District Not Recorded

Dr. Michael Austin, 57, of Atlanta, Ga., was sentenced today to serve one year and one day in federal prison for willfully failing to file individual income tax returns for tax years 2008 and 2009, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.  Austin was further ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Austin previously pleaded guilty to these charges on Aug. 27, 2013. 

 

According to documents filed in court, during 2008 and 2009, Austin was a medical doctor licensed by the state of Georgia who earned substantial income from practicing of medicine at various hospitals, clinics and other health care institutions.  As alleged in the case, Austin earned at least $213,931 in 2008 and $210,644 in 2009, which required him to file an income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Nonetheless, as Austin admitted in his plea agreement, he willfully failed to file an individual income tax return for both years.  In total, Dr. Austin agreed to pay restitution of at least $215,906.44 to the IRS.

 

This case was investigated by special agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation.  Trial Attorney Hayden Brockett of the department's Tax Division prosecuted the case, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

A federal district judge in Charleston, S.C., has permanently barred Jessica Geddis, of Summerville, S.C., from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.  Geddis consented to the entry of the injunction.

According to the government’s complaint, Geddis prepared federal income tax returns from her home and as a tax preparer at Smith’s Tax Service and, later, at MBM Tax and Accounting Services LLC.  As alleged in the complaint, Geddis prepared returns that unlawfully overstated tax refunds through a household help scheme.  The complaint alleged that Geddis prepared returns for herself and others that overstated income by reporting fictitious household help income in order to increase the amount of her customers’ refundable tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Making Work Pay Credit.  The complaint further alleged that Geddis directed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deposit all, or a portion of, her customers’ overstated refunds into bank accounts that she controlled.  According to the complaint, the IRS reviewed Geddis’ bank records and determined that she received at least 148 tax refunds totaling $281,678 between January 2008 and May 2012.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013, which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dosen-Tax-Scams-for-2013 .  The IRS has tips for choosing a tax preparer: www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Choosing-a-Tax-Professional .  In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm.

Related Materials:

United States v. Jessica Geddis
Permanent Injunction
 

An Alabama man pleaded guilty yesterday in a federal court in Gulfport, Miss., to knowingly shooting a dolphin, the Justice Department announced.

Brent Buchanan, 38, of Bayou La Batre, Ala., pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of knowingly taking a protected marine mammal, a federal crime under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In court documents, Buchanan admitted to knowingly shooting a dolphin with a shotgun while shrimping in the Mississippi Sound in July or August 2012.

A sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 24, 2014. The maximum penalty is one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, and a $25 special assessment.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act is a federal law which makes it illegal to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or to attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, any marine mammal in waters under the jurisdiction of the United States. The Act protects all species of dolphins, as well as other marine mammals such as whales and seals.

The case was investigated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine, the Alabama Marine Police, and Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Marine Resource Division. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

NOAA Office of Law Enforcement is actively investigating a number of other possible dolphin shootings along the northern Gulf Coast since 2012. Anyone possessing information relating to such an incident is requested to contact NOAA Office of Law Enforcement at 1-800-853-1964 or a state wildlife law enforcement agency.

Stanley J. Wardle, 65, of Spanish Fork, Utah, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to nine counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.  Wardle, who was indicted on Feb. 15, 2012, is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on Feb. 27, 2014.

 

According to the indictment, on or about Jan. 22, 2009, Wardle prepared and filed a false U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for the year 2008, in which he claimed a tax refund of $32,115.  In addition, between Dec. 8, 2008 and May 13, 2009, he caused additional false claims for tax refunds to be made on behalf of others.  In total, Wardle was involved in false claims for refunds totaling $653,884.

 

Wardle faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the defendant for each false claim charge.

 

Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the department’s Tax Division commended the special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Michael Romano and Stuart Wexler, who prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department announced today that Northrop Grumman Corp. has paid the United States $11.4 million to settle a government claim for penalties provided under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)  and False Claims Act allegations stemming from its failure to abide by a 2002 settlement agreement with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).  The government alleged that Northrop charged to its federal contracts certain costs for deferred compensation awards to key employees, even though it had promised not to do so as part of the earlier 2002 settlement.

“Federal contractors must abide by the obligations they accept when contracting with the government, including compliance with federal regulations restricting the types and amount of costs they can charge to their federal contracts,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing these fundamental obligations using every available tool, including FAR penalties assessed under the contract and, where appropriate, fraud-based counterclaims.”    
 
Northrop had agreed in its 2002 settlement with DCMA that it would limit the amount of deferred compensation it would include in proposals for subsequent contracts.  The government’s contracting officer found that Northrop had failed to honor this commitment and should be assessed a penalty equal to twice the amount of the unallowable costs claimed.  Northrop challenged the decision in a complaint filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.  The Department of Justice responded to the suit with counterclaims alleging that in addition to the FAR penalties, Northrop also had violated the False Claims Act by passing along these unallowable costs to the government in indirect rates applicable to hundreds of 2004 contracts with the government.  The government alleged that as a consequence of Northrop’s knowing misrepresentations, it was induced to pay more than $1.9 million in unallowable costs in thousands of vouchers and invoices.

The settlement was the result of a consolidated effort spearheaded by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch in conjunction with the DCMA and the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Western Region Investigative Support Division.  The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.  The case is captioned Northrop Grumman Corporation v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 07-482C.

HAGATNA, GU – United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), presented a special award today to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Special Agent Charles (Chuck) A. Raterman in recognition of his work to establish a Sea Turtle reward program for this region.

The poaching of sea turtles is prevalent on Guam.  It is a challenge to prosecute such violators because they typically reside in the smaller villages on the southern part of Guam, where hunting and killing sea turtles is a source of increased status.  A network of friends and relatives are often aware of their activities and they maintain a traditional code of silence as to the violators.  This reward program was initiated to raise awareness of the effect of this poaching and to break that code of silence, encouraging citizens to come forward, even if it might involve persons within their social or village network.

This is NOAA’s first permanent reward program for turtles, known as “haggan” in the Chamorro language.  Chuck created flyers urging people to be “Haggan Heroes,” posted them at mayors= offices, stores, charter dive shops and fish markets on Guam and Saipan.  He has appeared at numerous Saturday public outreach events sponsored by law enforcement, as well as fishing derbies, career days and local festivals, radio and school appearances.  He has enlisted the support of the Guam Department of Wildlife Resources, whose agents have assisted him in distributing more than 200 posters around this region.

To date, three individuals have qualified for this $1,000 reward by providing information that has led to the arrest and conviction of turtle poachers.  We are hopeful that more people will come forward to help us put an end to this destructive poaching, so this species has a chance to recover.

See attached photos.

From left to right, First Assistant Steve Sinnott, Civil Chief Mikel Schwab, U.S.
Attorney Alicia Limtiaco, NOAA Special Agent Chuck Raterman and AUSA Karon Johnson.

NOAA Special Agent Chuck Raterman with the U.S. Attorney’s Staff for the District of Guam after being presented with a plaque and a turtle with the staff’s congratulatory remarks.

United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that Defendant JOAQUIN TAITANO, age 35, from Yigo, was sentenced on December 6, 2013, in the District Court of Guam, to 30 months  incarceration, three years supervised release, and 100 hours community service for Conspiracy to Distribute less than five grams of methamphetamine.  TAITANO was charged in an indictment on April 27, 2013, with Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute, in violation of Title 21, U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).  He pled guilty on June 28, 2011.

The investigation was conducted by Task Force Agents from the Superior Court’s probation office assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clyde Lemons.

The government has intervened in a lawsuit against IPC The Hospitalist Co. Inc., and its subsidiaries (IPC), alleging that IPC submitted false claims to federal health care programs, the Justice Department announced today.  IPC, based in North Hollywood, Calif., is one of the largest providers of hospitalist services in the United States, employing physicians and other health care providers who work in more than 1,300 facilities in 28 states.  Hospitalists are physicians who work only in hospitals and other long-term care facilities, overseeing and coordinating inpatient care from admission to discharge.

The lawsuit alleges that IPC physicians sought payment for higher and more expensive levels of medical service than were actually performed – a practice commonly referred to as “upcoding.”  Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that IPC encouraged its physicians to bill at the highest levels regardless of the level of service provided, trained physicians to use higher level codes and encouraged physicians with lower billing levels to “catch up” to their peers.

“We continue to be vigilant in our enforcement efforts to ensure that health care programs funded by the taxpayers pay only for appropriate costs,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.

The lawsuit was filed by Dr. Bijan Oughatiyan, a former IPC physician, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.  The Act also allows the government to intervene or take over the lawsuit, as it has done in this case, and to recover three times its damages plus civil penalties.  The government has asked the U.S. District Court in Chicago for 120 days to file its own complaint stating its allegations.

This intervention 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 Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  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 $17 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $12.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The case was investigated by the Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.
The case is captioned United States ex rel. Oughatiyan v. IPC The Hospitalist Company Inc., et al., Civ. No. 09 C 5418 (N.D. Ill.).  The claims asserted against IPC are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability. 

The Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of the Task Force on American Indian/Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence held its first public hearing today in Bismarck, N.D., convening tribal researchers, advocates and local community members to discuss domestic violence and child physical and sexual abuse in Indian Country. 

The task force is comprised of a federal working group that includes U.S. Attorneys and officials from the Departments of the Interior and Justice and an advisory committee of experts on American Indian studies, child health and trauma and child welfare.

“Today represents an important step in protecting American Indian and Alaska Native children,” said Associate Attorney General Tony West.  “This task force has already begun addressing children’s exposure to violence in tribal communities in ways that recognize the unique government-to-government relationship between the United States and tribes, and it will continue to develop approaches that will help us protect our children.”

“The problem of American Indian and Alaska Native children’s exposure to violence is complex and widespread and can have devastating consequences for these children,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Karol V. Mason.  “I’m pleased that this group of experts will help us understand the challenges before us and give us the information we need to reduce the incidence of violence and trauma among native children.”

During the hearing, experts on the trauma of sexual abuse of American Indian children discussed their experiences and recommended ways to improve the identification, assessment and treatment of children.  Other topics addressed included violence in the home, healing from trauma and programs for children exposed to violence in Indian Country and urban communities.

In addition to today’s hearing, the advisory committee will convene three public hearings in early 2014 in Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Anchorage, Alaska, focusing on violence in homes, schools and communities in Indian country.  The 13-member advisory committee is co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan and Iroquois composer and singer Joanne Shenandoah.  The advisory committee will draw upon research and information gathered through public hearings to draft a final report of policy recommendations that it will present to Attorney General Eric Holder by late 2014.

Attorney General  Holder created the task force this year as part of his Defending Childhood initiative to prevent and reduce children’s exposure to violence as victims and witnesses.  The task force is also a component of the Justice Department’s ongoing collaboration with leaders in American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve public safety. 
 
For more information about the advisory committee and public hearings, please visit www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood.

Thomas Windell Smith, 24, of Dothan, Ala., turned himself in and pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday, Dec. 6, 2013, to one count of conspiring to violate housing rights, the Justice Department announced today.  The information charging Smith was unsealed today.  The charge relates to his participation in a cross burning at the entrance to an African-American community in Ozark, Ala., on May 8, 2009, with a former KKK leader who was arrested and charged with a five-count indictment on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013.

During his plea, Smith admitted that he and a co-conspirator agreed to burn a cross together in order to intimidate the neighborhood’s African-American residents.  Using materials from around his home, the co-conspirator constructed a wooden cross about six feet tall and wrapped cloth around the cross.  The co-conspirator loaded the cross into Smith’s truck, and, with Smith driving while the co-conspirator provided directions, the two men transported the cross to a predominantly African-American residential neighborhood.  They unloaded the cross at the entrance to the community, where the co-conspirator poured fuel on the cross, stood it up in view of several houses and set it on fire.

“The defendant’s crime illustrates the damage hate crimes can do to entire communities, making people feel unsafe in their own homes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “We’d like to think these offenses are a thing of the past, but the reality is that they happen here in the 21st century.  The Justice Department is committed to stamping them out.”

“This defendant not only committed a federal crime, but committed a contemptible action of hate,” said U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr.  “Citizens in the Middle District of Alabama should not and will not tolerate such actions.  I hope this prosecution sends a clear message that these hateful demonstrations will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Smith faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and the Ozark Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerusha T. Adams of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the department’s Civil Rights Division.

The owner of a Virginia-based investment firm was sentenced today to serve 144 months in prison for orchestrating a $270 million stock loan scheme that defrauded his clients of more than $35 million.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Acting United States Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia.

William Dean Chapman, 44, of Sterling, Va., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on May 23, 2013.  Chapman was the founder and owner of Alexander Capital Markets (ACM), whose primary business was to offer a financial product that provided customers with a purportedly fully hedged loan at an above-market rate of interest against a customer’s securities. This served as collateral for the transaction for a percentage – typically between 85 percent and 90 percent – of the securities’ value. For example, in exchange for a customer’s Apple stock, ACM would provide a cash loan to that customer worth 85 percent or 90 percent of the stock’s value. After a period of time – between two and seven years, and typically three years – the customer could receive back their securities, or the equivalent cash value, if they repaid the balance of the loan plus accrued interest. Alternatively, because the loans were non-recourse, the customer could walk away at the end of the redemption period having already received up to 90 percent of the value of their securities.

ACM’s customers were assured that ACM was engaged in hedging transactions such that ACM would be able to return the full value of the securities, or the cash equivalent, at the end of the contract period. In reality, ACM simply sold the securities upon receipt, remitted up to 90 percent of the sales proceeds to its customers as the loan, and retained the remaining sales proceeds for itself and the parties who sold, marketed or facilitated the product.

Because ACM simply sold the securities upon receipt and no legitimate hedge existed, ACM could not return securities, or the cash equivalent, to the customers at the end of the redemption period unless it had sufficient funds to buy back the securities. By in or about April 2008, ACM was functionally insolvent. ACM did not have – and could not have expected to have – sufficient funds to cover its outstanding liabilities. Nevertheless, Chapman continued to solicit new customers despite knowing that ACM would never be able to fulfill its financial obligations.

Over seven years, Chapman took in more than $270 million in stock, and 122 victims lost more than $35 million as a result of this scheme. At the same time that ACM was amassing massive liabilities and failing to repay its existing clients, Chapman used his clients’ money to support a lavish lifestyle by purchasing a custom-built $3 million home in Great Falls, Va.; condominiums in the Turks & Caicos and Pompano Beach, Fla.; and a Lamborghini and Ferrari.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia recognize the substantial assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on this case. Assistant United States Attorney Chad Golder and Trial Attorney Henry Van Dyck of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

 

Harry Neuhoff, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced to serve  12 months and one day in prison and three years supervised release for tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. 

 

According to documents filed with the court, Neuhoff was the president and an owner of EVA TEES Inc., a wholesale distributor of sportswear.  EVA TEES was formerly located in Long Island City, N.Y., and is presently located in Piscataway, N.J.  From approximately 2006 to 2008, Neuhoff manipulated EVA TEES accounts through his accounting software program to delete cash sales from the general ledger accounts maintained on the computer accounting system.  As a result, Neuhoff caused false corporate tax returns to be filed with the IRS that underreported the company’s gross receipts.  During those years, Neuhoff’s behavior also resulted in his filing false personal income tax returns with the IRS.  According to documents filed with the court, Neuhoff underreported the gross receipts of EVA TEES by at least $1.5 million using computer manipulation.

 

The case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.  Trial Attorneys Mark Kotila and Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted this case.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with Newseum Inc., which owns and operates the Newseum, to address alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The settlement agreement resolves allegations that the Newseum, a museum of news and history in Washington, D.C., was operating exhibits and providing facilities that were not accessible to people with disabilities.           

Under the settlement, the Newseum must take steps to ensure that all of its programs, exhibits and facilities are accessible to people with disabilities, including:   

·          Providing additional wheelchair spaces and companion seats in the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater;

·          Providing assistive listening devices for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing in the Newseum’s 15 theaters, and providing captioning and other auxiliary aids and services throughout its more than 20 galleries of exhibitions and interactive programs;

·          Ensuring that the operating controls of all Newseum interactive programs are within the reach-range of people who use wheelchairs;

·          Providing museum tours that are audio described and include tactile experiences for individuals who are blind or have impaired vision ; and

·          Providing printed materials and maps in alternate formats (e.g., audio, large print and Braille).    

“This agreement ensures that people with disabilities will have an equal opportunity to enjoy the Newseum as other visitors,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “The Justice Department is committed to knocking down these types of barriers, and we commend the Newseum for its innovative efforts to improve accessibility for all visitors.” 

 

The agreement resolves a compliance review under the ADA.  People interested in finding out more about the ADA, the Standards for Accessible Design or this agreement can call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TTY) or visit its ADA website at www.ada.gov.

The Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit today in Memphis federal court to stop Grady Smith, who does business as One Price Refunds, from preparing federal tax returns.  According to the complaint, Smith and One Price Refunds have prepared over 2,000 tax returns since 2009.

The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee alleges that Smith understates his customers’ federal tax liabilities by reporting false or inflated business expenses, reporting false or inflated educational expenses and improperly claiming the earned income tax credit.  In addition, the complaint alleges that Smith has prepared tax returns using fictitious taxpayer identification numbers, thereby obscuring his identity as the tax return preparer.   According to the complaint, Smith’s activities may have caused a total of over $800,000 in harm to the government.

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013, which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dozen-Tax-Scams-for-2013 .  The Internal Revenue Service has some tips for choosing a tax preparer: www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Choosing-a-Tax-Professional .  In the past decade, the department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm .

Related Materials:

United States v. Grady Smith
Complaint for Preliminary and Permanent Injunction
 

United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that Jesus Sablan Palacios was found guilty on Wednesday, December 5, 2013, of the following charges:  three counts of Felon in Possession of Firearm and/or Ammunition, and three counts of Unlawful User of a Controlled Substance in Possession of Firearm and/or Ammunition, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and (3).

Defendant Palacios will be sentenced on March 14, 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.  Palacios is facing a mandatory minimum of 15 years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life, under the armed career criminal sentencing enhancement.

The Indictment filed on August 22, 2013 charged that Defendant Palacios, after having been convicted of a crime, knowingly possessed six .22 caliber bullets, ten Winchester 38SPL .38 caliber bullets, eight .9 mm caliber bullets and one Ruger, Model 10/22, .22 caliber rifle, one .22 caliber rifle with its barrel and stock sawed off, and three .22 caliber bullets, all items that had been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce.  Defendant Palacios was also charged with being an unlawful user of a controlled substance while knowingly possessing these items.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco stated, “The possession of firearms and drugs is a potentially deadly combination.  Innocent civilians and law enforcement are unnecessarily placed at great risk of harm by the exposure to firearms in the wrong hands.  Those who use firearms to protect their illegal activities must know that they will face hard time.”  U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also stated, “Methamphetamine has been linked to an increase in violent crimes and results in devastating effects to individuals and to the community.  Those who engage in the use of this illegal drug and found to be in possession of firearms will be prosecuted and face severe penalties.”

This case was investigated by Special Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and officers from the CNMI
Department of Public Safety.  Assistant United States Attorneys Rami Badawy and Ross Naughton prosecuted the case.

An information technology specialist working for the National Science Foundation (NSF) pleaded guilty late yesterday to theft of government property totaling more than $90,000, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court records, James Troy Clark, 51, of Fredericksburg, Va., was responsible for purchasing information technology supplies and services for his office at NSF using government-issued purchase cards. From 2010 through July 2013, Clark used these purchase cards to purchase items for his personal use and the personal use of others, including cellular telephones and the attendant monthly service charges for those phones; multiple laptop computers and tablets; thousands of dollars in movies, music, and other content from the Apple iTunes store; and numerous other electronic devices and accessories.

The total amount of purchases made by Clark for his and others’ personal use was approximately $94,493. Clark faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 21, 2014.

The case was investigated by National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kevin Driscoll and Menaka Kalaskar of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Mark D. Lytle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

 

The former president of Sea Star Line LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based water freight carrier, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and to pay a $25,000 criminal fine for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico, the Department of Justice announced today. 

 
Frank Peake was sentenced today by Judge Daniel R. Dominguez in U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in San Juan.  Peake’s two-week trial took place in January 2013. 

 
“The sentence imposed today reflects the serious harm these conspirators inflicted on American consumers, both in the continental United States and in Puerto Rico,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “The Antitrust Division will continue to vigorously prosecute executives who collude to fix prices at the expense of consumers.”

 
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Peake and his co-conspirators conspired through meetings and other communications in the continental United States and Puerto Rico to fix, stabilize and maintain rates and surcharges for Puerto Rico freight services, to allocate customers of Puerto Rico freight services between and among the conspirators and to rig bids submitted to customers of Puerto Rico freight services.  Peake was involved in the conspiracy from at least late 2005 until at least April 2008.

 

As a result of the ongoing investigation, the three largest water freight carriers serving routes between the continental United States and Puerto Rico, including Peake’s former employer Sea Star, have pleaded guilty and been ordered to pay more than $46 million in criminal fines for their roles in the conspiracy.  Sea Star pleaded guilty on Dec. 20, 2011, and was sentenced by Judge Dominguez to pay a $14.2 million criminal fine.  Sea Star transports a variety of cargo shipments, such as heavy equipment, perishable food items, medicines and consumer goods, on scheduled ocean voyages between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

 
Peake and five other individuals have been ordered to serve prison sentences ranging from seven months to five years.  Additionally, Thomas Farmer, the former vice president of price and yield management of Crowley Liner Services, was indicted in March 2013 for his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to go to trial in May 2014.

 

This case is part of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.  Anyone with information concerning price fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the coastal water freight transportation industry is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the statement below following the death of Nelson Mandela:

“I join President Obama in expressing my heartfelt condolences to the people of South Africa, and the entire Mandela family, on the passing of Nelson Mandela.

The world has lost an extraordinary pioneer and an unsurpassed champion for freedom and justice.  As a lawyer and an activist, he inspired millions – not only in South Africa, but around the globe – to stand united against oppression and apartheid.  As a statesman, he fought throughout his career to advance democratic values, working tirelessly to combat poverty, AIDS, and human rights abuses.  As South Africa’s first democratically-elected president, he sought to bring healing to a torn and deeply divided country.  And he became much more than the ‘father of a nation.’

Like so many – in every corner of the globe – I have regarded President Mandela as a personal hero for decades.  I was inspired years ago by his courage and his devotion to improving the lives of those around him.  And when I had the privilege of meeting with him, as Deputy Attorney General, I found him to be a remarkable man and a brilliant and principled leader.  His legacy will endure, and his important work will go on, in the efforts of all who continue to speak out for peace, for freedom, for justice, and for the dignity to which every human being is entitled.  I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing today, and will hold his friends, loved ones, and countrymen and -women in my thoughts and prayers.”

Qiang Wang, aka Jeffrey Wang, a New York antiques dealer, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan today to 37 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to smuggle Asian artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory and violate wildlife trafficking laws, announced Robert G. Dreher, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wang was arrested in February 2013 as part of “Operation Crash,” a nation-wide crackdown in the illegal trafficking in rhinoceros horns, for his role in smuggling “libation cups” carved from rhinoceros horns from New York to China.  Wang was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the Southern District of New York.

“Smuggling wildlife artifacts made from rhino horn and elephant ivory undermines the international conservation protections put in place to save these species from extinction ,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Dreher. “This is an active and ongoing investigation that is designed to send a clear message to buyers and sellers that we will vigorousl y investigate and prosecute those who are involved in this devastating trade.”

“With his sentence today, Qiang Wang is held accountable for his role in feeding the flourishing black market for artifacts made from endangered species,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “This Office will continue its work to prosecute those who contribute to the illegal wildlife trade, and to uphold the rules designed to protect wildlife.”

“ We’re reaching a tipping point, where the unprecedented slaughter of rhinos and elephants happening now threatens the viability of these iconic species’ wild populations in Africa,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “This slaughter is fueled by illegal trade, including that exposed by Operation Crash. We will continue to work relentlessly across the United States government and with our international partners to crack down on poaching and wildlife trafficking.”

According to the information, plea agreement and statements made during court proceedings:

In China, there is a tradition dating back centuries of intricately carving rhinoceros horn cups.  Drinking from such a cup was believed by some to bring good health, and antique carvings are highly prized by collectors.  Libation cups and other ornamental carvings are particularly sought after in China and in other Asian countries, as well as in the United States.  The escalating value of such items has resulted in an increased demand for rhinoceros horn that has helped fuel a thriving black market, including fake antiques made from more recently hunted rhinoceros.

In pleading guilty, Wang admitted to participating in a conspiracy to smuggle objects carved from rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory out of the United States knowing that it was illegal to export such items without required permits.  Due to their dwindling populations, all rhinoceros and elephant species are protected under international trade agreements.  Wang falsely labeled the packages in order to conceal the true contents and did not declare them as required. Special Agents with the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service executed a search of Wang’s apartment in Flushing, New York, and found documents showing Wang was involved in buying rhino horn and ivory artifacts and smuggling them to China. Agents seized two ivory carvings, including one found hidden behind Wang’s bed that were forfeited as part of the sentence. Numerous photographs of raw and carved rhinoceros horn, including approximately 10 different raw rhinoceros horns, were found on Wang’s computer and telephone consistent with a common practice of emailing or texting photographs of items for sale in order to receive instructions on whether to purchase the items and how much to pay. According to prosecutors, Wang had told other dealers that he was seeking raw rhino horns to send to China.

In sentencing Wang , Judge Forrest said that his behavior helped “create and sustain a marketplace for goods made from endangered wildlife.” Judge Forrest also said that Wang’s conduct was “illegal and extremely troubling.”

In addition to the prison term, Judge Forrest ordered Wang, 34, of Flushing, N.Y., to forfeit certain ivory goods in his possession, and banned him from all future trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn. Wang was also sentenced to serve a term of three years of supervised release.

Rhinoceros are an herbivore species of prehistoric origin and one of the largest remaining mega-fauna on earth. They have no known predators other than humans. All species of rhinoceros are protected under United States and international law.  Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horn has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by over 170 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets.

Operation Crash is a continuing investigation being conducted by the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in coordination with other federal and local law enforcement agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.  A “crash” is the term for a herd of rhinoceros.  Operation Crash is an ongoing effort to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns.

The investigation by was handled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office Complex Frauds Unit and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, with assistance from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation . Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis M. Echenberg and Senior Counsel Richard A. Udell of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section are in charge of the prosecution. 

The government has filed a complaint against Canton, Ohio-based TAB Construction Co. Inc. (TAB) and its owner, William E. Richardson III, for allegedly making false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to obtain certification as a Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) company, the Justice Department announced today.

 “The HUBZone program is intended to create jobs in areas that historically have had trouble attracting business,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “The Justice Department will take strong enforcement action when companies obtain contracts to which they are not entitled.”

 The government alleges that TAB used its fraudulently procured HUBZone certification to obtain four U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ construction contracts worth millions of dollars.  Each of those contracts had been set aside for qualified HUBZone companies.  The government’s complaint asserts claims against TAB and Richardson under the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.

 Allegedly, Richardson originally applied to the HUBZone program in 2000 by claiming that TAB’s principal office was located in a designated HUBZone when no TAB employees worked out of the HUBZone office, and TAB actually was located in a non-HUBZone.  Even though Richardson told the SBA that TAB was located in a HUBZone, Richardson consistently used his non-HUBZone address in conducting TAB’s other business affairs, at one point even stating under oath in private litigation that TAB’s office was located in a non-HUBZone.  In 2006, Richardson allegedly applied for re-certification to the HUBZone program, again falsely stating that eight employees worked in the designated HUBZone.  The government alleges that just six weeks after Richardson re-certified its eligibility with the SBA, TAB completed an affidavit in an unrelated matter, which stated that TAB’s principal office was located in a non-HUBZone.

 Under the HUBZone program, companies that maintain their principal office in a designated HUBZone, and meet certain other requirements, can apply to the SBA for certification as a HUBZone small business company.  HUBZone companies can then use this certification when bidding on government contracts.  In certain cases, government agencies will restrict competition for a contract to HUBZone-certified companies.

 “We will not tolerate fraud in the HUBZone or any other SBA program,” said SBA Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson.  “With our interagency partners, this office will continue to pursue those who defraud the government by lying to gain access to federal set-aside contracts.”

 “SBA’s contracting programs, including the HUBZone program, provide small businesses with the opportunity to grow and create jobs,” said SBA General Counsel Sara D. Lipscomb.  “SBA has no tolerance for waste, fraud or abuse in any government contracting program and is committed to working with our federal partners to ensure the benefits of these programs flow to the intended recipients.” 

 The government filed its complaint in two consolidated lawsuits filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.  Under the Act, a private citizen can sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery.  The government also is entitled to intervene in the lawsuit, as it has done in this case.

 This matter was handled by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division in conjunction with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General and Office of General Counsel and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

 The consolidated civil cases are U.S. ex rel. Roy. J. Fairbrother Jr. and Louis Petit v. TAB Construction Co. Inc., et al., No. 5:11-cv-1432 (N.D. Ohio) and U.S. ex rel. Patricia Hopson and Vince Pavkov v. TAB Construction Co. Inc., No. 5:12-cv-135 (N.D. Ohio).  The claims asserted against TAB and Richardson are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Gary Mach, of Palm Desert, Calif., was sentenced to 16 months in prison, two months of house arrest, and 18 months of probation and ordered to pay $270,725 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced today.  Mach previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States on Aug. 18, 2013.

 

Court documents state that, beginning around January 2002 and continuing through December 2010, Mach failed to report substantial income he earned from CSPS, a pool-servicing business operated throughout Riverside County.  Mach and others established fictitious trusts which they used to receive income and hold assets in an attempt to conceal the assets and income from the IRS.   

 

According to court documents, Mach purported to operate a trust called “Quintessential,” and directed that his paychecks be made payable to Quintessential.  He also opened a bank account in the name of Quintessential where he deposited CSPS proceeds.  Mach admitted that he did not report to the IRS any of the income he earned from CSPS between 2002 and 2010, and used Quintessential to conceal income from the IRS.  In furtherance of the conspiracy, Mach also attempted to impede an IRS summons issued to a bank for business account records.  Mach closed his bank account after the bank complied with the IRS summons.  As set forth in the plea agreement, Mach admitted that his total unreported income for the tax years 2002 through 2010 was $1,410,430, upon which the total tax due and owed to the IRS is $270,275.

 

Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the department’s Tax Division, commended the investigative efforts of the special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, Tax Division Trial Attorneys Sonia M. Owens and Mark L. Williams, who prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sandra R. Brown and Paul Rochmes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, who assisted in the prosecution.

Twenty Detroit-area residents have been charged for their roles in physician home visit, home health care, chiropractic and psychotherapy schemes to submit more than $34 million in false billing to Medicare.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office made the announcement.

“Medicare fraud hits every taxpayer and harms so many who are in need of critical health care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman.  “The defendants arrested yesterday and today include doctors, physical therapists and home health care agency owners who were entrusted by Medicare to provide their patients with necessary care and services.  Instead, they abused that trust for their own profit.  The Strike Force’s operation reflects our continuing and unflagging commitment to put an end to these harmful fraud schemes.”

“Doctors and clinic owners should take note that we are scrutinizing billing data to detect fraud and bring offenders to justice,” said U.S. Attorney McQuade. “We are committed to recovering tax dollars intended for patient care.”

“These charges clearly send the message to criminals that committing fraud against government health care programs puts them squarely in the sights of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force,” said HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Pugh. “Taxpayers and patients should know that OIG with its Strike Force partners will continue to root out, expose, and hold accountable those who attack the Medicare program.”

“When medical doctors, physical therapists, and other health care providers conspire to defraud our government health care programs and undermine the public trust, they not only betray their profession, but also steal directly from the American people,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Abbate. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners in the Medicare Fraud Strike Force will continue our efforts on behalf of the American taxpayer to prevent health care fraud and bring these criminal perpetrators to justice.”

Court documents unsealed this week in the Eastern District of Michigan charge defendants including physicians, owners and operators of companies, office employees and patient recruiters with submitting fraudulent claims for services that were never rendered and with paying kickbacks to obtain patients to be billed. Nineteen of the defendants were arrested or surrendered to authorities yesterday morning and this morning, and one defendant remains at large. In addition, law enforcement agents yesterday and today executed search warrants at nine locations and seizure warrants of 14 bank accounts related to the alleged fraud schemes.

The following charges were unsealed:

 

United States v. Goldfein, et al.

Two individuals, both medical doctors, were charged in an indictment with conspiring to commit health care fraud for their roles in a $5.4 million scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for physician home services that were not provided. The indictment alleges that the fraudulent claims were submitted by a physician clinic that provides both in-home and outpatient health care services. The clinic, with locations in Livonia, Mich., and Swartz Creek, Mich., is known as Tri City Medical Centers P.C.

The defendants charged in the indictment are Aaron Scott Goldfein, 49, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and William Clay Sokoll, 58, of Royal Oak, Mich.

 

United States v. Elhorr, et al.

Three individuals, one of whom is a medical doctor and one of whom is a nurse, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud for their roles in an $11.5 million scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting fraudulent claims for physician home services that were not provided. The superseding indictment alleges that the fraudulent claims were submitted by a home visiting physician practice. The practice, located in Allen Park, Mich., was known as House Calls Physicians P.L.L.C.

The defendants charged in the superseding indictment are Ali Elhorr, 44, of Dearborn, Mich.; Lama Elhorr, 31, of Hollywood, Fla. (formerly of Dearborn, Mich.); and Kelly White, 44, of Dearborn, Mich.

 

United States v. Khan, et al.

Ten individuals were charged in an indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud or conspiracy to pay and receive illegal kickbacks for their roles in a $7 million scheme to defraud Medicare. The defendants include two medical doctors and three owners of home health care agencies, one of whom is also a physical therapist, as well as patient recruiters and office staff. The indictment alleges that the defendants caused the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary home health care services and paid kickbacks in the form of cash payments and prescription narcotics to Medicare beneficiaries for the use of their Medicare beneficiary numbers. The indictment also alleges that physicians received kickbacks in the form of cash payments to certify Medicare beneficiaries for medically unnecessary home health care services. The fraudulent claims were submitted by two home health care agencies, Advance Home Health Care Services Inc. and Perfect Home Health Care Services LLP.

The defendants charged in the indictment are Walayat Khan, 65, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; Adelina Herrero, 72, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Amer Ehsan, 44, of Canton, Mich.; Haroon Ur Rashid, 47, of West Bloomfield, Mich.; Mohammad Rafiq, 47, of West Bloomfield, Mich.; Salman Ali Sapru, 51, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; Farhan Khan, 25, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; James Zadorski, 48, of Detroit, Mich.; Cynthia Bell, 55, of Detroit, Mich.; and John Sanders, 59, of Pontiac, Mich.

 

United States v. Hassan, et al.

Two individuals were charged in an indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to pay and receive illegal kickbacks for their roles in a $4.5 million scheme to defraud Medicare. The indictment alleges that the defendants, the owner of a home health care agency who is also a physical therapist and a recruiter, caused the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary home health care services and paid kickbacks in the form of cash payments to Medicare beneficiaries for the use of their Medicare beneficiary numbers. The indictment also alleges that physicians received kickbacks in the form of cash payments to certify Medicare beneficiaries for medically unnecessary home health care services. The fraudulent claims were submitted by Cherish Home Health Services LLC.

The defendants charged in the indictment are Zia Hassan, 47, of Saline, Mich., and Nathaniel Miller, 52, of Detroit, Mich.

 

United States v. Minhas

Naseem Minhas, 47, of West Bloomfield, Mich., was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to pay and receive illegal kickbacks for his role in a $5.7 million scheme to defraud Medicare. The indictment alleges that the defendant, the beneficial owner of a home health care agency, caused the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary home health care services and paid kickbacks in the form of cash payments to marketers to recruit Medicare beneficiaries and to certify Medicare beneficiaries for medically unnecessary home health care services. The indictment alleges that the fraudulent claims were submitted by Tricounty Home Care Services Inc.

 

United States v. Lovett, et al.

The owners of a Detroit-area billing company were charged in a criminal complaint for their roles in a health care fraud scheme involving claims for chiropractic and psychotherapy services. The complaint alleges that the operators of ABIX LLC obtained the Medicare numbers of licensed medical service providers in and around Detroit and used this information to bill Medicare for chiropractic and psychotherapy services that were not provided.

The defendants charged in the criminal complaint are Elaine Lovett, 58, of Wayne County, Mich., and Michelle Freeman, 54, of Livingston County, Mich.

An indictment or criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.

These cases were investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and were brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. These cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorney William G. Kanellis, Trial Attorney Matthew C. Thuesen, and Special Trial Attorney Katie R. Fink of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,700 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .

 

A patient recruiter of a Miami health care company was sentenced to serve 108 months in prison today for his participation in a $48 million home health Medicare fraud scheme.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.

Emilio Amador, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno in the Southern District of Florida. In addition to his prison term, Amador was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $24 million in restitution, jointly and severally with co-defendants.

In September 2013, Amador pleaded guilty before Judge Moreno to one count of conspiring to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receiving health care kickbacks.

According to court documents, Amador was a patient recruiter who worked for Caring Nurse Home Health Care Corp., a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.

From approximately January 2006 through June 2011, Amador would recruit patients for Caring Nurse, and in doing so would solicit and receive kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of Caring Nurse in return for allowing Caring Nurse to bill the Medicare program on behalf of the patients Amador had recruited. These Medicare beneficiaries were billed for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided.

According to court documents, Amador also pleaded guilty to his involvement with fraudulent billings for Nation’s Best Care Home Health Corp. as relevant conduct. Amador was the owner, operator and president of Nation’s Best. The fraudulent billings for Nation’s Best totaled approximately $30 million.

In a related case, on Feb. 27, 2013, Rogelio Rodriguez, 44, and Raymond Aday, 49, the owners and operators of Caring Nurse and Good Quality, were sentenced to serve 108 and 51 months in prison, respectively.  The sentencings followed their December 2012 guilty pleas to one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud charged in an October 2012 indictment, which alleged that from approximately January 2006 through June 2011, Caring Nurse and Good Quality submitted approximately $48 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.  Medicare paid approximately $33 million for those fraudulent claims.

The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,700 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .

The United States filed a lawsuit yesterday in The District of New Jersey to bar Eric Majette of Somerville, N.J., from preparing federal tax returns, the Justice Department announced today.  As alleged in the complaint, Majette owned and operated a tax preparation business named “Berrisford Group” with offices in Plainfield and Somerville. 

According to the complaint, from 2006 until 2011, Majette prepared and filed tax returns that contained false or inflated itemized deductions for items such as medical and dental expenses, gifts, and business expenses that resulted in his customers receiving larger tax refunds than they were entitled.  The complaint further alleges that Majette encouraged his customers to submit false documents, such as fraudulent charitable contribution receipts, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Earlier this year, Majette pleaded guilty to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the internal revenue laws and to preparing a false tax return.  He was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and one year of supervised probation upon release, and ordered to pay $123,440 in restitution.  The civil complaint filed yesterday alleges that between 2009 and 2012, Majette prepared 1,853 tax returns for customers and 93 percent of these returns claimed tax refunds.  According the complaint, the IRS examined 428 of these returns and determined that they understated the customers’ correct tax liability by a total of $838,837, an average of $1,960 per return.  The complaint estimates that the total harm caused by the 1,723 tax refunds claiming returns could be as much as $3 million.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013 which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dozen-Tax-Scams-for-2013 .  The IRS has some tips for choosing a tax preparer: www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Choosing-a-Tax-Professional.  In the past decade, the department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm.

Related Materials:

United States v. Eric Majette
Complaint

A former medical doctor was sentenced today to serve 20 years in prison for engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Kenya.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr., and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

John D. Ott, 68, pleaded guilty in May 2013 before the Honorable Reggie B. Walton in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. Upon completion of his prison term, Ott will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life. In addition, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

According to court documents and proceedings, Ott was a former medical doctor who worked for non-governmental organizations and hospitals in Kenya.  Court records show that Ott also started an orphanage in Kenya.  Ott admitted that between approximately January 2004 and September 2012, he engaged in illicit sexual conduct in Muhuru Bay, Sori and Kendu Bay, Kenya, with at least 14 minors, who ranged in age from approximately nine to 17 years old when the illicit sexual conduct began.  Ott admitted that he frequently paid for schooling and provided other financial support, including housing, for minors with whom he engaged in illicit conduct.

Ott has been in federal custody since he was arrested in December 2012, following his deportation from Tanzania.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Significant assistance was provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs as well as by personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Keith A. Becker of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord of the District of Columbia.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

 

Federal agents arrested yesterday Bryan D’Antonio, 47, of Brea, Calif., and Charles Wayne Farris, 53, of Aliso Viejo, Calif., for operating the Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group, businesses that allegedly offered bogus loan modification assistance to struggling homeowners.  Attorney Ronald Rodis, 49, of Irvine, Calif., surrendered today to federal agents on charges alleging that he participated in, and lent his name and the law license he formerly possessed to, the fraudulent operation.  All three defendants were named in a federal indictment unsealed yesterday following an investigation by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation.  

 

According to the indictment, as a result of the scheme run by D’Antonio, Farris and Rodis, more than 1,800 financially distressed homeowners lost a total of at least $12 million in fees they paid to the companies.  Many homeowners also lost their homes to foreclosure.  During a nine month period that began in October 2008, the Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group allegedly defrauded distressed homeowners by making false promises and guarantees regarding the companies’ ability to negotiate loan modifications from the homeowners’ mortgage lenders, falsely representing that a “team of attorneys” would represent the homeowners and advising homeowners to cease making their mortgage payments.

 
“These arrests send a strong message to those who would prey on vulnerable homeowners during these tough financial times,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “If you defraud homeowners, you will be found and brought to justice.” 

 
The Rodis Law Group, and its successor company, America’s Law Group, allegedly advertised loan modification assistance on radio stations nationwide.  According to the indictment, many of these radio advertisements featured Rodis’ voice telling homeowners that a “team of experienced attorneys,” who were “highly skilled in negotiating lower interest rates and even lowering your principal balance,” would negotiate with mortgage lenders.  Sales staff hired and trained by Farris and D’Antonio allegedly told interested homeowners that Rodis Law Group was “100% successful,” “routinely lowered monthly payments” and obtained reduced principal balances.  According to the indictment, once the defendants and their co-conspirators convinced homeowners to pay a fee of several thousand dollars, little to no effort was made to obtain loan modifications.  After making their payments, homeowners who tried to get updates on the status of their cases were often unable to contact anyone at either company.

 
The indictment further alleges that D’Antonio committed these crimes after having been convicted of mail and wire fraud for his role in a previous telemarketing scheme.  The previous scheme resulted in a civil case by the Federal Trade Commission and ultimately a court order, entered in 2001, which permanently banned D’Antonio from participating in future telemarketing operations.  The indictment in this case alleges that D’Antonio committed criminal contempt of court by directing the telemarketing activities of Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group and by misrepresenting the services they provided.

 
“Posing as successful lawyers, these defendants offered struggling homeowners false hopes and bogus promises of quality legal representation,” said U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California André Birotte Jr.  “The market offering loan modifications is rife with fraud, which is why we have redoubled our efforts to investigate and prosecute those who engage in financial crimes that target distressed homeowners.”

 

“The unconscionable act of scamming homeowners already facing foreclosure is far too common,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Bill Lewis.  “This indictment should send a clear message to anyone contemplating similar crimes, and should also remind potential victims to be cautious before paying fees to those offering financial rescue, regardless of whether the solicitor holds a law degree.” 

 

D’Antonio, Farris and Rodis are each charged with 10 felony counts – nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.  Each of these counts carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.  In addition, D’Antonio is charged with 13 counts of criminal contempt for violating the 2001 court order.  Criminal contempt of court has no statutory maximum penalty.

This indictment was brought in coordination with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s Mortgage Fraud Working Group.  The task force was established 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’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.  Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.  Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants.  For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov  

 

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime.  Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced today that they have tentatively agreed to a settlement with the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) which calls for SCPD to implement new and enhanced policies and procedures to ensure nondiscrimination in the provision of police services to Latino communities in Suffolk County.  The agreement, which the Department of Justice has agreed to, requires approval of the Suffolk County Legislature before it will be formally executed by the parties.

 

The United States commenced an investigation of SCPD in 2009 in the wake of the killing of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian national, who was murdered by a group of teenagers in Patchogue, N.Y., as he was walking home on the evening of Nov. 8, 2008.  The United States’ investigation, pursuant to the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, focused on discriminatory policing allegations, including claims that SCPD discouraged Latino victims from filing complaints and cooperating with the police, and failed to investigate crimes and hate crime incidents involving Latinos.  The United States issued a Technical Assistance letter on Sept. 13, 2011, which recommended a wide range of reforms to improve policing by the SCPD, and primarily focused on promoting trust between SCPD and the Latino community.  The County cooperated with the United States’ investigation, and has already instituted a number of the recommendations from the Technical Assistance letter.   The agreement announced today memorializes those recommendations and commits SCPD to significant changes in how it engages the Latino community.

 

Specifically, the agreement calls for SCPD to ensure that it polices equitably, respectfully and free of unlawful bias.  Other highlights include enhanced training and investigation of allegations of hate crimes and bias incidents, meaningful access to police services for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP), strengthened SCPD outreach efforts in Latino communities, and the development and maintenance of a true Community Oriented Policing Enforcement (COPE) program throughout the county.  The United States will monitor compliance with the agreement, which terminates only when SCPD has substantially complied with all of the requirements for at least one year.

 

“We look forward to working alongside the Suffolk County Police Department and Suffolk County to implement our agreement,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “By working together, our goal is for all Suffolk residents -- existing and future -- to know that SCPD is there to serve and protect them and that they stand equal with their neighbors before the law.”

 

“All residents of Suffolk County deserve full and unbiased police protection, regardless of national origin, race, or citizenship status,” said U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the Eastern District of New York.  “When people feel they cannot turn to the police for protection, they have lost one of our most basic rights – the right to feel safe in one’s community.  Law enforcement also suffers when it does not hear from everyone under its umbrella of protection.  I commend Suffolk County and SCPD for its cooperation with the United States’ investigation and its willingness to ensure fairness and equal treatment for all.”

 

The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Goldberger, Chief of Civil Rights in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office; Special Litigation Counsel Laura Coon in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division; and Trial Attorneys Silvia Dominguez and Jack Morse in the Special Litigation Section.

A Dominican national and a Mexican national each pleaded guilty today in connection with their roles in trafficking the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and corresponding identity documents.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico, Acting Director John Sandweg of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Director Gregory B. Starr of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.

Jorge Luis “Daniel” Mendez, 37, formerly of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Enrique Rogelio Mendez-Solis, 37, formerly of Seymour, Ind., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez in the District of Puerto Rico to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and three counts of aggravated identity theft. They face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit identification fraud, 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, and two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count when they are sentenced on April 28, 2014.

Both defendants were charged in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico on March 22, 2012. To date, 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identity trafficking scheme, 49 defendants have been arrested, and 49 have pleaded guilty.

Court documents allege that individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico, obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents. Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States allegedly solicited customers and sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set. The superseding indictment alleges that these identity brokers in the United States ordered the identity documents from the document suppliers in Savarona on behalf of their customers by making coded telephone calls. The conspirators are charged with using text messages, money transfer services, and express, priority, or regular U.S. mail to complete their illicit transactions.

Court documents allege that some of the conspirators assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation. Their customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and to obtain additional identification documents, such as legitimate state driver’s licenses. Some customers allegedly obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and attempted to obtain a U.S. passport.

According to court documents, various identity brokers were operating in Rockford, DeKalb and Aurora, Ill.; Seymour, Columbus and Indianapolis, Ind.; Hartford, Conn.; Clewiston, Fla.; Lilburn and Norcross, Ga.; Salisbury, Md.; Columbus and Fairfield, Ohio; Dorchester, Lawrence, Salem and Worcester, Mass.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Nebraska City, Neb.; Elizabeth, N.J.; Burlington and Hickory, N.C.; Hazelton and Philadelphia, Penn.; Houston; Abingdon and Albertville, Ala.; and Providence, R.I.

Mendez admitted that he operated as a Savarona supplier. Mendez-Solis admitted that he operated as an identity broker in the Seymour, Ind., area.

The charges are the result of Operation Island Express, an ongoing, nationally coordinated investigation led by the ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ (ICE-HSI) Chicago Office and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices in Chicago, in coordination with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office and the DSS Resident Office in Puerto Rico. The Illinois Secretary of State Police; Elgin, Ill., Police Department; Seymour, Ind., Police Department; and Indiana State Police provided substantial assistance. The ICE-HSI Assistant Attaché office in the Dominican Republic and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2), as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices around the country, provided invaluable support.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James S. Yoon, Hope S. Olds, Courtney B. Schaefer and Christina Giffin of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Indiana, District of Connecticut, District of Massachusetts, District of Nebraska, Middle District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Middle District of Pennsylvania, District of Rhode Island, Southern District of Texas and Western District of Virginia provided substantial assistance.

Potential victims and the public may obtain information about the case at: www.justice.gov/criminal/vns/caseup/beltrerj.html . Anyone who believes their identity may have been compromised in relation to this investigation may contact the ICE toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) and its online tip form at www.ice.gov/tipline . Anyone who may have information about particular crimes in this case should also report it to the ICE tip line or website.

Anyone who believes that they have been a victim of identity theft, or wants information about preventing identity theft, may obtain helpful information and complaint forms on various government websites including the Federal Trade Commission ID Theft Website, www.ftc.gov/idtheft . Additional resources regarding identity theft can be found at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/pubs/ID_theft/idtheft.html ; www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html ; www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/identity_theft ; and www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=186436,00.html .

 

Three patient recruiters for a Miami health care company pleaded guilty today for their participation in a $48 million home health Medicare fraud scheme.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.

Miami residents Marianela Martinez, 45; Omar Hernandez, 48; and Celia Santovenia, 49, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham in the Southern District of Florida to one count each of conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks. Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 11, 2014.

According to court documents, Martinez, Hernandez and Santovenia were patient recruiters who worked for Caring Nurse Home Health Care Corp., and Santovenia also worked for Good Quality Home Health Care Inc. Caring Nurse and Good Quality were Miami home health care agencies that purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.

From approximately January 2006 through June 2011, the defendants would recruit patients for Caring Nurse and/or Good Quality and would solicit and receive kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of Caring Nurse and/or Good Quality in return for allowing the agency to bill the Medicare program on behalf of the recruited patients. These Medicare beneficiaries were billed for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided.

In a related case, on Feb. 27, 2013, Rogelio Rodriguez, 44, and Raymond Aday, 49, the owners and operators of Caring Nurse and Good Quality, were sentenced to serve 108 and 51 months in prison, respectively.  The sentencings followed their December 2012 guilty pleas to one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud charged in an October 2012 indictment, which alleged that from approximately January 2006 through June 2011, Caring Nurse and Good Quality submitted approximately $48 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.  Medicare paid approximately $33 million for those fraudulent claims.

The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,700 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .

 

Michael Edwards pleaded guilty today to one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and one count of mail fraud, t he Justice Department and IRS announced.  Both charges arise from Edwards’ operation of his tax return preparation business Boston Financial Associates (BFA) and Edwards’ misappropriation of income tax refunds from two of his clients in 2009. 

 

According to court documents, Edwards admitted that he misled an IRS auditor reviewing one of his client’s 2007 and 2008 income tax returns by giving her false documentation that claimed to support the false entries on the returns.  Edwards misappropriated federal income tax refunds of $573,518 from one client and $202,143 from a second client. 

 

Sentencing for Edwards has been scheduled for Feb. 25, 2014.  The statutory maximum penalty for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the IRS is three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The statutory maximum penalty for mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

 

This case was investigated by IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Tax Division Senior Litigation Counsel Corey J. Smith.

The Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in a federal court in Memphis today to stop Stephanie Edmond and her businesses, the Tax Factory and Tax Factory Enterprise Inc., from preparing federal income tax returns.  According to the complaint, Edmond and her businesses have prepared more than 9,000 tax returns since 2011.

The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee alleges that Edmond understates her customers’ federal tax liabilities by creating fake businesses, then listing those phony businesses on returns and fabricating expenses for them.  Edmond also improperly claims the earned income tax credit on the income tax returns that she prepares for her customers.  In one case, according to the complaint, two returns prepared for a customer by The Tax Factory claimed bogus business losses of approximately $30,000 for each of the two years, and as a result, the customer improperly received tax refunds of approximately $7,000 both years.  In total, the complaint alleges that Edmond’s activities over the last three years have cost the Treasury $9.7 million or more in lost income tax revenue.

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013 which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dozen-Tax-Scams-for-2013.  The Internal Revenue Service has some tips for choosing a tax preparer: http://www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Choosing-a-Tax-Professional.  In the past decade, the department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.g ov/tax/taxpress2013.htm.

Related Materials:

United States v. Stephanie Edmond
Complaint for Permanent Injunction

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit late yesterday against the owners, builders and designers of a 54-unit condominium complex in Hartville, Ohio, for violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).  The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated the law when they designed and constructed the complex with barriers that make it inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

 

“Since 1991, the Fair Housing Act has required that when new multifamily housing is built, it be accessible to persons with disabilities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the department’s Civil Rights Division.  “When condominium complexes are built with steps and other barriers, those with disabilities are denied that equal housing opportunity.”

 

“We will continue to work to make sure people with disabilities are free to live where they choose, as is their legal right,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio.

 

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland alleges that various barriers at the Windham Bridge property in Hartville deny persons with disabilities equal access to 52 condominiums and the associated public and common-use areas at the property that are covered by the FHA.  Such barriers include inaccessible building entrances; no accessible parking spaces; insufficient accessible routes into and through the units; and kitchens and bathrooms that are inaccessible to persons in wheelchairs.

 

The lawsuit arises from a complaint filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by the Fair Housing Advocates Association (FHAA), a private nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide education regarding fair housing laws and to ensure compliance with those laws in Ohio.  FHAA inspected the Windham Bridge property and observed accessibility barriers.  After conducting an investigation, HUD issued a charge of discrimination and referred the case to the Justice Department.

 

“The Fair Housing Act's accessibility requirements have been on the books for over two decades.  So, today, when a person with a disability cannot enter the front door of a condominium complex, or find accessible parking there, it sends the message: 'You are not welcome here,'" said HUD's Acting Assistant Secretary Bryan Greene for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.  “HUD and DOJ are committed to enforcing the nation’s fair housing laws to make certain persons with disabilities have the same access to multifamily housing as anyone else."

 

Named in the suit are the prior owners and builders of the property, Noble Homes Inc., Guardian Property Management Inc., Dean Windham, Hersh Construction Inc., and John Hershberger, as well as the designer of the property, Milton Studer, and his firm, Studer Architects LLC.  The suit seeks a court order requiring the defendants to retrofit the Windham Bridge property to bring it into compliance with the FHA, as well as monetary damages for FHAA and for persons harmed by the lack of accessibility at the complex.

 

The federal FHA prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status and disability.  Among other things, the Act requires all multifamily housing constructed after March 12, 1991, to have basic accessibility features, including accessible routes without steps to all ground floor units.  More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt .  Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, email the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov , or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777.

The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct.  The allegations in the complaint must still be proven in federal court.

United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced today that a federal jury in the District of Guam returned a verdict finding defendants William M. Perez and Jennie Wen Chin Pau guilty, as follows:

Defendant William M. Perez –
Count 1 – Conspiracy to Commit Illegal Gambling
Count 2 – Illegal Gambling Business
Counts 18-38 – Money Laundering

Defendant Jennie Wen Chin Pau -
Count 1 – Conspiracy to Commit Illegal Gambling
Count 2 – Illegal Gambling Business
Counts 18-35 – Money Laundering
Counts 40-44 - Structuring

The jury found the defendants not guilty as to money laundering charges in Counts 3-17. Defendants Perez and Pau will be sentenced by the Hon. Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, Chief Judge, on March 28, 2014 at 10:00 A.M.

Two co-defendants, Jimmy Hsieh and Pauline Perez, pleaded guilty before trial and are awaiting sentencing. Co-defendant Wai Kam Ho remains charged, with a trial anticipated in early 2014.

The evidence at trial showed that from at least January 2006 until December 14, 2010, defendants Perez and Pau conspired with other individuals to conduct an illegal gambling business in a manner which violated the laws of the Territory of Guam. The defendants offered card games of chance, including baccarat and poker, at the MGM Spa building approximately five times a week. The games violated Guam law in that the defendants, as the “house,” took a percentage of the winnings from each poker game, and also charged $5 per $100 of bets for food and drink.

The evidence at trial also showed that defendants Perez and Pau committed money laundering by knowingly conducting financial transactions affecting interstate commerce, which transactions involved the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity, namely conducting an illegal gambling business.

The evidence at trial further showed that defendant Pau knowingly and for the purpose of evading reporting requirements, structured transactions with domestic financial institutions, in violation of federal law.

U. S. Attorney Limtiaco stated, “The defendants participated in illegal gambling and laundered illegal gambling proceeds. The convictions demonstrate the commitment of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice, to hold accountable those involved in facilitating illegal gambling businesses.” U.S. Attorney Limtiaco further stated, “This case involved the collaborative investigative efforts, skills and resources of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Unit (IRS-CI), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). We thank our law enforcement agencies for their diligent work in the investigation and prosecution of this illegal gambling operation. ”

The Conspiracy, Illegal Gambling, and Structuring counts each carries a maximum prison term of five years. Each count of Money Laundering carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

This case was investigated by Special Agents from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Unit (IRS-CI), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Assistant United States Attorney Karon V. Johnson prosecuted the case.

Two health care clinic owners were sentenced today in connection with an $8 million health care fraud scheme involving the now-defunct home health care company Flores Home Health Care Inc.

 
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.

 
Miguel Jimenez, 43, and Marina Sanchez Pajon, 29, both of Miami, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro in the Southern District of Florida. Jimenez was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison and Pajon was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison. Jimenez and Pajon pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

 
Jimenez and Pajon, who are married, were owners and operators of Flores Home Health, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.

 
According to court documents, Jimenez and Pajon operated Flores Home Health for the purpose of billing Medicare for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided. Jimenez’s primary role at Flores Home Health involved controlling the company and running and overseeing the schemes conducted through Flores Home Health. Both Jimenez and Pajon were responsible for negotiating and paying kickbacks and bribes, interacting with patient recruiters, and coordinating and overseeing the submission of fraudulent claims to the Medicare program.

 
Jimenez, Pajon, and their co-conspirators paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters in return for the recruiters providing patients to Flores Home Health for home health and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided. They also paid kickbacks and bribes to co-conspirators in doctors’ offices and clinics in exchange for home health and therapy prescriptions, medical certifications, and other documentation. Jimenez, Pajon, and their co-conspirators used the prescriptions, medical certifications, and other documentation to fraudulently bill Medicare for home health care services, which Jimenez and Pajon knew was in violation of federal criminal laws.

 
From approximately October 2009 through approximately June 2012, Flores Home Health was paid approximately $8 million by Medicare for fraudulent claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.

 
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney A. Brendan Stewart of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

                       
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,700 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .

Caremark LLC, a pharmacy benefit management company (PBM), will pay the government and five states a total of $4.25 million to settle allegations that it knowingly failed to reimburse Medicaid for prescription drug costs paid on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, who also were eligible for drug benefits under Caremark-administered private health plans, the Justice Department announced today.  Caremark is operated by CVS Caremark Corp., one of the largest PBMs and retail pharmacies in the country.  A PBM administers and manages the drug benefits for clients who offer drug benefits under a health insurance plan. 

Under the terms of the agreement, the government will receive approximately $2.31 million.  In addition, five states -- Arkansas, California, Delaware, Louisiana and Massachusetts -- will share $1.94 million. 

“It is vitally important that cash-strapped Medicaid programs receive reimbursement for costs they incur that should have been paid for by other insurers,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “We will take action against those who seek to gain at the expense of Medicaid or other federal health care programs.”

Caremark served as the PBM for private health plans that insured a number of individuals receiving prescription drug benefits under both a Caremark-administered plan and Medicaid.  When an individual is covered by both Medicaid and a private health plan, the individual is called a “dual eligible.”  Under the law, the private insurer, rather than the government, must assume the costs of health care for dual eligibles.  If Medicaid erroneously pays for the prescription claim of a dual eligible, Medicaid is entitled to seek reimbursement from the private insurer or its PBM, in this case Caremark. 

  According to the government, Caremark allegedly used a computer claims processing platform called “Quantum Leap” to cancel claims for reimbursement submitted by Medicaid for dual eligibles.  The government alleged that Caremark’s actions caused Medicaid to incur prescription drug costs for dual eligibles that should have been paid for by the Caremark-administered private health plans rather than Medicaid.

The allegations settled today arose from a lawsuit filed by Janaki Ramadoss, a former Caremark quality assurance representative, 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 also allows the government to intervene in the lawsuit, as it has done in this case.  Ramadoss will receive approximately $505,680 from the federal government’s share of the settlement.  Ramadoss also will receive additional amounts from the settling states. 

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 Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  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 $17 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $12.1 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This case was jointly litigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of
Texas; the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch; and the attorneys general for the states of Arkansas, California and Louisiana.

The case is captioned United States ex rel. Ramadoss v. CVS Caremark Inc., SA-12-CA-929WRF (W.D. Texas).  The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

 

Clarence Hicks, of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced to serve 57 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $210,555.62 in restitution for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama.  Hicks had previously pleaded guilty to filing a false claim for a federal tax refund and to aggravated identity theft.

 

According to court documents, Hicks had access to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Electronic Filing Identification Number assigned to another person and used that number to file false federal income tax returns in the names of stolen identities.  The court found that Hicks intended to steal more than $300,000 from the IRS, which paid out $210,555.62 in false claims based on fraudulent returns Hicks filed. 

 

This case was investigated by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation.  Trial Attorneys Justin Gelfand and Jason Poole of the department's Tax Division prosecuted the case.

 

Additional information about the department's Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at   www.justice.gov/tax

Steven Joshua Dinkle, former Exalted Cyclops of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Ala., was arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 27, in Mississippi for burning a cross at the entrance to a predominantly African-American neighborhood and for obstructing the investigation into the offense.  Pamela Morris, Dinkle’s mother and the former secretary of the KKK chapter, was arrested on Nov. 21, 2013, for committing perjury before the grand jury investigating the cross burning.

Dinkle, 28, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama that was unsealed on Nov. 27.  The indictment charges him with one count of conspiracy to violate housing rights, one count of criminal interference with the right to fair housing, one count of using fire to commit a federal felony and two counts of obstruction of justice. 

The indictment alleges that on May 8, 2009, Dinkle conspired with another person to burn a cross in an African-American neighborhood to threaten and intimidate residents of that neighborhood and thereby interfere with their federally protected housing rights.  Dinkle allegedly constructed a six-foot cross, wrapping jeans and a towel around it.  He and his co-conspirator drove the cross to an African-American community near Johntown Road in Ozark where Dinkle poured fuel on the cross, erected it in the ground and set it on fire.  The indictment further contends that Dinkle obstructed justice by lying to local investigators in 2009, and federal investigators in 2012.  Dinkle claimed he had withdrawn from the KKK months before the cross burning, provided a false alibi and denied knowing a person who was, in fact, his superior in the KKK.

The grand jury returned a separate indictment against Morris, 45, charging her with two counts of perjury.  The indictment alleges that Morris made multiple false statements to the grand jury investigating the cross burning when she denied her own involvement in the KKK and knowing that Dinkle was also involved.

If convicted, Dinkle could face a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy and criminal-interference counts; sentence maximum of 10 years in prison for the use-of-fire; a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for obstructing justice by making false statements to local investigators; and a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for making false statements to the FBI.

If convicted, Morris could face a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of perjury.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and the Ozark Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerusha T. Adams of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  

Stanley Electric Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based company, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1.44 million criminal fine for its participation in a conspiracy to fix prices of lamp ballasts installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.

 
According to a one-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Stanley Electric engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of, automotive high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp ballasts sold to automakers in the United States and elsewhere.  Stanley Electric has also agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation. The plea agreement is subject to court approval.

 

The department said that Stanley Electric and its co-conspirators sold or supplied the ballasts at noncompetitive prices to automakers in the United States and elsewhere.  Stanley Electric’s involvement in the conspiracy to fix prices of automotive HID lamp ballasts lasted from as early as July 1998 until at least February 2010.

 

Stanley Electric manufactures and sells automotive HID headlamps, which contain automotive HID lamp ballasts.  An automotive HID lamp ballast is an electrical device that is essential for the operation of an HID headlamp.  It regulates the electrical current used to ignite and control the electrical arc that generates the intensely bright light emitted by an automotive HID headlamp fixture.

 

The department said the company and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy through meetings and conversations in which they discussed and agreed upon bids, price quotations and price adjustments and agreed to allocate among the companies certain sales of HID lamp ballasts sold to automobile and component manufacturers.

 

Including Stanley, 23 corporations have been charged in the department’s investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry.  Those companies have agreed to pay a total of over $1.8 billion in fines.  Additionally, 26 individuals have been charged.

 

Stanley Electric Co. Ltd. is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations.  The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

 

Today’s prosecution arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  Today’s charges were brought by the National Criminal Enforcement Section, with the assistance of the Detroit, Michigan Field Office of the FBI and the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.  Anyone with information concerning the focus of this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html, or call the Detroit Field Office of the FBI at 313-965-2323.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with Camelot Child Development Center of Oklahoma City and Edmond, Okla., under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The settlement resolves allegations that Camelot violated the ADA by prohibiting a child with Down syndrome from field trips, and threatening to expel her, because of her developmental delays.  Because the child is not fully toilet-trained, she wears pull-up diapers and requires help with toileting.  Camelot provides toileting assistance to younger children, but Camelot refused to provide such assistance to the child with Down syndrome during field trips.  As a result, the child could not join in these outings with the other children.  In addition, at one point, Camelot threatened to expel the child because of her need for toileting assistance.

 

Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in child care centers.  Under the ADA, child care centers must make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices or procedures when necessary to provide equal access to a child with a disability, unless a modification would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods and services.  Personal services, such as diapering or toileting assistance, may be required for children who need it due to a disability, regardless of age, when such personal services are provided to other children.

 

Camelot worked cooperatively with the Justice Department throughout the investigation to change its policies to ensure the center will treat children with disabilities fairly and equally.  Under the agreement, Camelot will also pay $3,000 to the family and provide one full year of child care services free of charge to compensate the child and the mother for the harm they have endured as a result of Camelot’s actions.  In addition, Camelot will train its staff on the ADA and develop and implement an anti-discrimination policy.  The department will monitor Camelot’s compliance for three years.

 

“Equal access to school and after-school programs is essential to children and parents across the country,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “School and after-school programs allow children with disabilities to learn and play with their peers and develop important social skills.  The Civil Rights Division takes disability discrimination in child care settings very seriously and will not allow the exclusion of children with developmental delays.”

 

“Children are our most valuable resource and must be afforded equal opportunities to grow, learn, and develop,” said U.S. Attorney Sanford C. Coats.  “The Americans with Disabilities Act ensures that a child with a disability has the same access to those opportunities as a child who is not disabled.”

 

The enforcement of the ADA is a top priority of the department’s Civil Rights Division.  Those interested in finding out more about this settlement or the obligations of child care centers under the ADA may call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov .  ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov .

Several California companies and individuals that formerly supplied beef to the National School Lunch Program have agreed to settle allegations of inhumane handling of cattle, circumventing appropriate inspection of nonambulatory disabled (“downer”) cattle and false representations regarding their eligibility to process beef, the Justice Department announced today.  The announcement follows approval of the last of these settlements by a California probate court.

“Children across the country depend on the National School Lunch Program to provide them with a healthy meal each day, so we all depend on companies providing food to the program to follow the rules designed to ensure those meals are safe to eat,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “The Justice Department will pursue aggressively anyone whose unlawful conduct puts the safety of our food at risk.”

“The contractors who supply beef and other meat products to schools and child-care facilities have a responsibility to provide our nation’s young people with products that come only from healthy and humanely handled animals,” said U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California André Birotte Jr.  “This settlement holds accountable businesses that mistreated cows on a regular basis and routinely evaded a critically important USDA inspection procedure that allowed ‘downer cows’ to be processed into food.”

The settlements will conclude a lawsuit initiated by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA) after an HSUS investigator videotaped alleged inhumane cattle handling and improper downer cattle inspection practices at the slaughterhouse and meat processing facility of Westland Meat Co. and Hallmark Meat Packing Co. in Chino, Calif.  The government later joined the lawsuit and brought additional claims that the defendants concealed their ineligibility to process beef because a convicted felon, Aaron “Arnie” Magidow, was a partner in and otherwise responsibly connected with the facility’s operations.  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations applicable to suppliers of the National School Lunch Program prohibit the inhumane handling of cattle, require the proper inspection and disposition of downer cattle and require suppliers to identify convicted felons who are responsibly connected to the suppliers’ operations. 

The National School Lunch Program, administered by the USDA, is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child-care institutions.  The program provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.  All ground beef containing the defendants’ products was recalled as of Feb. 16, 2008, and the defendants no longer supply beef to the National School Lunch Program. 

“A top priority for USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is protecting the integrity of America’s food supply by investigating violations of the Federal Meat Inspection Act,” said USDA-OIG Western Region Special Agent in Charge Lori Chan.  “Agents from OIG’s Diamond Bar, Calif., office conducted an extensive investigation of the Hallmark/Westland facility, which supplied ground beef to schools through USDA’s National School Lunch Program.  The government’s joint investigation led to one of the largest civil settlements in OIG’s history.”  
 
Under the settlements, Westland Meat Co., based in Corona Del Mar, Calif., and its owner Steve Mendell will pay $240,000, and Westland will enter into a consent judgment for $155.68 million.  M&M Management, also based in Corona Del Mar, Calif., and Cattleman’s Choice, based in Commerce, Calif., and the estate of Cattleman’s deceased owner, Arnie Magidow, and Magidow’s surviving spouse will pay a total of approximately $2.45 million.  Magidow’s surviving spouse was named in the lawsuit as a successor in interest to Magidow and is not alleged to have engaged in any wrongdoing.  In October 2012, defendants Donald R. Hallmark and Donald W. Hallmark settled allegations for $304,130.

The FCA’s whistleblower provisions, under which HSUS filed the lawsuit, permit a private entity to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government and to share in any proceeds from the suit.  The FCA also allows the government to intervene in the lawsuit, as it has done in this case.  As a result of the settlements announced today, HSUS will receive approximately $600,000.     

The case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch; in cooperation with the USDA Office of Inspector General.  The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

Osaka, Japan-based Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $120 million criminal fine for its role in two separate conspiracies to fix the prices of automotive components involving anti-vibration rubber and driveshaft parts installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.

 
According to a two-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo, Toyo engaged in a conspiracy to allocate sales of, to rig bids for, and to fix the prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts it sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. – more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru – and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers, in the United States and elsewhere.  According to the charge, Toyo and its co-conspirators carried out the anti-vibration rubber parts conspiracy from as early as March 1996 until at least May 2012.

 
In addition, according to the charge, Toyo engaged in a separate conspiracy to allocate sales of, and to fix, raise and maintain the prices of automotive constant-velocity-joint boots it sold to U.S. subsidiaries of GKN plc, a British automotive parts supplier . According to the charge, Toyo and its co-conspirators carried out the constant-velocity-joint boots conspiracy from as early as January 2006 until as late as September 2010.

 
Toyo, which has subsidiaries based in Franklin, Ky., and White, Ga., has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.  The plea agreement is subject to court approval.

 
“Today’s charge is the latest step in the Antitrust Division’s effort to hold automobile part suppliers accountable for their illegal and collusive conduct,” said Renata B. Hesse, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “The division continues to vigorously prosecute companies and individuals that seek to maximize their profits through illegal and anticompetitive means.”

 
Automotive anti-vibration rubber parts are comprised primarily of rubber and metal, and include engine mounts and suspension bushings.  They are installed in automobiles for the purpose of reducing road and engine vibration.  Automotive constant-velocity-joint boots are composed of rubber or plastic, and are used to cover the constant-velocity-joints of an automobile to protect the joints from contaminants.

The department said the company and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracies through meetings and conversations, discussed and agreed upon bids, price quotations and price adjustments, and agreed to allocate among the companies certain sales of the anti-vibration rubber and constant-velocity-joint boots parts sold to automobile and component manufacturers.

 
Including Toyo, 22 companies and 26 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry.  All 22 companies have either pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in criminal fines.  Of the 26 executives, 20 have been sentenced to serve time in U.S. prisons or have entered into plea agreements calling for significant prison sentences.

 
Toyo is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations.  The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

 
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  Today’s charges were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.  Anyone with information concerning the focus of this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1–888–647–3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office at 216-522-1400.  

Three subsidiaries of Weatherford International Limited (Weatherford International), a Swiss oil services company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, have agreed to plead guilty to anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and export controls violations under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA).  Weatherford International and its subsidiaries have also agreed to pay more than $252 million in penalties and fines.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas, and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.    
 
Weatherford Services Limited (Weatherford Services), a subsidiary of Weatherford International, today agreed to plead guilty to violating the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. As part of a coordinated FCPA resolution, the department today also filed a criminal information in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas charging Weatherford International with one count of violating the internal controls provisions of the FCPA. To resolve the charge, Weatherford International has agreed to pay an $87.2 million criminal penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the department.

“Effective internal accounting controls are not only good policy, they are required by law for publicly traded companies – and for good reason,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman.  “This case demonstrates how loose controls and an anemic compliance environment can foster foreign bribery and fraud by a company’s subsidiaries around the globe.  Although Weatherford’s extensive remediation and its efforts to improve its compliance functions are positive signs, the corrupt conduct of Weatherford International’s subsidiaries allowed it to earn millions of dollars in illicit profits, for which it is now paying a significant price.”

“When business executives engage in bribery and pay-offs in order to obtain contracts, an uneven marketplace is created and honest competitor companies are put at a disadvantage,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave.  “The FBI is committed to investigating corrupt backroom deals that influence contract procurement and threaten our global commerce.”  

In a separate matter, Weatherford International and four of its subsidiaries today agreed to pay a combined $100 million to resolve a criminal and administrative export controls investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. As part of the resolution of that investigation, Weatherford International has agreed to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement for a term of two years and two of its subsidiaries have agreed to plead guilty to export controls charges.

“The resolution today of these criminal charges represents the seriousness that our office and the Department of Justice puts on enforcing the export control and sanctions laws,” said U.S. Attorney Magidson.

In a related FCPA matter, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) filed a settlement today in which Weatherford International consented to the entry of a permanent injunction against FCPA violations and agreed to pay $65,612,360 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. Weatherford International also agreed with the SEC to comply with certain undertakings regarding its FCPA compliance program, including the retention of an independent corporate compliance monitor.

The combined investigations resulted in the conviction of three Weatherford subsidiaries, the entry by Weatherford International into two deferred prosecution agreements and a civil settlement, and the payment of a total of $252,690,606 in penalties and fines.  

FCPA Violations

According to court documents filed by the department, prior to 2008, Weatherford International knowingly failed to establish an effective system of internal accounting controls designed to detect and prevent corruption, including FCPA violations. The company failed to implement these internal controls despite operating in an industry with a substantial corruption risk profile and despite growing its global footprint in large part by purchasing existing companies, often themselves in countries with high corruption risks. As a result, a permissive and uncontrolled environment existed within which employees of certain of Weatherford International’s wholly owned subsidiaries in Africa and the Middle East were able to engage in corrupt conduct over the course of many years, including both bribery of foreign officials and fraudulent misuse of the United Nations’ Oil for Food Program.

Court documents state that Weatherford Services employees established and operated a joint venture in Africa with two local entities controlled by foreign officials and their relatives from 2004 through at least 2008. The foreign officials selected the entities with which Weatherford Services would partner, and Weatherford Services and Weatherford International employees knew that the members of the local entities included foreign officials’ relatives and associates. Notwithstanding the fact that the local entities did not contribute capital, expertise or labor to the joint venture, neither Weatherford Services nor Weatherford International investigated why the local entities were involved in the joint venture. The sole purpose of those local entities, in fact, was to serve as conduits through which Weatherford Services funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to the foreign officials controlling them.  In exchange for the payments they received from Weatherford Services through the joint venture, the foreign officials awarded the joint venture lucrative contracts, gave Weatherford Services inside information about competitors’ pricing, and took contracts away from Weatherford Services’ competitors and awarded them to the joint venture.

Additionally, Weatherford Services employees in Africa bribed a foreign official so that he would approve the renewal of an oil services contract, according to court documents. Weatherford Services funneled bribery payments to the foreign official through a freight forwarding agent it retained via a consultancy agreement in July 2006. Weatherford Services generated sham purchase orders for consulting services the freight forwarding agent never performed, and the freight forwarding agent, in turn, generated sham invoices for those same nonexistent services. When paid for those invoices, the freight forwarding agent passed at least some of those monies on to the foreign official with the authority to approve Weatherford Services’ contract renewal. In exchange for these payments, the foreign official awarded the renewal contract to Weatherford Services in 2006.

Further, according to court documents, in a third scheme in the Middle East, from 2005 through 2011, employees of Weatherford Oil Tools Middle East Limited (WOTME), another Weatherford International subsidiary, awarded improper “volume discounts” to a distributor who supplied Weatherford International products to a government-owned national oil company, believing that those discounts were being used to create a slush fund with which to make bribe payments to decision-makers at the national oil company. Between 2005 and 2011, WOTME paid approximately $15 million in volume discounts to the distributor.   

Weatherford International’s failure to implement effective internal accounting controls also permitted corrupt conduct relating to the United Nations’ Oil for Food Program to occur, according to court documents. Between in or about February 2002 and in or about July 2002, WOTME paid approximately $1,470,128 in kickbacks to the government of Iraq on nine contracts with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, as well as other ministries, to provide oil drilling and refining equipment. WOTME falsely recorded these kickbacks as other, seemingly legitimate, types of costs and fees. Further, WOTME concealed the kickbacks from the U.N. by inflating contract prices by 10 percent.

According to court documents, these corrupt transactions in Africa and the Middle East earned Weatherford International profits of $54,486,410, which were included in the consolidated financial statements that Weatherford International filed with the SEC .

In addition to the guilty plea by Weatherford Services, the deferred prosecution agreement entered into by Weatherford International and the Department requires the company to cooperate with law enforcement, retain an independent corporate compliance monitor for at least 18 months, and continue to implement an enhanced compliance program and internal controls designed to prevent and detect future FCPA violations. The agreement acknowledges Weatherford International’s cooperation in this matter, including conducting a thorough internal investigation into bribery and related misconduct, and its extensive remediation and compliance improvement efforts.

Export Control Violations

According to court documents filed today in a separate matter, between 1998 and 2007, Weatherford International and some its subsidiaries engaged in conduct that violated various U.S. export control and sanctions laws by exporting or re-exporting oil and gas drilling equipment to, and conducting Weatherford business operations in, sanctioned countries without the required U.S. Government authorization. In addition to the involvement of employees of several Weatherford International subsidiaries, some Weatherford International executives, managers, or employees on multiple occasions participated in, directed, approved, and facilitated the transactions and the conduct of its various subsidiaries.

This conduct involved persons within the U.S.-based management structure of Weatherford International participating in conduct by Weatherford International foreign subsidiaries, and the unlicensed export or re-export of U.S.-origin goods to Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Weatherford subsidiaries Precision Energy Services Colombia Ltd. (PESC) and Precision Energy Services Ltd. (PESL), both headquartered in Canada, conducted business in the country of Cuba. Weatherford’s subsidiary Weatherford Oil Tools Middle East (WOTME), headquartered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), conducted business in the countries of Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Weatherford’s subsidiary Weatherford Production Optimisation f/k/a eProduction Solutions U.K. Ltd. (eProd-U.K.), headquartered in the United Kingdom, conducted business in the country of Iran. Weatherford generated approximately $110 million in revenue from its illegal transactions in Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan.    

To resolve these charges, Weatherford and its subsidiaries will pay a total penalty of $100 million, with a $48 million monetary penalty paid pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement, $2 million paid in criminal fines pursuant to the two guilty pleas, and a $50 million civil penalty paid pursuant to a Department of Commerce settlement agreement to resolve 174 violations charged by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. Weatherford International and certain of its affiliates are also signing a $91 million settlement agreement with the Department of the Treasury to resolve their civil liability arising out of the same underlying course of conduct, which will be deemed satisfied by the payments above.

The FCPA case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and its team of special agents dedicated to the investigation of foreign bribery cases. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jason Linder of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McIntyre of the Southern District of Texas. The case was previously investigated by Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Kathleen Hamann and Allan Medina, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. The Justice Department also acknowledges and expresses its appreciation for the significant assistance provided by the SEC’s FCPA Unit. 

The export case was investigated by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Mark McIntyre and was previously investigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Vaden.

Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa .

The Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced today that they have moved to intervene in National Federation of the Blind et al v. HRB Digital LLC et al, a private lawsuit alleging disability discrimination by HRB Digital LLC and HRB Tax Group Inc., subsidiaries of H&R Block Inc.  In the memorandum and proffered complaint filed by the United States in support of its motion to intervene, the United States alleges that the H&R Block companies discriminate against individuals with disabilities and that their website, www.hrblock.com , is being operated in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), notwithstanding well-established and readily available guidelines for delivering web content in an accessible manner.  The motion, attached complaint in intervention and supporting memorandum were filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ Boston Division.

 

As alleged in the filings today, H&R Block is one of the largest tax return preparers in the United States.  Its companies offer a wide range of services through www.hrblock.com , including professional and do-it-yourself tax preparation, instructional videos, office location information, interactive live video conference and chat with tax professionals, hybrid online and in-store services and electronic filing.  Their website, however, is not accessible to many individuals with disabilities and prevents some people with disabilities from completing even the most basic activities on the site.

 

Today’s filings further state that many individuals with disabilities, including, among others, people who are blind, deaf or have physical disabilities with an impact on manual dexterity, use computers and the Internet with the help of assistive technologies.  For example, screen reader software makes audible information that is otherwise presented visually on a computer screen; captioning translates video narration and sound into text; and keyboard navigation allows keyboard input rather than a mouse to navigate a website for individuals with visual, hearing or manual dexterity disabilities.  Such technologies have been widely used for some time and there are readily available, well-established, consensus-based guidelines – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 – for making web content accessible to individuals with disabilities.

 

The complaint in intervention seeks a court order that would ensure that tax services offered through www.hrblock.com are fully and equally accessible to individuals with disabilities.  The department also seeks an award of monetary damages for aggrieved individuals, including the two named plaintiffs and a civil penalty to vindicate the public interest.

 

“The web revolutionizes our lives daily and maximizes our independence in many areas,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “Inaccessible websites of public accommodations are not simply an inconvenience to individuals with disabilities – they deny persons with disabilities access to basic goods and services that people without disabilities take advantage of every day.  An inaccessible website can also mean a business loses a customer it never knew it had.”

 

“We are building an electronic world in which we ever-increasingly live,” said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz for the District of Massachusetts.  “All benefit when, as the ADA requires, we build our online businesses, schools and other public spaces in a manner equally accessible to all.”

 

Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations.  It also requires public accommodations to take necessary steps to ensure individuals with disabilities are not excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services, such as accurate captioning of audible materials and labeling of visual materials. 

 

To find out more about federal disability rights laws, call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD) or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov .  ADA complaints, including those involving the inaccessibility of www.hrblock.com , may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov .

Accessible versions of the motion to intervene, proposed complaint to intervene and memorandum in support of the motion can be found at www.ada.gov.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the homeowner’s association, management company and property manager of a Minnetonka, Minn., condominium complex, alleging that they discriminated against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

 

“Families with children should have the same ability to enjoy their homes as all other tenants,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the department’s Civil Rights Division. “The department is committed to enforcing the Fair Housing Act and ensuring that housing providers do not enact policies that discriminate against tenants or deprive tenants of certain amenities due to their familial status.”

 

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, involves the Condominiums of Greenbrier Village, a six-building complex that contains approximately 462 condominium units.  The lawsuit alleges that the Greenbrier Village homeowners association, property management company Gassen Company Inc. and Gassen employee Diane Brown adopted and enforced policies that discriminatorily limited or prohibited children from playing in the complex’s common grounds.

 

This lawsuit arose as a result of a complaint filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by one family with children who lives at Greenbrier Village.  After HUD investigated the complaint, it issued a charge of discrimination and the matter was referred to the department.

 

“Housing providers cannot impose more restrictive policies on families with children or evict them simply because their children leave the unit,” said HUD Acting Assistant Secretary Bryan Greene for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.  “HUD and DOJ are committed to enforcing the fair housing rights of all people, including families with children.”

 

The lawsuit seeks a court order prohibiting future discrimination by the defendants, monetary damages for those harmed by the defendants’ actions and a civil penalty.

 

“Each person is entitled to fair treatment under the law, a foundation for all thriving communities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John R. Marti of the District of Minnesota.  “Unfortunately, families with children may be confronted with discrimination in housing.  The Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office will intervene to obtain fair treatment for all Minnesotans.”

           

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.  Individ uals who believe they may have been victims of housing discrimination may contact the department at 1-800-896-7743 or by e-mail at fairhousing@usdoj.gov , or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or through www.hud.gov/fairhousing .

 

The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations still must be proven in federal court.

Attorney General Eric Holder recognizes 270 Justice Department employees for their distinguished public service today as part of the 61st Annual Attorney General Awards program. In addition, 53 other individuals, including federal employees and civilians, are also honored for their work. These annual awards recognize department employees and other individuals for their dedication to carrying out the Department of Justice’s mission.

“Despite significant challenges, evolving threats, and unprecedented budgetary difficulties, these dedicated employees have exemplified the very best of what it means to serve the American people,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Over the past year, each of them has gone above and beyond the call of duty to carry out the Justice Department’s critical mission and protect our fellow citizens.  Some of these remarkable men and women have placed their own lives at great risk in order to save others. All of these employees and their families have made tremendous sacrifices in the name of public service. I am proud, and humbled, to count them as colleagues. And I congratulate them on this prestigious and well-deserved recognition.”

Attorney General Holder bestows the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the department’s highest award – to two teams this year. The awards are given to teams involved in the defense of the Affordable Care Act and the prosecution of companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service is presented to the following team for its successful defense of the Affordable Care Act, a landmark piece of legislation. With high stakes and a staggering volume of work to be done, this team withstood intense pressure and showcased superb litigation skills in drafting the law’s defense to constitutional challenges and lawsuits.

From the Civil Division Federal Programs Branch recipients include: Jennifer D. Ricketts, Director; Sheila M. Lieber, Deputy Director; Brian G. Kennedy and Joel McElvain, Senior Trial Counsels; and Eric Beckenhauer, Michelle R. Bennett, Ethan P. Davis, Kimberly Herb, Tamra T. Moore, Scott A. Risner, Justin M. Sandberg, Eric Richardson Womack and Kathryn L. Wyer, Trial Attorneys.  From the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division, recipients include: Mark B. Stern and Michael S. Raab, Appellate Litigation Counsels; Alisa B. Klein, Appeals Counsel; and Samantha L. Chaifetz, Anisha Dasgupta and Dana Kaersvang, Trial Attorneys.  From the Office of the Solicitor General, recipients include: Edwin S. Kneedler, Deputy Solicitor General, and Joseph R. Palmore, Trial Attorney.  From the Office of Legal Counsel, recipients include: Leondra R. Kruger, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.  From the Appellate Staff of the Tax Division, recipients include: Gilbert S. Rothenberg, Section Chief; Francesca Ugolini, Attorney; and Teresa E. McLaughlin, Reviewer. 

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service is also presented to the following team that dedicated itself to the historic prosecution of BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster and its aftermath.  From the Deepwater Horizon Task Force, recipients include: John D. Buretta, Director and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division (former); Avi Gesser, Deputy Director and Counsel to the Chief of the Fraud Section (former); and Derek A. Cohen, Deputy Director and Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section (former.  From the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Rohan A. Virginkar, Trial Attorney, and Katelynn Loughnane, Paralegal.  From the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, recipients include: Colin L. Black, Trial Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, recipients include Scott M. Cullen, Assistant U.S. Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, recipients include: Richard R. Pickens II, Assistant U.S. Attorney.  From the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Sandra M. Zulli, Supervisory Special Agent; Kelly C. Bryson, Michael R. Forrester, J.R. Smith, and Jeffrey T. Wright, Special Agents; Barbara G. O’Donnell, Special Agent (retired); and Darrell W. Hill, Intelligence Analyst.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism recognizes an extraordinary act of courage and voluntary risk of life during the performance of official duties. One award is presented this year.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism goes to a team of federal, state and local law enforcement officers involved in the apprehension of a dangerous fugitive on Feb. 29, 2012 in Cambridge, Md. The 30-minute gun battle that ensued with the fugitive injured a member of the team, who ultimately was saved by the courageous efforts of his colleagues. After the team member was injured, his colleagues urged him to jump out of a window, where he was quickly rescued and taken to a police vehicle. During the firefight, the injured detective also managed to protect the fugitive’s girlfriend from the ensuing gunfire. From the Investigative Operations Division of the U.S. Marshals Service, recipients include: Barry S. Boright, Supervisory Inspector, and Brian P. Sheppard, Inspector.  From the Maryland State Police, recipients include: Christopher Snyder, Senior Trooper.  From the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, recipients include: Thomas Funk, Detective.  From the Salisbury Police Department, recipients include: Milton Rodriguez, Detective.  From the Cambridge Police Department, recipients include: Christopher Flynn and Antoine Patton, Detectives; Justin Todd, Sergeant; and Joseph Jones, Private First Class.

The Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity pays tribute to the memory and achievements of former Attorney General Edward H. Levi, whose career as an attorney, law professor, dean and public servant exemplified these qualities in the best traditions of the department. This year, the award is presented to Ronald A. Cimino, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division.

Cimino, through his nearly 40-year career, has enabled the government to achieve successful results in many important criminal tax cases, each time demonstrating himself to be a primer criminal litigator and senior manager. Over the course of his service to the department, Cimino has mentored and inspired countless attorneys, and is held in the highest regard within the tax community.

The Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award recognizes employees who have served at least 20 years in the Department and have demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication throughout their careers. This year’s award is presented to Daniel L. Koffsky, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).  Koffsky is honored for his exceptional contributions to OLC, the department, and the rest of the Executive Branch, including especially the sharing of his expertise across an extremely wide range of legal topics.  A living repository of OLC’s precedents and practice, Koffsky has brilliantly served the department and his colleagues.  He is a lawyer with the utmost integrity and judgment.

The William French Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cooperative Law Enforcement is an honorary award granted to recognize state and local law enforcement officials who have made significant contributions to cooperative law enforcement endeavors. This year’s award is presented to Timothy J. Johnstone, Executive Director of the Sacramento Regional Threat Assessment Center of the Central California Intelligence Center, for his development of the office’s “Fusion Center” model in the Eastern District of California. With his leadership, more than 250 law enforcement agencies over 88,000 square miles and 34 counties have been able to communicate effectively with one another on key law enforcement planning matters.

The Attorney General’s Award for Meritorious Public Service is the top public service award granted by the Department of Justice, and is designed to recognize the most significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the department in the accomplishment of its mission and objectives. This year’s award is presented to Ernie Allen, President and Chief Executive Office (former) of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Allen, who served from 1984 until 2012 at the Center, is awarded for his leadership in circulating millions of photos of missing children and increasing the organization’s recovery rate from 62 percent in 1990 to 97 percent today.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service is the Justice Department’s second-highest award for employee performance. The recipients of this award exemplify the highest commitment to the department’s mission. Ten awards are presented this year to individuals and teams.

One award is presented to Richard Zayas, Special Agent in the Special Operations Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Special Agent Zayas displayed exemplary performance in the creation of Operation Gideon, an undercover operation designed to use ATF agents to reduce violent crime and target firearms. Special Agent Zayas directed numerous undercover operations that resulted in 200 defendants being referred for federal prosecution and more than 100 firearms being seized.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service is also presented to a team for its extraordinary work in implementing the President’s conclusion that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional and warrants heightened scrutiny. This dedicated team of litigators and staff showed a deep understanding of the law and sound strategic vision in litigating matters ranging from bankruptcy to federal benefits and immigration.
From the Civil Division Office of Immigration Litigation, recipients include: Jeffrey S. Robins, Assistant Director; Aaron S. Goldsmith, Senior Litigation Counsel; and Timothy M. Belsan and Jesi J. Carlson, Trial Attorneys.  From the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division, recipients include: Robert E. Kopp, Director (retired); Michael Jay Singer, Assistant Director; and August E. Flentje, Helen L. Gilbert, Adam C. Jed, and Benjamin S. Kingsley (former), Trial Attorneys.  From the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division, recipients include: Arthur R. Goldberg, Assistant Director; Christopher R. Hall and Jean Lin, Senior Counsels; Steven Y. Bressler and W. Scott Simpson, Senior Trial Counsels; and Judson O. Littleton, Trial Attorney.  From the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, recipients include: Matthew S. Nosanchuk, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General (former).  From the Appellate Staff of the Civil Rights Division, recipients include: Holly Thomas, Trial Attorney, and Sharon M. McGowan, Trial Attorney (former).  From the Office of the Attorney General, recipients include Jenny R. Mosier, Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General.  From the Office of Legal Policy, recipients include: Lamar W. Baker, Deputy Assistant Attorney General (former), and Steven B. Siger, Chief of Staff.  From the Office of the Solicitor General, recipients include Pratik A. Shah and Eric J. Feigin, Trial Attorneys.  From the Office of the General Counsel for the Executive Office for the U.S. Trustees, recipients include: Lisa A. Tracy, Deputy General Counsel.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service also is presented to a team of attorneys for their outstanding investigation and litigation in United States v. Wells Fargo Bank.  Their efforts led to a settlement of $234 million, including compensation for more than 38,000 African-American and Hispanic borrowers nationwide who were systemically steered into subprime mortgage products or charged higher prices because of their race or national origin.  From the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, recipients include Eric I. Halperin, Special Counsel for Fair Lending.  From the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division, recipients include Steven H. Rosenbaum, Chief; Jon M. Seward, Deputy Chief; and Elizabeth Parr Hecker, Holly C. Lincoln and Coty R. Montag, Trial Attorneys.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service also goes to a team recognized for their successful investigation and prosecution of Colonial Bank/Taylor, Bean and Whitaker. Within weeks of the cooperation of an insider familiar with the conspirators’ actions during the financial crisis, this dedicated team of prosecutors and federal agents executed search warrants that ultimately led to an indictment returning only 11 months later for wire and securities fraud. From the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Patrick F. Stokes, Deputy Chief, Robert A. Zink, Trial Attorney, Brigham Q. Cannon and Charles D. Reed, Trial Attorneys (former), and Jennifer Z. Gindin, Paralegal Specialist (former); From the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Jeannette M. Gunderson, Acting Assistant Deputy Chief.  From the Appellate Staff of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Kirby A. Heller, Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, recipients include: Charles F. Connolly, Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit (former); Paul J. Nathanson, Assistant U.S. Attorney; and Lisa K. Porter, Paralegal Specialist.  From the Operational Technology Division of the FBI, recipients include: W.L. Scott Bean III, Section Chief.  From the Washington Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: John M. Gardner, Special Agent, and Scott J. Turner, Special Agent (retired).  From the Office of Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, recipients include: Peter C. Emerzian, Deputy Inspector General of Investigations; Paul G. Conlon, Supervisory Special Agent; Timothy A. Mowery, Senior Special Agent; and Kari E. Meyer and David A. Mosakowski, Special Agents.  From the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, recipients include: C. Ed Slage, Special Agent in Charge.  From the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, recipients include: John T. Crawford, Senior Special Agent.

Also being awarded with the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for their outstanding and historic achievement in successful investigation and prosecuting GlaxoSmithKline is a team of attorneys nominated for their exceptional creativity, determination and perseverance in resolving the largest health care fraud settlement in department history.  The $3 billion civil and criminal resolution will significantly deter future pricing misconduct and future fraud by pharmaceutical companies who withhold important safety information about their products and seek to manipulate the marketplace.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, recipients include: Sara Miron Bloom, Brian Pérez-Daple, Amanda Strachan, Susan G. Winkler and Edwin G. Winstead, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.  From the Consumer Protection Branch of the Civil Division, recipients include: David A. Frank and Patrick Jasperse, Trial Attorneys.  From the Civil Fraud Section of the Civil Division, recipients include: Andy J. Mao and Jamie Ann Yavelberg, Assistant Directors; and Charles J. Biro, Natalie A. Priddy, Douglas J. Rosenthal, Lisa Katz Samuels and Jeffrey A. Toll, Trial Attorneys.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service also is presented to a team responsible for the successful investigation and conviction of Jared Lee Loughner, an Arizona man who attempted to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others at a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.  In the wake of this tragedy, the team demonstrated skill, professionalism and compassion in dutifully carrying out their responsibilities.  Due to the team’s efforts, Loughner was sentenced to serve seven consecutive life terms and an additional 140 consecutive years in prison.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, recipients include: Wallace H. Kleindienst, Senior Litigation Counsel; Mary Sue Feldmeier, Beverly K. Anderson, Christina M. Cabanillas and Bruce M. Ferg, Assistant U.S. Attorneys; Shawn M. Cox, Victim Witness Coordinator; Delores J. Arter and Mary-Anne Estrada, Victim Witness Specialists; Thomas J. Jefferson, Victim Witness Specialist (former); Wendy A. Dolph, Supervisory Legal Assistant; Celeste Maniscalco, Legal Assistant; and Sylvia Romero, Appellate Paralegal Specialist.  From the Tucson Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Tony M. Taylor Jr. and Alan P. Misiaszek, Special Agents.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service also goes to a team involved in the successful investigation and prosecution of public officials in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, effectively ending the reign of a corrupt regime in the state’s largest county.  This team proved at several trials that a County Commissioner orchestrated a decade-long racketeering conspiracy that involved almost 20 separate schemes and more than 100 bribes.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, recipients include: Antoinette T. Bacon, Henry DeBaggis, Nancy L. Kelley, Sharon L. Long, Robert J. Patton, Justin J. Roberts, Ann C. Rowland and Bernard A. Smith, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.  From the Cleveland Division of the FBI, recipients include: Gregory D.L. Curtis, Melissa L. Fortunato, Raymond Michael Massie, Kirk P. Spielmaker and William M. Werner, Special Agents.  From the Wilmington Resident Agency of the FBI, recipients include: Christine C. Oliver, Special Agent.  From the Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. Department of Treasury, recipients include: Kelly D. Fatula, Special Agent.

Also awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service are members of a team that demonstrated exemplary performance in Operation Red Coalition, an investigation into Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran who attempted to hire a Mexican drug dealer to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States.  The team’s dedicated service helped to foil the elaborate plan coordinated in part by members of the highest levels of the Iranian government.  From the Houston Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Christopher G. Raia and O. Robert Woloszyn, Special Agents; Kenneth S. Smith, Intelligence Analyst; and Patricia Swagerty, Forensic Accountant.  From the Detroit Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Matthew Aken, Special Agent.  From the Washington Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Thatcher P. Mohajerin, Assistant Special Agent in Charge.  From the Security Division of the FBI, recipients include: Luis G. Ortiz, Supervisory Special Agent.  From the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, recipients include: April Yufeng Qian and Liane K. Roach, Intelligence Analysts.  From the Baghdad Attaché for the International Operations Division of the FBI, recipients include: James F. Walsh Jr., Supervisory Special Agent.  From the Office of the General Counsel of the FBI, recipients include: John B. O’Keefe, General Attorney.  From the Houston Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), recipients include: James R. Thornton and Nathaniel C. Fountain, Special Agents.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, recipients include: Edward Y. Kim and Glen A. Kopp, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Also awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service is Dean C. Sovolos, Special Agent in the New York
Field Office of the FBI. Special Agent Sovolos is nominated for his role as a program manager on the New York Field Office Counterterrorism squad for the United Kingdom (UK) portfolio.  The UK is widely deemed to be one of the most important international partners in fighting terrorism, and the United States’ relationship with the UK serves as a model for other European nations.  Moreover, Special Agent Sovolos has worked to disrupt terrorist cells and enhance the FBI’s relationship with the UK.  He manages a caseload of more than 15 investigations and has advanced matters of significance to the United States.

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service also goes to the team responsible for ensuring that the department sustained its clean financial audit opinion.  This opinion matters as it demonstrates to the American taxpayers that the department’s finances associated with a $28 billion budget are sound.  In the face of shrinking resources and avenues to conduct audit reviews and evaluate internal controls, the team was able to design and deploy many cost saving initiatives that did not jeopardize the outcome of the audit.  From the Quality Control and Compliance Group of the Financial Staff in the Justice Management Division, recipients include: Stephanie A. Irby, Assistant Director; Yolanda Little, Deputy Assistant Director; Vu C. Truong, Supervisory Computer Specialist; and Lauren M. Webster, Accountant.  From the Financial Statements Group of the Finance Staff of the Justice Management Division, recipients include: Valerie D. Grant, Assistant Director; David M. Bethea, Deputy Assistant Director; and Jerri N. Jones, Accountant.

The Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement recognizes outstanding professional achievements by law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice.  Two awards are presented this year.  

The Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement is presented to the team that investigated organized drug crime in Florida and had a far reaching impact, from Miami Dade and Broward Counties to Colombia, Mexico, Amsterdam, Spain and Greece.  Due to the highly competent nature of their undercover investigations, several drug “kingpins,” operating abroad to complicate prosecutorial efforts, were foiled and their operations crippled, preventing thousands of kilograms of cocaine and other drugs from becoming available.  From the Miami Field Division of the DEA, recipients include: Daniel G. Escobar, Group Supervisor; and Scott G. Meisel, Christopher C. Goumenis, Victoria J. Metker, Kirk L. Johnson, and Kristine E. Kibble, Special Agents.  From the North Miami Beach Police Department, recipients include: William Beauparlant, Sergeant, and Sergio Diaz, Task Force Agent.  From the North Bay Village Police Department, recipients include: John Costa, Task Force Agent.  From the Coconut Creek Police Department, recipients include: Kevin Vernetti, Sergeant.

Another Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement is presented to John Jaehnig, Senior Inspector of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Investigative Operations Division, for going above and beyond the call of duty to bring justice to those wanted for the kidnapping and murder of two witnesses in a shooting trial.  After leads began to diminish, Senior Inspector Jaehnig’s investigative efforts narrowed down the search for the two kidnapped women and he ultimately developed information which led authorities to a Detroit city park on March 28, 2012, where the young ladies’ remains were recovered.  His investigative measures also led to an additional suspect who had been hired to commit these crimes. His efforts resulted in the conviction of all five defendants involved.

The Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service in Indian Country recognizes extraordinary efforts by department employees who demonstrate the department’s commitment to fighting crime in Indian Country.  This award is being presented to a team of dedicated department attorneys and staff who fought to combat violence against Native American women.  Due to their exceptional work, tribes will be able to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence in Indian Country for the first time in decades.  This system-wide change in Indian Country will hold accountable all perpetrators of domestic and dating violence against women regardless of race or tribal affiliation.
From the Office of the Associate Attorney General, recipients include: Samuel Hirsch, Deputy Associate Attorney General.  From the Office of Violence Against Women, recipients include: Virginia S. Davis, Deputy Director for Policy Development and Communication; Lorraine P. Edmo, Deputy Director for Tribal Affairs; and Jennifer E. Kaplan, Supervisory Attorney-Advisor.  From the Appellate Staff of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Richard A. Friedman, Appellate Attorney.  From the Office of Legal Education in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, recipients include: Leslie A. Hagen, National Indian Country Training Coordinator.  From the Office of the Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Justice Programs, recipients include: Eugenia Tyner-Dawson, Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs.  From the Office of Public Affairs, recipients include: Wyn Hornbuckle, Public Affairs Specialist.  From the Office of Tribal Justice, recipients include: Tracy S. Toulou, Director, and Gaye L. Tenoso, Deputy Director.  From the Office of Legislative Affairs, recipients include: Rita Aguilar, Attorney-Advisor (former).  From the Office of Legal Counsel, recipients include: Zachary Price, Attorney-Advisor (former). 

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Management recognizes outstanding administrative or managerial achievements that have significantly improved operations and productivity, or reduced costs.

John Ely, a Management and Program Analyst in the Office of Security and Technology of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, is awarded the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Management for his outstanding work and research into new security technologies, as applied in the correctional environment.  His dedication in researching and implementing these new technologies has led to increased safety and protection of staff, inmates and the public.  Ely's skill in fostering partnerships with law enforcement experts, technologists, and equipment manufacturers has benefitted the department and federal prisons, ensuring that they remain on the forefront of any developments and advancements in correctional security and employee safety.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology recognizes outstanding achievements in applying information technology to improve operations and productivity, reduce or avoid costs and solve problems.  This award is presented to one team this year.  

The team awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology led the adoption of a next generation case management system for the FBI.  In late 2010, when the Information Technology Branch Sentinel Agile Team assumed responsibility for the new system, it had minimal workflow capability.  Upon their successful efforts, the system was fully implemented in July of 2012 and became the FBI’s case management system of record.  Due to their dedicated service to the FBI, the system reduces the time it takes to serialize a case and dramatically shortens the time necessary to share information between field offices, agents and intelligence analysts.  With the critical nature and complexity of today’s threats, this new management system enables the FBI to coordinate case information across the globe and is one of the most sweeping technological contributions to its mission in the agency’s history.

From the Denver Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Nathan Burrows and Dorian Deligeorges, Special Agents.  From the Las Vegas Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Scott M. Baugher, Special Agent.  From the Charlotte Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Ronald L. Godfrey, Special Agent.  From the Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Nathaniel Le, Supervisory Special Agent.  From the Sacramento Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Tiffany Kelley Martin, Special Agent.  From the Directorate of Intelligence, recipients include: Debra McDougall, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst.  From the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, recipients include: Timothy P. Bell, Supervisory Special Agent.  From the Information Technology Services Division of the FBI, recipients include: Michael J. Malinowski, Assistant Section Chief.  From the Information Technology Management Division of the FBI, recipients include: Caryl T. Tallon, Unit Chief, and Robert T. Blake, Special Assistant.  From the Information Technology Engineering Division of the FBI, recipients include: Erich Wiederhold, Supervisory Special Agent; Kevin Matthew Tunks, Supervisory Information Technology Specialist; and Susan Dawn High and Michael R. Kenney, Information Technology Specialists.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions towards protecting U.S. national security.  Two awards are presented this year.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security is presented to the team that successfully convicted Mahamud Said Omar, after a nearly five-year investigation into men traveling from Minneapolis to Somalia to join the foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab.  This dedicated team of attorneys and agents crippled this recruitment program and convicted eight defendants responsible for its administration.  Their efforts also resulted in cooperation from several witnesses, which provided the United States with a significant window into the activities of al-Shabaab’s leadership and the foreign fighters under their direction.

            From the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division (NSD), recipients include: William M. Narus, Trial Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, recipients include: LeeAnn K. Bell, Charles J. Kovats, Jr. and John F. Docherty, Assistant U.S. Attorneys; and W. Anders Folk, Assistant U.S. Attorney (retired).  From the Minneapolis Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Earl Kent Wilson, Supervisory Special Agent; and Michael N. Cannizzaro Jr., Karie A. Gibson, Jeffrey T. Moniz, Patrick M. Rielly, Harry M. Samit, Kiann Vandenover and Scott L. Zimmerman, Special Agents.  From the U.S. Department of the Army, recipients include: Corrine M. Tullos, Special Agent.  From the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, recipients include: Bradley A. Otremba, Task Force Officer and Investigator.

Another team receiving the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security is a team that investigated and prosecuted Khalid Ali Aldawsari, who attempted to construct a powerful improvised explosive device to target high profile locations, including the residence of a former President of the United States.  With extensive coordination and technical expertise, Aldawsari was convicted after a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison for his actions.

From the Counterterrorism Section of the NSD, recipients include: David P. Cora, Trial Attorney, and Pamela J. Hall, Legal Administrative Specialist.  From the Office of Intelligence of the NSD, recipients include: Robert J. Lloyd, Supervisory Attorney-Advisor, and Charles E. Luftig, Attorney-Advisor.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, recipients include: Linda C. Groves and Denise Williams, Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorneys; Jeffrey R. Haag and Matthew Kacsmaryk, Assistant U.S. Attorneys; and Clyde Richard Baker, Assistant U.S. Attorney (retired).  From the Dallas Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Kevin L. Gentry, Kathryn A. Hughes, Michael N. Orndorff and Loretta Smitherman, Special Agents.  From the Laboratory Division of the FBI, recipients include: W. Mark Whitworth, Supervisory Special Agent, and Robert F. Mothershead II, Supervisory Chemist.  From the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, recipients include: R. David Collins, Unit Chief, and Michael Bonsiewich, Intelligence Analyst.  From the Office of the General Counsel of the FBI, recipients include: Sunjeet Singh Randhawa, General Attorney. 

The Attorney General’s Award for Equal Employment Opportunity is the department’s highest award for performance in support of the Equal Employment Opportunity Program.  This year’s recipient is a team of department staff who provided an exceptional Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) program in the Richmond Field Office of the FBI that worked towards achieving diversity and inclusion in the FBI.  Each member of this program team volunteered and commendably balanced their full-time jobs with the additional EEO program duties.  In 2012, the EEO committee acknowledged every federally recognized observance with educational events meant to inspire communication and raise awareness of cultural differences amongst employees.  This feat is remarkable considering the field office operates without a budget for EEO programming and all costs for the events were borne through the generosity of employees and committee members.  From the Richmond Field Office of the FBI, recipients include: Antoinette L. Allen, Administrative Officer; Christopher A. Thurston, Operational Support Technician; Hannah Bradley Gray, Intelligence Analyst; Freddie Hornedo, Information Technology Specialist; and Tijwana L. Simmons, Secretary.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Legal Support in the Paralegal Category goes to the Land Acquisition Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) Betty R. Wilson, Supervisory Paralegal Specialist.  For almost 40 years, Wilson has been an integral part of every federal eminent domain case brought on behalf of the United States.  Without her tireless work and dedication, the ENRD Land Acquisition Section would not have been as successful in accomplishing critical land acquisitions, such as the Border Fence Initiative, vital military training, environmental preservation and development of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Administrative Support recognizes outstanding performance in administrative or managerial support by an administrative employee or secretary. This year, the award goes to four recipients, two in the Administrative category and two in the Secretarial category. The Administrative category awardees include, Mary Sipe, Security Specialist for the Security and Emergency Planning Staff of the Justice Management Division; and Donna Gale Wright, Administrative Officer in the Memphis Regional Office of the U.S. Trustee Program. The Secretarial category awardees include: Estelle Brown, Secretary in the National Courts Section of the Commercial Litigation Section of the Civil Division; and Shanedda L. Bogan, Staff Assistant in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the ENRD.

The Claudia J. Flynn Award for Professional Responsibility recognizes a Department of Justice attorney who has made significant contributions in the area of professional responsibility by successfully handling a sensitive and challenging professional responsibility issue in an exemplary fashion and/or leading efforts to ensure that department attorneys carry out their duties in accordance with the rules of professional conduct. This year, the award goes to Robin C. Ashton, Counsel in the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Ashton is awarded for her tireless and dedicated efforts to ensure that department attorneys and agents maintain and are held accountable to the highest standards of professional responsibility. Through skillful and creative management, she has enabled OPR to reduce its backlogged investigations and inquiries while producing thorough, well-reasoned reports of its investigations.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Service in Freedom of Information Act Administration recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.  This year’s recipient is Varudhini Chilakamarri, Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division.  In less than one year, Chilakmarri has provided exceptional dedication to the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and has effected significant institutional changes that have fostered more coordinated, timely, and accurate responses to FOIA requesters.  The policies she has enacted have ensured that department leadership offices are well-informed about the department’s FOIA requests and has improved the Office of Information Policy’s ability to facilitate coordination between components where needed.

The Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention recognizes exceptional dedication and effort to prevent, investigate, and prosecute fraud, white-collar crimes, and official corruption.  Awards are presented to two teams this year.

An award is presented to the team that spearheaded an investigation into a local law enforcement entity that was engaging in a high volume of anti-money laundering operations without required federal oversight.  As a result, this team facilitated the department’s recovery of approximately $1.2 million in Equitable Sharing Program funds from that law enforcement entity.  From the Investigations Division of the Miami Field Office of the Office of the Inspector General, recipients include Matthew L. McCloskey, Special Agent.  From the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Gene Patton, Assistant Deputy Chief.

Also receiving the Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention is the team leading efforts to prosecute tax refund fraud committed through identity theft, which victimizes unsuspecting, law-abiding citizens and steals billions of dollars from the government. This team brought great expertise and energy to the prosecution of individuals and groups who commit these crimes by pushing for long prison sentences that serve as a strong deterrent for would-be future offenders.  From the Southern Region of the Criminal Enforcement Section of the Tax Division, recipients include: Larry J. Wszalek, Assistant Chief; and Michael C. Boteler, Charles M. Edgar Jr., Justin K. Gelfand, and Jason H. Poole, Trial Attorneys.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, recipients include: Todd A. Brown, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety recognizes outstanding achievement in the development and support of community partnerships designed to address public safety within a community.  The award recognizes the significant contributions of citizens and organizations that have assisted the department in the accomplishment of these programs.  This year’s award is to a team of individuals responsible for a collaborative effort to reduce youth violence in New York City.  This team founded the Saturday Night Lights program led by the Juvenile Justice and Reentry Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.  The partnership of this program with local law enforcement and social service agencies helps reduce youth violence and increase high school graduation rates of students in Manhattan, N.Y.

From the New York Field Division of the DEA, recipients include: Wilbert L. Plummer, Associate Special Agent in Charge, and Michael Abraham Jr., Special Agent.  From the New York County District Attorney’s Office, recipients include: Cyrus R. Vance Jr., District Attorney; Chauncey Parker, Executive Assistant District Attorney for Crime Prevention Strategies; Estelle Strykers, Director; and Joselinne Minaya, Supervisor.  From the Community Affairs Bureau of the New York City Police Department, recipients include: Philip Banks, Chief, and Kevin O’Connor, Assistant Commissioner for Juvenile Justice.  From the New York City Housing Authority, recipients include: John Rhea, Commissioner.  From Pro Hoops Inc., recipients include: Ross Burns, Director.  From AllStarr Volleyball, recipients include: Reilly Starr, Managing Director.  From the Police Athletic League, recipients include: Alana Sweeny, Executive Director.  From the Henry Street Settlement, recipients include: Greg Rideout, Deputy Program Officer for Youth Services and Workforce Development.  From the Supportive Children Advocacy Network, recipients include: Lew Zuchman, Executive Director.  From Children’s Village, recipients include: Tonyna McGhee, Assistant Vice President and Director.

The Cubby Dorsey Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Wage Grade System Employee recognizes extraordinary performance and contributions by wage grade system employees, including laborers, mechanics and skilled craft workers.  One award is presented this year to Anthony Thomas Naumoff, Maintenance Mechanic Supervisor, in the Facilities and Logistics Services Division of the FBI.  Naumoff is awarded for his responsibility to all around-the-clock mission critical facility operations at the FBI’s headquarters building.  When a potentially devastating leak threatened the operations of critical infrastructure, Naumoff quickly solved the issue and prevented a major failure of communications that would have threatened the FBI’s day-to-day mission.

The Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee recognizes exceptional performance and notable accomplishments towards the department’s mission by an employee with fewer than five years of federal career service.  Recipients include: Colleen Melody, Trial Attorney for the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division; James M. Crotty, Intelligence Research Specialist in the Intelligence Division of the DEA; Timothy C. Perry, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California; and Ashley Lauren Hall, Victim Specialist in the New Haven Field Office of the FBI.

The John Marshall Awards are the Department of Justice’s highest awards offered to attorneys, for contributions and excellence in specialized areas of legal performance.  Thirteen awards in nine categories are presented this year. 

The John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation is presented to attorneys from the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin for their extraordinary work to secure justice in United States v. Cates, a matter involving the sexual assault of a victim by an individual using his enforcement authority as a Milwaukee police officer.  Seizing on the defendant’s inconsistent statements, the team of attorneys established that the victim had been truthful about the event.  After a hotly contested trial, the jury convicted the defendant for raping the victim, and sentenced him to serve 24 years in prison.  From the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, recipients include: Saeed Mody, Trial Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, recipients include: Mel S. Johnson, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

The John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation is also presented to a team of attorneys from the Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Texas and the District of Columbia for the successful prosecution of Allen Stanford, a perpetrator of one of the largest white collar crimes in history.  The tenacity and skill of this team of attorneys directly led to a 110-year prison conviction for devastating the lives of over 30,000 victims in a fraudulent scheme that cost the perpetrator’s investors more than $7 billion in losses.  Over the course of two hard-fought jury trials, this team’s work ethic and meticulous attention to detail proved successful in finding justice for these victims.  From the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, recipients include: Jeffrey A. Goldberg and William J. Stellmach, Deputy Chiefs, and Andrew H. Warren, Trial Attorney.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, recipients include: Jason S. Varnado, Senior Litigation Counsel; Kristine E. Rollinson, Assistant U.S. Attorney; and Gregg J. Costa, Assistant U.S. Attorney (former).  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, recipients include: Kondi Kleinman, Assistant U.S. Attorney and former Trial Attorney for the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.

The John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation was awarded to members of the team that successfully negotiated the consent decree that will lead to the reform of the New Orleans Police Department after months of intense negotiation and a long history of civil rights violations within the NOPD.  The team worked for nearly three years to address the problems within the NOPD, resulting in a consent decree that was the broadest ever entered by the department to correct a police pattern or practice authority.  These efforts worked to ensure that law enforcement agencies respect the civil rights of all individuals.  From the Office of the Assistant Attorney General, recipients include: Roy L. Austin, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.  From the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, recipients include: Christy E. Lopez and Shaheena A. Simons, Deputy Chiefs; and Emily A. Gunston, Corey M. Sanders and Jude J. Volek, Trial Attorneys.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, recipients include: Stephen C. Parker, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Another John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation is awarded to an attorney from the department’s Office of International Affairs, Mary D. Rodriguez.  In little more than a decade, Rodriguez has transformed the United States?­ extradition relationship with Mexico from a hit-or-miss effort in which a mere dozen fugitives were extradited in 2000, to a record 115 fugitives in 2012 returned to the United States to face trial in federal and state courts.  In those years, which ultimately saw the extradition of nearly 800 defendants to the United States, Ms. Rodriguez, tackled every challenge, secured landmark decisions in the Mexican Supreme Court, and met every setback with greater determination to succeed.  In each case she used her experience as a federal prosecutor, as well as her deep knowledge of Mexican law and political structures, to solve legal problems and overcome bureaucratic inertia to capitalize on the law enforcement cooperation that emerged in Mexico. 

The John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation is presented to the Deputy Chief of the Capital Case Section of the Criminal Division, Gwynn “Charlie” Kinsey, for his exceptional contributions to pursuing capital punishment in the most significant violent crime cases handled by department prosecutors.  With more than 22 years of experience in capital matters, his holistic approach to providing guidance to federal prosecutors requires extraordinary commitment and persistence.  While being asked over the past two years to significantly increase the amount of litigation-related guidance he provides to federal prosecutors, Kinsey also continues to shoulder his policy and protocol review responsibilities on behalf of the department.  His work has substantially contributed to the strong partnership between the Criminal Division and the United States Attorney’s Offices, and the result of this collaboration has been the successful prosecution of numerous significant violent crime cases.

The John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation is also presented to Michael K. Baker, Georgia Garthwaite, Michael J. Krainak and Erika B. Kranz, Trial Attorneys in the Land Acquisition Section of the ENRD.  This team of attorneys is awarded for their devotion to acquiring land for critical military training, including of approximately 2,560 acres within the El Centro Naval Air Facility for training use.  After months of extensive discovery, motion practice, and expert witness preparation, the landowners agreed to an almost unprecedented settlement whereby they accepted only $300,000 more than the United States?­ initial deposit, and nearly 85 percent less than their own final valuation.  The landowners originally valued the property and mining interests at several hundred million dollars and then settled at $1.5 million based on the hard work, dedication and successful investigation and negotiation by these award recipients.  During these times of significant financial concerns, the nominees played a vital role in ensuring the Navy obtained property needed for military training, while also saving the government millions of dollars.

The John Marshall Award for the Handling of Appeals is presented to Alexander P. Robbins, a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Appeals and Tax Enforcement Policy Section of the Tax Division.  Robbins is awarded for his extraordinary service to the department for representing the government on tax matters before the Supreme Court and other appellate and district courts.  He has handled the most difficult tax matters for the department, including successfully advancing the application of the required records doctrine to grand jury subpoenas issued in international tax cases.

This year’s John Marshall Award for Providing Legal Advice is presented to a team of attorneys for their outstanding work in developing the department’s tribal eagle feathers enforcement policy.  This team created the first-ever formal department policy statement addressing the ability of members of federally-recognized Indian tribes to possess or use eagle feathers.  The awardees coordinated and worked closely with tribal groups to balance the interest of tribes with the enforcement interests of the department and wildlife laws.  From the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the ENRD, recipients include: Ethan G. Shenkman, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.  From the Indian Resource Section of the ENRD, recipients include: S. Craig Alexander, Chief.  From the Law and Policy Section of ENRD, recipients include: Karen M. Wardzinksi, Chief; Amber Blaha, Assistant Chief; and Stacy R. Stoller, Trial Attorney.  From the Environmental Crimes Section of the ENRD, recipients include: Stacy H. Mitchell, Chief, and Elinor Colbourn, Assistant Chief.  From the Office of Tribal Justice, recipients include: Christopher Brent Chaney, Deputy Director (former).

The John Marshall Award for Preparation or Handling of Legislation is awarded to Nathan A. Forrester, an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel.  In his role as editor of published Office of Legal Counsel opinions, he is clearing away the publication backlog.  In addition, his self-initiated work in compiling, analyzing, and producing a volume of OLC opinions from 1934-1977 is making an important historic contribution.   Forrester deftly and fairly supervises the other Attorney-Advisers in the Office who look to his example and wisdom for guidance in their own work.  Despite a massive workload, his work is always of the highest quality and his love of the Constitution  and its history makes him a model of government lawyering.

The John Marshall Award for Asset Forfeiture is presented to Daniel H. Claman, Assistant Deputy Chief for the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the Criminal Division.  Claman is nominated for his exemplary work in implementing the Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative and using civil forfeiture actions to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption.  He is a leader in the forfeiture of foreign corruption, and in the return of those ill-gotten gains to the victims of these crimes.

The John Marshall Award for Alternative Dispute Resolution recipient is L. Misha Preheim, Senior Trial Counsel in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division, for his work in resolving the disputes of military personnel who were challenging the Department of Defense’s decision to award only one-half separation pay upon their discharge from the military pursuant to the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.  Preheim spearheaded the drive to resolve this case and brokered a framework that provided for payment to a large number of former service members who, without Preheim’s efforts, were likely to wait a substantial period of time for relief through the courts or military review boards. 

The John Marshall Interagency Cooperation in Support of Litigation Award goes to Luke B. Marsh, Chief Trial Attorney for the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, for his work in addressing schemes to manipulate LIBOR interest rates.  Marsh is nominated for his exceptional assistance to the department in the high-profile investigations and prosecutions of individuals, multi-national banks and other financial institutions engaged in wide-ranging and complex schemes to manipulate LIBOR and other benchmark interest rates affecting trillions of dollars of loans, mortgages and complex financial products worldwide.  He has been one of the lead prosecutors on this matter from the inception of the investigations, and was responsible for investigating more than 20 banks and hundreds of individuals involved in the scheme.

Also awarded the John Marshall Interagency Cooperation in Support of Litigation Award is a team of attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico for their exemplary partnership in supporting the district’s violent crime reduction initiative.  This team is responsible for prosecuting more than 500 individuals as part of an effort to target violent criminals and halt the surging murder rate in Puerto Rico.  From November 2011 until December 2012, the team achieved an almost perfect conviction rate, and the targeted areas of San Juan, Bayamon, Caguas, Carolina and Ponce have seen a combined decrease in the number of homicides of 25 percent, amounting to 150 fewer murders when compared to the murder rate in 2011.  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico, recipients include: Victor O. Acevedo, Max Perez-Bouret, Amanda C. Soto, Maria L. Montanez and Kelly Zenón, Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Duke Energy Renewables Inc., a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp., based in Charlotte, N.C., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Wyoming today to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in connection with the deaths of protected birds, including golden eagles, at two of the company’s wind projects in Wyoming. This case represents the first ever criminal enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for unpermitted avian takings at wind projects.

Under a plea agreement with the government, the company was sentenced to pay fines, restitution and community service totaling $1 million and was placed on probation for five years, during which it must implement an environmental compliance plan aimed at preventing bird deaths at the company’s four commercial wind projects in the state. The company is also required to apply for an Eagle Take Permit which, if granted, will provide a framework for minimizing and mitigating the deaths of golden eagles at the wind projects.

The charges stem from the discovery of 14 golden eagles and 149 other protected birds, including hawks, blackbirds, larks, wrens and sparrows by the company at its “Campbell Hill” and “Top of the World” wind projects in Converse County between 2009 and 2013. The two wind projects are comprised of 176 large wind turbines sited on private agricultural land.

According to the charges and other information presented in court, Duke Energy Renewables Inc. failed to make all reasonable efforts to build the projects in a way that would avoid the risk of avian deaths by collision with turbine blades, despite prior warnings about this issue from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). However, the company cooperated with the USFWS investigation and has already implemented measures aimed at minimizing avian deaths at the sites.

“This case represents the first criminal conviction under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for unlawful avian takings at wind projects,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “In this plea agreement, Duke Energy Renewables acknowledges that it constructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand would likely result in avian deaths. To its credit, once the projects came on line and began causing avian deaths, Duke took steps to minimize the hazard, and with this plea agreement has committed to an extensive compliance plan to minimize bird deaths at its Wyoming facilities and to devote resources to eagle preservation and rehabilitation efforts.”

“The Service works cooperatively with companies that make all reasonable efforts to avoid killing migratory birds during design, construction and operation of industrial facilities,” said William Woody, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “But we will continue to investigate and refer for prosecution cases in which companies - in any sector, including the wind industry - fail to comply with the laws that protect the public’s wildlife resources.”

More than 1,000 species of birds, including bald and golden eagles, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The MBTA, enacted in 1918, implements this country’s commitments under avian protection treaties with Great Britain (for Canada), Mexico, Japan and Russia. The MBTA provides a misdemeanor criminal sanction for the unpermitted taking of a listed species by any means and in any manner, regardless of fault. The maximum penalty for an unpermitted corporate taking under the MBTA is $15,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense, and five years’ probation.

According to papers filed with the court, commercial wind power projects can cause the deaths of federally protected birds in four primary ways: collision with wind turbines, collision with associated meteorological towers, collision with, or electrocution by, associated electrical power facilities, and nest abandonment or behavior avoidance from habitat modification. Collision and electrocution risks from power lines (collisions and electrocutions) and guyed structures (collision) have been known to the utility and communication industries for decades, and specific methods of minimizing and avoiding the risks have been developed, in conjunction with the USFWS. The USFWS issued its first interim guidance about how wind project developers could avoid impacts to wildlife from wind turbines in 2003, and replaced these with a “tiered” approach outlined in the Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines (2012 LBWEGs), developed with the wind industry starting in 2007 and released in final form by the USFWS on March 23, 2012. The Service also released Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance in April 2013 and strongly recommends that companies planning or operating wind power facilities in areas where eagles occur work with the agency to implement that guidance completely.

For wind projects, due diligence during the pre-construction stage—as described in the 2003 Interim Guidelines and tiers I through III in the 2012 LBWEGs—by surveying the wildlife present in the proposed project area, consulting with agency professionals, determining whether the risk to wildlife is too high to justify proceeding and, if not, carefully siting turbines so as to avoid and minimize the risk as much as possible, is critically important because, unlike electric distribution equipment and guyed towers, at the present time, no post-construction remedies, except “curtailment” (i.e., shut-down), have been developed that can “render safe” a wind turbine placed in a location of high avian collision risk. Other experimental measures to reduce prey, detect and deter avian proximity to turbines are being tested. In the western United States, golden eagles may be particularly susceptible to wind turbine blade collision by wind power facilities constructed in areas of high eagle use.

The $400,000 fine imposed in the case will be directed to the federally-administered North American Wetlands Conservation Fund. The company will also pay $100,000 in restitution to the State of Wyoming, and perform community service by making a $160,000 payment to the congressionally-chartered National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, designated for projects aimed at preserving golden eagles and increasing the understanding of ways to minimize and monitor interactions between eagles and commercial wind power facilities, as well as enhance eagle rehabilitation and conservation efforts in Wyoming. Duke Energy Renewables is also required to contribute $340,000 to a conservation fund for the purchase of land, or conservation easements on land, in Wyoming containing high-use golden eagle habitat, which will be preserved and managed for the benefit of that species. The company must implement a migratory bird compliance plan containing specific measures to avoid and minimize golden eagle and other avian wildlife mortalities at company’s four commercial wind projects in Wyoming.

According to papers filed with the court, Duke Energy Renewables will spend approximately $600,000 per year implementing the compliance plan. Within 24 months, the company must also apply to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a Programmatic Eagle Take Permit at each of the two wind projects cited in the case.

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecuted by Senior Counsel Robert S. Anderson of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Conder of the District of Wyoming.

After a three-week trial, a federal jury has convicted two MS-13 members for their roles in committing murders, attempted murders and armed robberies in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties in northern Georgia.

 
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia, Special Agent in Charge Brock D. Nicholson of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta, and Special Agent in Charge Mark F. Giuliano of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office made the announcement.

“These MS-13 gang members engaged in a ruthless – and senseless – string of attacks and murders, terrorizing the communities in which they operated,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “Thanks to the investigators and prosecutors who made today’s convictions possible, these violent gang members are off the streets of northern Georgia and face up to life in prison behind bars.”

“These two defendants set the standard for violence as members of MS-13, an international gang infamous for its disregard for human life,” said U.S. Attorney Yates. “They spread fear throughout the community by killing innocent pedestrians, shooting suspected rival gang members and robbing innocent people at gunpoint. By finding them guilty, this jury has held them accountable for their crimes.”

“As active members of one of the most violent gangs in the world, these men posed a significant threat to the public safety of our communities,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Nicholson, who is responsible for agency investigations in Georgia and the Carolinas. “HSI and our partners at the FBI and local law enforcement agencies have taken a strong stand against transnational gangs in Atlanta. These are just the latest convictions that show how successful our efforts have been.”

“Today's conviction in federal court of two violent members of the international gang known as MS-13 adds to the list of successes for those law enforcement officers, investigators and prosecutors who are working hard to neutralize this dangerous criminal enterprise,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Giuliano. “While these successes are important for the FBI and its various law enforcement partners, it is more important to those particular communities impacted by MS-13's violent crimes.”

Remberto Argueta, aka Pitufo, 27, of Lilburn, Ga., and William Espinoza, aka Cheberria and Crazy, 31, of Norcross, Ga., were convicted today by a federal jury and will be sentenced at a later date before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story. Each defendant was convicted of RICO conspiracy involving murder. Argueta was also convicted of violent crime in aid of racketeering and a firearms offense related to the murder of Arpolonio Rios-Jarquin. Espinoza was also convicted of violent crime in aid of racketeering and a firearms offense related to the attempted murder of Jayro Arango-Sanchez. Violent crime in aid of racketeering for murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, while RICO conspiracy involving murder carries a sentence of up to life in prison. Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

According to court records, MS-13 is an international gang that has operated in the Atlanta area since at least 2005. The gang members staked out Gwinnett and DeKalb Counties as their home territory.

Evidence presented at trial showed that Argueta, along with other gang members, planned to rob Arpolonio Rios-Jarquin, a suspected drug dealer, at a hotel in April 2007. When Rios-Jarquin turned out to have his own gun, Argueta and his fellow MS-13 members engaged in a shootout with Rios-Jarquin that spilled outside the hotel room. Surveillance video showed one of the MS-13 members stopping to pick up Rios-Jarquin’s weapon, which he later showed off as a trophy.

In October 2007, Argueta and several other MS-13 members were at an apartment complex in Gwinnett County when Argueta spotted suspected rival gang members. According to evidence at trial, he approached them and asked them who they “claimed”—that is, what gang they belonged to. When Christian Escobar responded that he and his friend, Jose Garcia-Barajas, were members of the rival gang 18th Street, Argueta said, “You’re going to die.” Argueta pulled out a handgun and started chasing and shooting at Escobar and Garcia-Barajas. He shot Escobar in the back and Garcia-Barajas in the hip and arm. While shooting at them, Argueta also fired shots into the apartments of nearby residents. An elderly woman testified that one of Argueta’s bullets hit an armchair that she had been sitting in just a few minutes earlier.

Evidence at trial showed that in early July 2008, Espinoza lent his .380 caliber handgun to fellow gang members so that they could retaliate against a member of La Raza, a rival gang. An MS-13 member shot a 15-year-old boy who was taking a shortcut across through an apartment complex. The boy was not a member of a gang and had traveled from Ohio with his family to visit other family members for the Fourth of July holiday.

A few weeks later in July 2008, Espinoza and other members of MS-13 were at El Pueblito, a nightclub in DeKalb County, when a fight broke out with suspected members of the rival gang 18th Street. Surveillance video showed Espinoza going out to the parking lot and retrieving a .380 handgun from a car. He approached the club entrance and shot Jayro Arango-Sanchez in the stomach. Arango-Sanchez testified at trial that he was not a gang member and that he was at the club with his girlfriend and brother to celebrate his birthday.

According to evidence at trial, just two days later, Espinoza and four other MS-13 members drove to an apartment complex in Gwinnett County to look for pedestrians to rob. After spotting a victim, Espinoza and another gang member got out of their SUV and approached Aurelio Vasquez. Espinoza put his .380 handgun to Vasquez’s head while the other MS-13 member started to search Vasquez’s pockets for money. Vasquez, who was returning home after buying groceries, resisted being robbed, so Espinoza shot him through the head. Espinoza and his fellow gang members wanted to rob Vasquez to get money for beer.

This case is being investigated by ICE-HSI and FBI, with assistance from Gwinnett County Police Department, DeKalb County Police Department and Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.

Trial Attorney Joseph K. Wheatley of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant United States Attorney Paul R. Jones are prosecuting the case.

 

The operator of the dragger F/V Norseman and an associated fish dealer were sentenced today in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., for criminal violations stemming from their role in systematically underreporting fluke (summer flounder) that was being harvested as part of the federal Research Set-Aside Program, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division announced.

On Aug. 15, 2013, Wertz pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and two counts of falsification of federal records for knowingly submitting 137 falsified dealer reports from May 2009 through December 2011, and 70 falsified fishing logs, known as fishing vessel trip reports (FVTRs), from May 2011 through December 2011, as part of a scheme to defraud the United States of overharvested and unreported fluke. C&C Ocean Fishery Ltd. pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and three counts of falsification of federal records for its participation in the scheme, which included aiding and abetting the submission of falsified dealer reports and FVTRs.

C&C Ocean was not only aware of the false Norseman FVTRs, but it aided and abetted the perpetration of the FVTR scheme through its preparation of federal dealer reports. As a federal dealer, C&C Ocean was required to prepare and submit federal dealer reports to NOAA. The dealer reports include information such as date of landing, port of landing, catch vessel, corresponding FVTR numbers, commercial grade, species, price, and weight. In order to cover up the overharvesting that occurred on the water, C&C Ocean’s dealer report had to match the catch data that was submitted on the corresponding FVTR. In other words, if the FVTR falsely underreported the Norseman’s catch of fluke, then the scheme would likely be detected unless the corresponding dealer report was similarly falsified. Both defendants prepared and submitted false dealer reports for each of the trips set forth in the table.

The case was investigated by special agents of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police. The case is being prosecuted by Christopher L. Hale of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The defendants electronically submitted the 137 false dealer reports from Wertz’s desktop computer in New York, through an out-of-state internet server, to NOAA’s Regional Fisheries Administrator in Gloucester, Mass. Under NOAA regulations, all of the Norseman’s catch had to be reported to NOAA on FVTRs. During the years 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Norseman principally targeted fluke. However, on multiple occasions the vessel exceeded its relevant federal and New York State quotas for fluke for 137 trips, totaling 86,080 pounds of fluke worth approximately $200,000.

In order to cover up the illegal fluke harvesting, the operators of the Norseman falsified the FVTRs that were submitted to NOAA. For each of the 137 trips, a false FVTR was submitted. During 2009 and 2010, another individual submitted the false FVTRs, but by May 2, 2011, Wertz was falsifying and submitting the FVTRs himself. The defendants were aware that the FVTRs were utilized by NOAA as part of the administration of its statutory-mandated fisheries management program. Charles Wertz, Jr., a commercial fisherman from East Meadow, N.Y., was sentenced to serve one year and a day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, a $5,000 fine, $99,800 in restitution and a $300 special assessment. The fish dealer, C&C Ocean Fishery Ltd., was sentenced to pay a $275,000 fine, $99,800 in restitution, and a $1,600 special assessment. The court also sentenced the defendants to comply with multiple sentence conditions, including relinquishment of federal fishing permits, a ban on participation in the Research Seat-Aside Program, divestiture of any interest in the F/V Norseman, and winding down and dissolving the company, C&C Ocean Fishery Ltd., within 90 days.

Jonathan Caine, 20, of Nashville, Tenn., pleaded guilty today to a federal hate crime for making racially motivated threats to an African-American assistant football coach at a local high school, the Justice Department announced.

Caine, formerly a student and football player at the high school where the victim works as a coach, pleaded guilty to threatening the victim with violence because of the victim’s race and employment before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Bryant in federal court in Nashville, Tenn.

According to the information presented in court, Caine made repeated anonymous threats to the assistant coach, and others in the high school administration, which included racial slurs and references to violent acts.  In court, Caine admitted that on Aug. 10, 2012, he left an anonymous threatening voice mail on the assistant coach’s cellular phone, saying, “And thus sayeth the Lord all [epithet] shall be killed.  Amen, amen I say to you [unintelligible] as the Lord Christ says if a [epithet] shall be born unto thee, the [epithet] shall be killed.”  Caine admitted that he targeted the coach because of the coach’s race.  Prior to law enforcement identifying Caine as the caller, the team took security measures to protect the coach.

“The Department of Justice will not hesitate to prosecute such acts of hate-motivated intimidation,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “Hate crimes have no place in our society; not only did this former student and player threaten his coach’s safety, he violated the victim’s civil rights by using racist, discriminatory language.  The Civil Rights Division will remain vigilant in our efforts to bring these individuals to justice.”

“When individuals choose to act out their hatred by making threats based on a person’s race, they can expect to face prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera for the Middle District of Tennessee.  “Every arm of the Justice Department is committed to protecting the civil rights of all individuals and insuring they remain free from acts of violence and intimidation when those acts are based on the color of their skin.”

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2014.  Caine faces a statutory maximum penalty of a 12-month sentence in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Nashville Division of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Blanche Cook of the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorney Nicholas Murphy of the Civil Rights Division.

The Department of Justice announced today that a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama has returned an indictment against J. Keith McCray, a criminal investigator with the Macon County, Ala., Sheriff’s Office for violating the rights of a man he unlawfully seized and assaulted.

 

McCray, 41, is charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of witness tampering.  On July 4, 2013, the victim was going door-to-door in McCray’s neighborhood attempting to sell alarm systems.  According to the indictment, McCray unlawfully seized the victim using a firearm, and then brought the victim to the county jail.  The indictment alleges that at the jail, McCray struck the victim while he was handcuffed, which resulted in bodily injury.  The indictment further alleges that McCray engaged in witness tampering when he intimidated the victim and corruptly persuaded him not to file a complaint for the assault.

 

If convicted, McCray could face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each deprivation-of-rights count.  He could face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the witness tampering charge.  

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

 

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerusha T. Adams of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Chiraag Bains of the department’s Civil Rights Division.