Areva Mox Services, LLC, et al., Case No. 01:13-cv-4023 (N.D. Ga.). 

The claims asserted against E&P are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability. 

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted the owner of a medical clinic for his role in a health care fraud scheme and for filing false income tax returns.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony J. Orlando of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Scott Rezendes of the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General (OPM-OIG) Field Operations made the announcement.

Michael Huynh, 66, of Northridge, California, was convicted on Sept. 21, 2016, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and 11 counts of filing false tax returns after a seven-day trial before U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II of the Central District of California.  Huynh will be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2017.

Evidence introduced at trial showed that Huynh, the office manager and part-owner of a medical clinic, provided false prescriptions to a pharmacist and co-conspirator, Farhad N. Dany Sharim, who submitted false claims to insurance companies for drugs that were never dispensed.  Once Sharim received payments from the insurance companies, he paid Huynh for the false prescriptions.  Trial evidence showed that between January 2004 and November 2009, Huynh received 82 checks from Sharim totaling over $1.1 million.   Evidence at trial also demonstrated that Huynh filed false federal tax returns for tax years 2007 through 2011 that underreported the medical clinic’s gross receipts and sales on the corporate tax returns and total income on the individual tax returns.  Trial evidence showed underreported income of over $1.6 million.

Sharim pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud on Nov. 18, 2013 and will be sentenced on Dec. 5, 2016.

The FBI, IRS-CI and OPM-OIG investigated the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California.  Fraud Section Trial Attorney Alexis Gregorian and Assistant United States Attorney Steven Arkow prosecuted the case.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,900 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $10 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.