District Not Recorded

A federal court permanently barred Toney Fields and Trumekia Shaw, who do business as Fields Mo’ Money Taxes in Nashville, Tenn., from preparing federal tax returns, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order was signed by Judge Kevin H. Sharp of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. It found that the defendants engaged repeatedly in fraudulent conduct that interfered with enforcement of federal tax laws.

The government complaint in the civil injunction lawsuit alleged that Fields is a licensee of Mo’ Money Taxes LLC and MoneyCo USA LLC, both located in Memphis, Tenn. According to the complaint Fields and Shaw get an improper jump on their competition by opening Mo’ Money Taxes in Nashville immediately after Christmas, before the tax year ends. According to the complaint, Fields and Shaw use customers’ end-of-year pay stubs to prepare tax returns, before employers have issued Internal Revenue Service (IRS) W-2 wage-statement forms to employees. Preparing tax returns based on pay stubs rather than proper W-2 Forms violates IRS rules. Fields and Shaw allegedly use the pay stubs to create fake W-2 Forms to include with the returns. End-of-year pay stubs frequently omit income and distributions that are shown on employer-issued W-2 Forms. This inevitably results in errors on federal tax returns.

The complaint alleged that Fields and Shaw inflate or claim false tax credits on customers’ tax returns. According to the complaint, Fields and Shaw frequently claim improper dependent exemptions in order to claim inflated earned-income credits or child tax credits for their customers. The complaint also alleged that the defendants include false filing statuses and bogus claims for charitable contributions on customers’ returns. The complaint says the government estimates that the defendants’ misconduct may have caused revenue losses of over $5 million from the more than 1,100 tax returns they prepared in 2011.

The IRS lists return preparer fraud as one of its “Dirty Dozen” tax scams .

In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .

Related Materials:

United States v. Toney Fields, et al.
Order of Permanent Injunction (PDF)

A settlement agreement was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver resolving a complaint alleging that two employers, Delaware Resource Group of Oklahoma LLC (DRG), and FlightSafety Services Corporation (FlightSafety), violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by not paying money into two U.S. Air Force veterans’ 401(k) plans, announced Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez and U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado John Walsh.

USERRA prohibits employers from discriminating against or taking any adverse employment action against any person because that person has performed service in the uniformed services. USERRA also allows returning service members to make “catch up” contributions to their civilian employers’ 401(k) retirement plans, and receive the employers’ matching contributions that were missed while they were on military leave. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices have given a high priority to the enforcement of service members’ rights under USERRA.

The two veterans, Michael J. Sipos and Gary D. Smith, are the plaintiffs in this case. According to the complaint, their employers, DRG and FlightSafety, violated USERRA by not allowing the veterans to make “catch up” contributions to their company’s 401(k) plans upon their return from duty and not matching contributions that the veterans missed while on active duty in the Air Force.

Under the settlement agreement, the defendants, DRG and FlightSafety, will allow the plaintiffs to make their “catch up” contributions to their respective 401(k) plans. In addition, DRG and FlightSafety will provide matching employer contributions to each of the veterans’ 401(k) plans.

“We rely on our servicemembers to protect us, and the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that their civilian employment benefits are protected as well,” said Assistant Attorney General Perez. “The department commends FlightSafety and DRG for agreeing to resolve this matter amicably without contested litigation, which shows a good faith commitment by the companies to ensure that they are in compliance with USERRA.”

The case was litigated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Juan G. Villaseñor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, in collaboration with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. The lawsuit was filed after the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) of the Department of Labor referred Sipos’ and Smith’s complaints to the Justice Department upon completion of its investigation and failed settlement efforts. The Departments of Labor and Justice work cooperatively together to protect the jobs and benefits of National Guard and Reserve service members upon their return to civilian life.  More information about USERRA is available at www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/main.htm .

Related Materials:

FlightSafety Complaint
FlightSafety Settlement Agreement

BALTIMORE --Immigration Judge Lisa Dornell from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Baltimore Immigration Court, delivered the keynote speech and administered the oath of allegiance to approximately 75 candidates during a naturalization ceremony at the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore, Md., on March 1, 2012. The Baltimore District Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, hosted the ceremony.

Biographical Information

Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Judge Dornell in April 1995. Judge Dornell received a bachelor of arts degree in 1983 from the University of Vermont and a juris doctorate in 1986 from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. From 1990 to 1995, Judge Dornell served as senior litigation counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, Department of Justice. From 1986 to 1990, she served as a trial attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), New York district office, and as an assistant general counsel, INS Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Judge Dornell lectures on immigration topics and court procedure at several local law schools. She is a member of the District of Columbia and State of Texas Bars.

- EOIR -

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is an agency within the Department of Justice. Under delegated authority from the Attorney General, immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals interpret and adjudicate immigration cases according to United States immigration laws. EOIR’s immigration judges conduct administrative court proceedings in immigration courts located throughout the nation. They determine whether foreign-born individuals—whom the Department of Homeland Security charges with violating immigration law—should be ordered removed from the United States or should be granted relief from removal and be permitted to remain in this country. The Board of Immigration Appeals primarily reviews appeals of decisions by immigration judges. EOIR’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer adjudicates immigration-related employment cases. EOIR is committed to ensuring fairness in all of the cases it adjudicates.

A Texas resident was convicted today by a federal jury for conspiring to hack into his former employer’s computer network, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Sarah R. Saldaña.
 
Michael Musacchio, 61, of Plano, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury in Dallas of one felony count of conspiracy to make unauthorized access to a protected computer (hacking) and two substantive felony counts of hacking.
                                       
According to the evidence submitted at trial, from 2002 to 2004, Musacchio was the president of Exel Transportation Services, a third party logistics or intermodal transportation company that facilitated links between shippers and common carriers in the manufacturing, retail and consumer industries.  In 2004, Musacchio left Exel to form a competing company, Total Transportation Services, where he was the original president and CEO.  Two other former Exel employees, Joseph Roy Brown and John Michael Kelly, also went to work at Musacchio’s new company.   Trial testimony and exhibits established that between 2004 and 2006, Musacchio, Brown and Kelly engaged in a scheme to hack into Exel’s computer system for the purpose of conducting corporate espionage.  Through their repeated unauthorized accesses into Exel’s email accounts, the co-conspirators were able to obtain Exel’s confidential and proprietary business information and use it to benefit themselves and their new employer.
 
 A federal grand jury had returned an indictment against the three men on Nov. 2, 2010.  Brown and Kelly entered guilty pleas on May 19, 2011, and Aug. 2, 2012, respectively, and are awaiting sentencing.  Musacchio is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis in the Northern District of Texas.  
 
The case was investigated by the FBI Dallas Field Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Linda Groves and Candina Heath and Trial Attorney Rick Green of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

Today President Barack Obama granted pardons to the following seventeen individuals:

• Robert Leroy Bebee – Rockville, Md.

Offense: Misprision of a felony, 18 U.S.C. § 4.

Sentence:   Two years probation.

• James Anthony Bordinaro – Gloucester, Mass.

Offenses: Conspiracy to restrain, suppress, and eliminate competition in violation of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1; conspiracy to submit false statements, 18 U.S.C. § 371.

Sentence:   12 months imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $55,000 fine.  

• Kelli Elisabeth Collins – Harrison, Ark.

Offense: Aiding and abetting a wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2.

Sentence:   Five years probation.

• Edwin Hardy Futch Jr. – Pembroke, Ga.

            Offense: Theft from an interstate shipment, 18 U.S.C. §§ 659, 2.

Sentence:   Five years probation, $2,399.72 restitution.

• Cindy Marie Griffith – Moyock, N.C.

            Offense: Distribution of satellite cable television decryption devices, 47 U.S.C.

§ 605(e)(4), 18 U.S.C. § 2.

Sentence:   Two years probation with 100 hours of community service. 

• Roy Eugene Grimes Sr. – Athens, Tenn.

            Offenses: Falsely altering a United States postal money order, 18 U.S.C. § 500; passing,

uttering, and publishing a forged and altered money order with intent to defraud,

18 U.S.C. § 500.

            Sentence:  18 months probation.

• Jon Christopher Kozeliski – Decatur, Ill.

            Offense: Conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2320.

Sentence:   One year of probation with six months of home confinement, $10,000 fine.

·          Jimmy Ray Mattison – Anderson, S.C.

            Offenses: Conspiracy to transport and cause the transportation of altered securities in

interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2314; transporting and causing the transportation

of altered securities in interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314, 2.

            Sentence:  Three years probation.

• An Na Peng – Honolulu

            Offense: Conspiracy to defraud the Immigration and Naturalization Service,

18 U.S.C. § 371.

            Sentence:  Two years probation, $2,000 fine.

• Michael John Petri – Montrose, S.D.

            Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled

substance (cocaine), 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a), 846.

            Sentence:  Five years imprisonment, three years supervised release.

• Karen Alicia Ragee – Decatur, Ill.

            Offense: Conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2320.

            Sentence:  One year of probation with six months of home confinement, $2,500 fine.

• Jamari Salleh – Alexandria, Va.

            Offense: False claims upon and against the United States, 18 U.S.C. §§ 287, 2.

            Sentence:  Four years probation, $5,000 fine, $5,900 restitution.

• Alfor Sharkey – Omaha, Neb.

            Offense: Unauthorized acquisition of food stamps, 7 U.S.C. § 2024(b)(1).

            Sentence:  Three years probation with 100 hours of community service, $2,750 restitution.

• Donald Barrie Simon Jr. – Chattanooga, Tenn.

            Offense: Aiding and abetting in the theft of an interstate shipment, 18 U.S.C. §§ 659, 2.

            Sentence:  Two years imprisonment, three years probation.

• Lynn Marie Stanek – Tualatin, Ore.

            Offense: Unlawful use of a communication facility to distribute cocaine,

21 U.S.C. § 843(b).

            Sentence:  Six months in jail, five years probation conditioned on residence in a

community treatment center for a period not to exceed one year.

• Larry Wayne Thornton – Forsyth, Ga.

            Offense: Possession of an unregistered firearm, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d), 5871; possession

of a firearm without a serial number, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(i), 5871.

            Sentence:  Four years probation.

• Donna Kaye Wright – Friendship, Tenn.

            Offense: Embezzlement and misapplication of bank funds, 18 U.S.C. § 656.

Sentence:   54 days imprisonment, three years probation conditioned on performance of six hours of community service per week.

The principal and co-owner of North Carolina-based Integra Capital Management LLC, was sentenced today to serve 36 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud commodities trading investors of more than $3.2 million, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney of the Western District of North Carolina Anne M. Tompkins.

Nicholas Cox, 35, of Lexington, N.C., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr., in the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to his prison term, Cox was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,981,477 in restitution.

On Dec. 22, 2012, Cox pleaded guilty in the Western District of North Carolina to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

According to court documents, between September 2006 and January 2009, Cox and his co-conspirator, Rodney Whitney, 50, of Archdale, N.C., the co-owner of Integra, engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in commodity trading pools operated by the firm.  Integra was established purportedly for the purpose of pooling investors’ funds in commodity pools, and investing in commodity futures and foreign currency exchange trading.  According to court documents, Cox and Whitney obtained and misappropriated more than $3.2 million in investor funds and fabricated account statements and tax forms to conceal their fraud. 

 According to court documents, Cox and Whitney falsely represented, among other things, that Integra’s managers had more than 30 years of combined market experience; that Integra paid dividends of two to five percent of the investor’s initial investment, which was derived from Integra’s trading profits; and investors could remove their principal investments within five days upon giving notice to Integra.  According to court documents, Cox and Whitney used the money invested by later investors to pay the monthly investment returns they had promised to earlier investors, to purchase real estate, to fund other business ventures and to purchase automobiles and other personal goods and services. 

 On March 21, 2011, Whitney pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.  He was sentenced on Jan. 7, 2013, to 60 months in prison for his role in the scheme. 

  The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Luke Marsh of the Criminal Division=s Fraud Section and Benjamin Bain-Creed and Kenny Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.  The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

This prosecution was done in coordination with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  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.

Gilberto Lerma Plata, a former commander of the Mexican State Police and member of the Gulf Cartel, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to import multi-ton quantities of marijuana into the United States, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

Lerma Plata, 50, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the District of Columbia. 

On July 29, 2011, Lerma Plata was charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana for importation into the United States.  Lerma Plata was arrested in McAllen, Texas, on May 9, 2012. 

“As a Mexican police officer, Gilberto Lerma Plata was supposed to protect the public from harm.  Instead, he abused his power to further the notorious Gulf Cartel’s violent narcotics trafficking operations,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman.  “This prosecution is the product of the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to working with its domestic and foreign law enforcement partners to bring cartel members and associates to justice for their crimes.”

“Using operatives such as former Mexican state police commander Gilberto Lerma Plata, the Gulf Cartel has smuggled huge amounts of dangerous drugs into the United States for far too long, while using violence, intimidation and public corruption to strengthen their ability to traffic drugs,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “DEA will continue our aggressive and sustained efforts against the Gulf Cartel and other criminal groups by attacking not only their high level leadership and financial networks, but the drug trafficking facilitators who harm neighborhoods and communities in Mexico and the United States.”

Lerma Plata was employed as the commander of the state police in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  According to court documents, Lerma Plata was on the Gulf Cartel’s payroll while he was employed by the state police, and he used his position of authority to engage in drug trafficking activities with the cartel.  Intercepted conversations revealed that Lerma Plata and high ranking members of the Gulf Cartel discussed the shipment of large quantities of marijuana for distribution in the United States as well as the transportation from the United States of proceeds from the sales of the drugs and firearms.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Adrián Rosales and Darrin McCullough of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section.  The investigation in this case was led by the DEA’s Houston Field Division and the DEA Bilateral Investigation Unit.

A Long Beach, Calif., man was arrested yesterday arraigned this afternoon on federal sex trafficking charges that allege he worked with a previously charged defendant to coerce women to work as prostitutes.

Marquis Monte Horn, also known as “Taylor,” 34, was named in an eight-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Wednesday. The indictment includes charges of one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, and one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

The second man charged in the case – Roshaun Nakia Porter, 37, also of Long Beach – was arrested and indicted on sex trafficking charges in April 2012.

According to the superseding indictment, Horn used websites such as www.modelmayhem.com to recruit victims to work in a prostitution organization by claiming he and Porter were running an upscale escort service in which women could make $500 per day. Horn, Porter and others used various coercive tactics to induce the victims into engaging in prostitution. For example, they allegedly developed a romantic relationship with some victims, falsely promised victims they would only be working as an escort, falsely promised financial assistance for the victims and their families, falsely promised help to obtain lawful immigration status in the United States, and isolated some victims from their friends and family.

The indictment further alleges that Horn recruited one victim into the prostitution organization who was subsequently beaten, whipped and forced to engage in prostitution by Porter.

Investigators believe that there are additional, as-yet unidentified victims in this case. Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.

Horn was arraigned on the indictment this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, Horn would face a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

Porter has previously pleaded not guilty in this case and was ordered to be held without bond. A trial for Porter is scheduled for May 7, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker.

This week’s superseding indictment in the result of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

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

A member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas gang (ABT) pleaded guilty today to racketeering charges related to his membership in the ABT’s criminal enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.

Christopher James Morris, aka, “Rockstar,” 37, of Dallas, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity. 

On Feb. 22, 2013, Morris’s co-conspirator Chad Ray Folmsbee, aka, “Polar Bear,” 30, of Houston, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity.

According to court documents, Morris, Folmsbee and other ABT gang members and associates, agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang.  Morris, Folmsbee and numerous ABT gang members met on a regular basis at various locations throughout Texas to report on gang-related business, collect dues, commit disciplinary assaults against fellow gang members and discuss acts of violence against rival gang members, among other things.  

 By pleading guilty to racketeering charges, Morris and Folmsbee have admitted to being members of the ABT criminal enterprise.

According to the superseding indictment, the ABT was established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system.  The gang modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s.  According to the superseding indictment, previously, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism.  Over time, the ABT expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit.

Court documents allege that the ABT enforced its rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise.  Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”

According to the superseding indictment, in order to be considered for ABT membership, a person must be sponsored by another gang member.  Once sponsored, a prospective member must serve an unspecified term, during which he is referred to as a prospect, while his conduct is observed by the members of the ABT.

At sentencing, Morris and Folmsbee each face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Morris and Folmsbee are both scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 26, 2013.

Morris and Folmsbee are two of 35 defendants charged with conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise, among other charges.  Ben Christian Dillon, 40, of Houston and James Marshall Meldrum, 40, of Dallas each pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy on Jan. 31, 2013.
 
This case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; Texas Rangers; Texas Department of Public Safety; Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Office of Inspector General; Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Tarrant County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Atascosa County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Orange County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Waller County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Fort Worth, Texas, Police Department; Alvin, Texas, Police Department; Carrollton, Texas, Police Department; Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office; Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office; and the Kaufman County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today on the U.S. government’s filing in Hollingsworth v. Perry:

“In our filing today in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law. Throughout history, we have seen the unjust consequences of decisions and policies rooted in discrimination. The issues before the Supreme Court in this case and the Defense of Marriage Act case are not just important to the tens of thousands of Americans who are being denied equal benefits and rights under our laws, but to our Nation as a whole.”

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today on the House passage of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act:

“I am pleased that Congress has voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a landmark law that has transformed the way we respond to domestic and sexual violence.  This reauthorization includes crucial new provisions to improve our ability to bring hope and healing to the victims of these crimes, expand access to justice, and strengthen the prosecutorial and enforcement tools available to hold perpetrators accountable. 

“Congress has also taken an historic step to finally close the loophole that left many Native American women without adequate protection.  With this bill, tribes and the federal government can better work together to address domestic violence against Native American women, who experience the highest rates of assault in the United States.  The bill also provides funding to improve the criminal justice response to sexual assault, ensuring that victims can access the services they need to heal.  And it will help to build on evidence-based practices for reducing domestic violence homicides and prevent violence against our nation’s children, teens, and young adults.

“I applaud Congress for passing a bipartisan reauthorization that protects everyone – women and men, gay and straight, children and adults of all races, ethnicities, countries of origin, and tribal affiliations. The Department of Justice looks forward to implementing this historic legislation after it is signed into law.”

A former Michigan resident was found guilty by a federal jury today in Miami of child sex tourism charges, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo A. Ferrer and Special Agent in Charge Alysa D. Erichs of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami office. 

Matthew Andrew Carter, aka “William Charles Harcourt” and “Bill Carter,” 67, formerly of Brighton, Mich., was found guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida of five counts of traveling in foreign commerce from the United States to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with children and one count of attempting to do so.  Carter was charged in a second superseding indictment returned on Jan. 12, 2012.
 
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 1995 to 2011, Carter resided at and operated the Morning Star Center near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, prior to his arrest on May 8, 2011.  The Morning Star Center was a residential facility that provided shelter, food, clothing and school tuition to Haitian children.  The children who lived at the Morning Star Center were from impoverished families that could not feed them, send them to school or otherwise support their children.  The evidence at trial showed that Carter specifically targeted children in need and preyed on their vulnerability.  Between 1995 and 2011, Carter frequently traveled between the United States and Haiti in order to raise funds from churches and donors for the continued operation of the center.  Carter sexually and physically abused the children in his care and custody at the center during this period of time.  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Carter used force to get these children to comply with his sexual demands and required the children to participate in sexual acts in order to receive food, remain at the center and/or continue to receive school tuition payments.

At trial, 16 Haitian victims who resided at the Morning Star Center between 1995 and 2011 testified.  Additionally, four witnesses testified that they were sexually abused by Carter in London during the 1970s.  Carter previously was charged with and acquitted of charges related to the sexual abuse of children in London, Cairo, Egypt and Winter Haven, Fla. 

At sentencing, Carter faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on one count and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for each of the other five counts.  Carter is scheduled for sentencing on May 20, 2013, in Miami before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard.
 
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria K. Medetis of the Southern District of Florida and Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section Trial Attorney Bonnie L. Kane of the Criminal Division.  The case against Carter was investigated by ICE-HSI in Miami, the ICE-HSI Assistant Attaché’s Office in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and the ICE-HSI Santo Domingo Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit.  Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Secret Service Miami field office; the Haitian National Police Brigade for the Protection of Minors; Haitian Social Services; the Ministry of the Interior for Haiti; the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Regional Security Office for the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the London Metropolitan Police Service; the FBI’s Washington, Boston and Miami field offices; and the ICE-HSI Attaché’s Offices in London and Cairo.

The Justice Department today reached an agreement with The Agency Staffing located in West Dundee, Ill., resolving claims that the staffing company violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The Justice Department’s investigation was initiated based on a referral from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under a memorandum of agreement between the Civil Rights Division and USCIS. The department’s investigation concluded that The Agency Staffing applied enhanced employment eligibility procedures to work-authorized non-U.S. citizens that were run through E-Verify. The company did not utilize these additional procedures when it ran U.S. Citizens through E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet-based system run by USCIS that confirms employment eligibility by comparing information from an employee’s Form I-9.

Under the settlement agreement, The Agency Staffing will pay $8,400 in civil penalties to the United States, undergo Justice Department training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for a period of three years. The case settled prior to the Justice Department filing a complaint in this matter.

“Employers cannot create higher hurdles for non-U.S. citizens in the employment eligibility verification process, which includes E-Verify, than those required of U.S. citizens or those required by law,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “We commend The Agency Staffing for restructuring its hiring processes to ensure that it will no longer be treating new hires differently based on their citizenship status.”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TDD for hearing impaired), call the OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, TDD for hearing impaired), sign up for a no-cost webinar at www.justice.gov/about/osc/webinars.php , email osccrt@usdoj.gov or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc .

The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW ) today announced $12.6 million dollars in grants awarded to 20 communities as part of a new, consolidated program designed to more effectively reduce dating violence . For the first time, grantees can implement a comprehensive approach to dating violence that includes services for victims, prevention programs, partnering with schools and engaging men and boys in ending violence against women . OVW combined four separate grant programs into one, enabling more efficient, effective work and responding to the call for bold new initiatives from The Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence.

Grantees of the Consolidated Grant Program to Address Children and Youth Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Violence and Engaging Men and Boys as Allies will provide services to children and youth exposed to violence, training for professionals to improve interventions and responses, coordinated school-based strategies, supportive services for non-abusing parents and coordinated community responses. The Program also supports innovative prevention strategies that encourage men and boys to work as allies with women and girls to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West announced the grants to a room full of high school and college students at a White House event commemorating Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.

“Teen dating violence is about our community, our schools and our relationships. And that means it’s about us. Each one of us, as well as, importantly, those of us who are men,” Acting Associate Attorney General West said. “As fathers, brothers, coaches, teachers and classmates – men’s voices must be part of this conversation – as men, both young and old, this is our individual and collective responsibility.”

Research shows that our nation’s teens and young adults experience particularly high rates of violence. One-in-ten 9th-12th grade students were physically hurt, on purpose, by a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2011. According to the latest CDC data, 80% of rape victims were raped for the first time before their 25th birthday. Many young people do not know where to turn for help. A 2008 study found that 67 percent of students who were abused in a relationship talked to a friend, but only 13 percent also talked to a parent or other adult.

“Every year, millions of children and adolescents across the United States are victimized and exposed to violence in their homes and neighborhoods, and often suffer severe, long-term emotional and physical consequences,” said Acting Director of OVW Bea Hanson. “As we work to help keep our children safe, we must view prevention and intervention as intertwined, not separate and distinct. This grant program is an essential part of our vision for safe and healthy communities, places where young people can grow to their fullest potential.” 

Grantees will receive awards ranging from $350,000 to $1,000,000 based on the scope of their projects. The selected applicants are: Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Alaska; The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Alaska; Center for Hope and Healing, Mass.; Deaf Abused Women’s Network, Washington, D.C.; The Family Partnership, Minn.; Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services, N.C.; Jenesse Center Inc., Calif.; Jewish Women International, Inc., Washington, D.C.; HOPE Works, Vt.; Mecklenburg County, N.C.; Meriden-Wallingford Chrysalis Inc., Conn.; Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Wash.; King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, Wash.; Nashville Young Women’s Christian Association, Tenn.; Peace Over Violence, Calif.; Project Pave, Colo.; SafeHaven of Tarrant County, Texas; Wiconi Wawokiya Inc., S.D.; Youth Organizations Umbrella Inc., Ill.; and YWCA Knoxville, Tenn.

 For more information on OVW and its programs, please visit: www.ovw.usdoj.gov .

Philip Mayo, a former correctional officer at the Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., pleaded guilty to conspiring with other RCI officers to assault an inmate at the state prison during the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. (midnight) shift on March 8-9, 2008.

Mayo, 41, of Randolph, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring with other RCI officers to beat K.D. during the midnight shift on March 9, 2008.

According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Mayo and other officers met at RCI during the midnight shift and agreed to assault K.D. in retaliation for a prior incident involving K.D. and another officer. Mayo and three other correctional officers then entered K.D.’s cell in order to assault inmate K.D., while a fourth officer watched. Officers then assaulted K.D.

“Mr. Mayo has admitted that he and other officers conspired to use unlawful force to punish an inmate,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those officers who violate the rights of inmates.”

Mayo faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is set for Oct. 28, 2013, before U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar.

In connection with an assault on inmate KD that occurred during the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift on March 9, 2008, former RCI Correctional Officers Ryan Lohr and Dustin Norris each recently entered guilty pleas before Judge Bredar.

The investigation by the Frederick, Md., Resident Agency of the FBI is ongoing. The case is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

The Departments of Justice and Labor today announced the availability of approximately $32 million through two grant competitions that will offer job training, education and support services to formerly incarcerated youths and women.

“Expanding access to job training programs and educational opportunities is a proven strategy for reducing recidivism and preventing crime,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “By supporting efforts to help formerly incarcerated women and young adults rebuild their lives – and become productive, law-abiding members of their communities – the Departments of Justice and Labor are making good on our shared commitment to improving outcomes and ensuring public safety.”

“We are a country that believes in second chances,” said Department of Labor Acting Secretary Seth D. Harris. “Job training offers opportunities to learn skills and reshape lives. The grants announced today will provide critical support for women and young people who are eager for employment and a productive role in their communities.”

The Department of Labor will award a total of $20 million to four organizations to operate programs that work with juvenile offenders and youths at-risk of becoming juvenile offenders in high-poverty, high-crime communities. Each organization may submit only one application for a grant of up to $5 million.

Additionally, the Department of Labor will award a total of $12 million to eight organizations to provide job training for formerly incarcerated individuals of all ages that leads to industry-recognized credentials. Mentoring and assistance connecting to supportive services such as housing, substance abuse and mental health treatment, and assistance with parenting and child reunification, also will be available to participants. These grants are designed to expand opportunities for both youths and adults who demonstrate characteristics most common to female former offenders. However, services must also be open to eligible formerly incarcerated males. Each organization may submit only one application for a grant of up to $1.5 million.

Reintegrating formerly incarcerated individuals is a government-wide effort supported by the Federal Interagency Reentry Council. Established by the U.S. Department of Justice and chaired by Attorney General Eric Holder, the council brings together numerous federal agencies to advance policies and programs to make communities safer, assist individuals returning to communities from prison or jail in becoming productive taxpaying citizens, and save taxpayer dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration.

Any nonprofit organization with 501 (3)(c) status that meets the requirements of the solicitation may apply. The solicitations for grant applications, which include information about how to apply, are available at www.grants.gov .

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that CountryMark Refining and Logistics LLC (CountryMark) has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Ind.

Once fully implemented, the pollution controls required by the settlement will reduce emissions of harmful air pollution that can cause respiratory problems, such as asthma, and are significant contributors to acid rain, smog, and haze, by an estimated 1,000 tons or more per year.

“This settlement requires CountryMark to install new controls and implement new practices at its refinery to reduce air pollution from all significant sources at the refinery,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Notably, CountryMark will be the third refiner to put in place new measures to substantially reduce gas emissions from its flare, and the company’s commitment to retrofit diesel school buses will also reduce air emissions that affect the area’s residents.”

 “Under the settlement, CountryMark will implement new practices and install innovative, cutting-edge pollution controls at its Indiana refinery,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “These innovative controls include ensuring that pollution control devices, such as flares, are operated properly to minimize pollution emitted into the air and to improve their overall efficiency.”

“Because oil production and refining is an important source of jobs in southwest Indiana, my office worked with our state and federal partners to ensure this settlement agreement is carefully structured to address the violations of law and assist the local community with needed improvements to environmental safety and air quality,” said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, whose office represented the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in settlement negotiations.

The complaint alleges that the company made modifications to its refinery that increased emissions without first obtaining pre-construction permits and installing required pollution control equipment. The CAA requires major sources of air pollution to obtain such permits before making changes that would result in a significant net emissions increase of any pollutant. The complaint also alleges CAA violations related to flare operation, the New Source Performance Standards, and applicable requirements for leak detection and repair (LDAR).

The settlement requires new and upgraded pollution controls, more stringent emission limits, and aggressive LDAR practices to reduce emissions from refinery equipment and processing units. The settlement also requires new controls on the refinery’s flaring devices, which are used to burn-off waste gases. The amount of pollution that flares emit depends on the total amount of waste gases sent to a flare and the efficiency at which the flare is operated when burning those gases. The settlement will ensure proper combustion efficiency for any gases that are sent to a flare and will also cap the total amount of waste gases that can be sent to a flare at the refinery. The flares requirements are part of EPA’s national effort to reduce emissions from flares at refineries, petrochemical, and chemical plants.

The flaring efficiency requirements are settlement with CountryMark are part of EPA’s national enforcement initiative to improve compliance among petroleum refiners and to reduce significant amounts of air pollution from refineries nationwide through comprehensive, company-wide enforcement settlements. The settlement with CountryMark is the 32nd under the EPA initiative. With today’s settlement, 109 refineries operating in 32 states and territories – more than 90 percent of the total refining capacity in the United States – are under judicially enforceable agreements to significantly reduce emissions of pollutants. As a result of the settlement agreements, refiners have agreed to invest more than $6 billion in new pollution controls designed to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants by over 360,000 tons per year.
 
 The state of Indiana actively participated in the settlement with CountryMark and has received over $110,000 to fund a supplemental environmental project to remove asbestos-containing material from an old grain elevator in downtown Mount Vernon. The settlement also requires CountryMark to provide at least $70,000 in funding for a supplemental environmental project that will install diesel retrofit and/or idle reduction technologies on school buses and/or non-school bus, publicly-owned vehicles located within 50 miles of the refinery.

The consent decree, lodged in the Southern District of Indiana, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval. The consent decree is available for review at  www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html

More information about the settlement: www.epa.gov/enforcement/air/cases/countrymarkrefiningandlogisticsllc.html

More information about EPA’s Air Toxics National Enforcement Initiative: www.epa.gov/compliance/data/planning/initiatives/2011airtoxics.html

Enforcement Alert: EPA Enforcement Targets Flaring Efficiency Violations (August 2012): www.epa.gov/enforcement/air/documents/newsletters/flaringviolations.pdf
 
More information about EPA’s Petroleum Refinery Initiative: www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/caa/oil/index.html

An employee of a Texas securities firm and a broker-dealer who conspired with him and others to artificially pump up the stock prices of several publicly traded companies were sentenced to prison terms today for their roles in the $1 million scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Valerie Parlave.

Blake Williams, 30, of Dallas, and Derek Lopez, 46, of Torrance, Calif., were sentenced to 32 and 24 months in prison, respectively.  U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade imposed the sentences today in Dallas federal court.  In addition to the prison terms, Williams was ordered to forfeit $125,000; Lopez was ordered to forfeit $72,442; and the pair was sentenced to serve two years of supervised release.  Each defendant previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud.  

Williams was an employee of TBeck Capital Inc., a purported investment banking and securities trading firm in Grapevine, Texas.  Lopez was a securities broker-dealer who provided services to TBeck Capital.  According to court documents, from June 2006 through December 2008, Williams, Lopez and their co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to manipulate the price and volume of stocks traded in the over-the-counter market. 

According to court documents, companies owned and controlled by a co-conspirator obtained control of large positions of free-trading stock in various publicly traded companies.  Williams, Lopez and others then coordinated trades with each other and with other alleged co-conspirators to create the false appearance of greater investor interest in the stock.  Williams and Lopez admitted to trading stock in their own names as well as through TBeck Capital and other companies to keep the stock price artificially inflated.  These actions allowed the defendants and their alleged co-conspirators to then sell that stock at an artificially high price.

Specifically, Lopez admitted to trading in his own name, as well as in the name “Da Big Kahuna” to disguise his trades.  Williams admitted to trading in the names of several companies to make it appear there were multiple unrelated entities buying and selling the stock.  According to court documents, Williams received cash payments and Lopez received free-trading stock and cash payments in return for their assistance in manipulating the stock prices of companies in which TBeck Capital owned and controlled large positions of free-trading stock.

The gain to all the co-conspirators from the fraudulent scheme exceeded $1 million, according to court documents.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Nicholas Acker and Trial Attorney Luke B. Marsh of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas provided valuable assistance.

This case was prosecuted in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. 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.

The owners and operators of two Miami health care agencies were sentenced to nine years and more than four years in prison today, respectively, and ordered to pay millions in restitution for their participation in a $48 million home health Medicare fraud scheme that billed for unnecessary home health care and therapy services.

The sentences, imposed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge 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.

            U.S. District Judge Frederico A. Moreno sentenced Rogelio Rodriguez, 43, and Raymond Aday, 48, both of the Miami-Dade area, to 108 months and 51 months in prison, respectively.  In addition to the prison term, Judge Moreno sentenced Rodriguez to pay $33 million in restitution, and Aday to pay $2.1 million in restitution.  Both defendants were also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and pay a $100,000 fine.  In December 2012, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

According to court documents, Rodriguez was the owner of both Caring Nurse Home Health Corp. and Good Quality Home Health Inc., and Aday was a manager at Caring Nurse and owner of Good Quality.

According to plea documents, Rodriguez and Aday conspired with patient recruiters for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for unnecessary home health care and therapy services.  Rodriguez, Aday and their co-conspirators paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters.  In return, recruiters provided patients to Caring Nurse and Good Quality, as well as prescriptions, plans of care (POCs) and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services for Medicare beneficiaries.  Rodriguez and Aday used these prescriptions, POCs and medical certifications to fraudulently bill the Medicare program for home health care services, which both Rodriguez and Aday knew was in violation of federal criminal laws.

According to court documents, nurses and office staff at Caring Nurse and Good Quality falsified patient files to make it appear the Medicare beneficiaries qualified for services they did not.  Rodriguez admitted to knowing that these files were falsified so the Medicare program could be billed for medically unnecessary therapy and home health related services. 

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 were not provided.  According to court documents, Medicare paid approximately $33 million for these fraudulent claims.

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

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 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.

Two separate indictments charging a total of nine current or former officers at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) were unsealed today, in relation to two assaults of an inmate, and subsequent obstruction of justice, announced Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

In the first indictment, four current or former RCI officers face federal charges in connection with an assault on K.D., an inmate, during the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. (midnight) shift on March 8-9, 2008. Former RCI Correctional Officers James Kalbflesh and Jeremy McCusker face civil rights and conspiracy charges for their roles in the midnight shift assault on K.D.

In addition, Kalbflesh, McCusker, RCI Correctional Officer Walter Steele and RCI Lieutenant Jason Weicht face conspiracy charges for their efforts to cover up information related to the midnight shift assault on K.D. RCI Lieutenant Weicht also faces an obstruction of justice charge for encouraging officers to get together to get their stories straight, providing home telephone numbers for the involved officers so that they could arrange for a cover-up meeting, and giving an officer books on interrogation techniques so that he would be prepared to mislead investigators. Finally, RCI Officer Steele faces two more counts for providing false and misleading information to state and federal authorities.

McCusker faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. Kalbflesh and Weicht face a maximum of 25 years in prison. Steele faces a maximum term of 30 years in prison.

In the second indictment, five current or former RCI officers are charged. RCI Lieutenant Edwin Stigile and former Correctional Officers Tyson Hinckle, Reginald Martin, and Michael Morgan were charged with conspiring to have officers assault K.D. during the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. (daylight) shift on March 9, 2008. RCI Sergeant Josh Hummer and former Correctional Officers Hinckle, Martin, and Morgan also were charged with a civil rights violation for the daylight assault on K.D. The indictment alleges that RCI officers kicked and punched inmate K.D. inside his cell in order to punish K.D. for a prior incident involving another officer. K.D. had to be transported to a local hospital following this beating.

All of the defendants in the second indictment are charged with conspiring to obstruct the investigation into assault. In addition, the indictment alleges that Lieutenant Stigile obstructed justice when he used a magnetic device to destroy and alter surveillance tapes related to the assault on inmate K.D. Sergeant Hummer also faces two obstruction of justice counts for making false and misleading statements to state and administrative authorities.

Lieutenant Stigile faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. Sergeant Hummer faces a maximum of 55 years in prison. Hinckle, Morgan, and Martin each face a maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years.

These cases, which are ongoing, are being investigated by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI, and are being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

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

A federal court in Baton Rouge, La., on Monday rejected two tax shelter transactions entered into by The Dow Chemical Company that purported to create approximately $1 billion in phony tax deductions. In addition to rejecting the tax benefits from the shelter transactions, Chief Judge Brian A. Jackson also imposed penalties.

As stated in the opinion, the schemes were created by Goldman Sachs and the law firm of King & Spalding, and involved creating a partnership that Dow operated out of its European headquarters in Switzerland. Chief Judge Jackson wrote in his 74-page opinion that the government was correct to reject the artificial tax benefits created by these schemes that were designed to exploit perceived weaknesses in the tax code and not designed for legitimate business reasons. Judge Jackson noted that “tax law deals in economic realities, not legal abstractions.” Judge Jackson also wrote that penalties were appropriate because any reasonable and prudent person should have known that the artificial tax benefits created by the scheme were “too good to be true.” Judge Jackson noted in his opinion that “Dow viewed its tax department as a profit center,” and had at its disposal “numerous lawyers and tax professionals.”

Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department’s Tax Division hailed the Louisiana court’s opinion. “It is offensive to all taxpayers who pay their fair share when our largest corporations believe that they can claim hundreds of millions of dollars in tax deductions that are manufactured by abusive tax schemes,” said Keneally. Keneally thanked the agents and attorneys at the Internal Revenue Service who assisted the Justice Department, as well as Tax Division trial attorneys, Thomas Sawyer, Robert Welsh, Thomas Koelbl and Philip Schreiber.

Related Materials:

United States v. Chemtech Royalty Associates, L.P., etc.
Memorandum Ruling (PDF)

Dustin Norris, a former correctional officer at the Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., pleaded guilty to conspiring with other RCI officers to assault an inmate at the state prison on March 9, 2008.

Norris, 28, pleaded guilty to conspiring with other RCI officers to beat K.D. on March 9, 2008.

According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Norris and other officers met at RCI and agreed to assault K.D. in retaliation for a prior incident involving K.D. and another officer. Norris and four other correctional officers then entered K.D.’s cell and assaulted inmate K.D., while a fifth officer, Ryan Lohr, watched from the cell door. The officers beat inmate K.D. even though the inmate already had visible facial injuries. Following this assault, K.D. was transported to a local hospital.

Norris further admitted that he lied to state investigators when he was asked about the injuries K.D. suffered while held in a single-occupant segregation cell.

“Mr. Norris has admitted that he and other officers used unjustified and unlawful force to punish an inmate,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those officers who violate the constitutional rights of inmates.”

Norris faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is set for Oct. 28, 2013, before U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar.

In a related case, former RCI Correctional Officer Ryan Lohr entered a guilty plea on Jan. 30, 2013, also before Judge Bredar.

The investigation by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI is ongoing. The case is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Matthew Bender, a paid preparer of tax returns residing in Detroit, was charged in a superseding indictment with preparing false tax returns and tax obstruction, the Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced today.

Bender had been arrested on a portion of those charges on January 10, 2013. The superseding indictment charges Bender with 16 counts of assisting in the presentation of false tax returns to the IRS along with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws.

According to the superseding indictment, between 2004 and 2012, Bender prepared returns for taxpayers that falsely claimed refunds and contained false deductions and tax withholdings. The superseding indictment also alleges that Bender filed false tax returns for himself for 2007 and 2009 and failed to file his own tax returns for 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2011.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant faces a potential maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and TIGTA and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jeffrey McLellan and Kenneth Vert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

The operator of a California-based tax consulting business has been convicted by a federal jury in Fresno, Calif. for impersonating an aide to a U.S. Congressman in order to deceive a client, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Susan Tomsha-Miguel, 52, of Atwater, Calif., was convicted late yesterday, Feb. 26, 2013, of the sole count in the indictment against her: impersonating an officer or employee of the United States.  The jury deliberated for only 15 minutes before returning a guilty verdict.

As the evidence at trial showed, Tomsha-Miguel operated a tax consulting and bookkeeping business in Atwater.  A client, who owned a commercial business in Merced, Calif., hired Tomsha-Miguel to resolve a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Tomsha-Miguel requested help with the tax problems from the office of U.S. Representative Dennis A. Cardoza, who represents the 18th Congressional District – which includes Merced County, as well as parts of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Madera and Fresno Counties.  As the evidence revealed, Representative Cardoza’s office agreed to help, and transmitted written material – including a form printed under his official Congressional letterhead – to Tomsha-Miguel.

According to the evidence presented in court, Tomsha-Miguel then sent her client a counterfeit letter written under Representative Cardoza’s official letterhead and purportedly written and signed by a congressional aide. The letter falsely claimed that due to Tomsha-Miguel’s efforts on behalf of her client, the aide had contacted an IRS official. The counterfeit letter claimed that the IRS official had agreed to make resolving the client’s tax dispute his “number one priority” after he returned from “Washington, D.C. for an emergency strategy meeting with the U.S. Treasury Secretary and others for a planning session in the event a budget does not get passed by both the House and Senate.”

In reality, the aide did not exist, and Tomsha-Miguel had forged the letterhead by copying the official letterhead onto a blank sheet of paper.  The evidence also showed that Tomsha-Miguel had written the letter from the non-existent aide herself and then sent it to her client in order to mislead him into believing she had succeeded in alleviating his tax problems.

Tomsha-Miguel faces a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing, currently scheduled for June 24, 2013 before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, who presided over the trial.
 
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Barak Cohen of the Public Integrity Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and investigated by the Sacramento, Calif. Division of the FBI.

William P. Danielczyk Jr. and Eugene R. Biagi pleaded guilty today to reimbursing $186,600 in contributions to the Senate and Presidential campaign committees of a candidate for federal office, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Danielczyk, 51, and Biagi, 78, both of Oakton, Va., pleaded guilty to making illegal conduit campaign contributions. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Danielczyk also faces a fine of not less than 300 percent of the amount involved and not more than the greater of $50,000 or 1,000 percent of the amount involved, and Biagi faces a potential fine of not more than $250,000 when they are sentenced on May 17, 2013.

“With today’s guilty pleas, Danielczyk and Biagi admit they used straw donors to circumvent the rules of the electoral process,” said AAG Breuer.  “Our democracy depends on voters honoring campaign contribution limits and other campaign finance laws, and the Justice Department will continue to pursue corrupt individuals whose illegal tricks threaten the legitimacy of elections and undermine public confidence in the democratic process.”

“Today Mr. Danielczyk admitted that he tried to corrupt the electoral process by evading corporate contribution limits,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “Mr. Danielczyk abused his power as an employer and abused his power as a participant in a U.S. election. Direct contribution limits for corporations provide an important check in the integrity of our electoral process, and today’s convictions help ensure that those who illegally go beyond those limits are held accountable.”

“With today’s guilty pleas, Mr. Danielczyk and Mr. Biagi admitted their roles in a scheme in which they evaded FEC law to donate money to a Senate and Presidential candidate.  By doing so, they funneled more than $186,600 through their company by creating fraudulent invoices for straw donors and falsely back-dating letters to those individual contributors,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. “The FBI will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s office to investigate allegations of campaign finance abuse, which are in place to ensure openness and fairness in our elections so the people’s interests are protected.”

According to court records, Danielczyk was the Chairman of Galen Capital Corporation, and Biagi served as the corporation’s secretary and treasurer. In September 2006, Danielczyk co-hosted a fundraiser for a candidate’s campaign for the U.S. Senate and in March 2007 he co-hosted a fundraiser for the same candidate’s 2008 campaign for the President of the United States.

Danielczyk admitted that he recruited individuals, including Biagi and other corporate employees, to serve as “straw donors” to the campaigns, assuring the donors that they would be reimbursed for their contributions. Danielczyk’s assistant collected the contributions, and Danielczyk and Biagi then reimbursed the straw donors for their contributions using Galen Capital Corporation’s corporate funds.

Biagi admitted that he disguised the nature of the reimbursement payments by writing “consulting fees” on the checks’ memorandum lines and by issuing the checks for amounts slightly larger than the campaign contributions. Danielczyk and Biagi also created falsely back-dated letters to the individual contributors, which characterized the reimbursement payments as “consulting fees” or that a contributor would receive money for certain work.

Danielczyk and Biagi admitted they used corporate funds to reimburse a total of $186,600 to the two campaigns. The campaigns unwittingly reported the straw donations as lawful contributions from the individual donors.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  Trial Attorney Eric L. Gibson of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark D. Lytle and Timothy D. Belevetz from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A federal judge sentenced House of Raeford Farms Inc., a poultry slaughtering and processing facility located in Raeford, N.C., to a fine of $150,000, a two year period of probation and to pay a special assessment of $4,000 on Feb. 26, 2013, for 10 counts of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act.

House of Raeford Inc. allowed plant employees to bypass the facility’s pretreatment system and send its untreated wastewater directly to the City of Raeford’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, without notifying city officials.  House of Raeford Inc. failed to prevent employees from sending thousands of gallons of wastewater into a pretreatment system that did not have the capacity to adequately treat the amount of wastewater before it discharged to the city plant.   The untreated wastewater discharged directly to the city plant was contaminated with waste from processing operations, including blood, grease, and body parts from the slaughtered turkeys. A House of Raeford, Inc. former employee admitted that the facility would continue to “kill turkeys” despite being warned that the unauthorized bypasses had an adverse impact on the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.  The city plant was responsible for treating industrial, commercial and residential wastewater before it was discharged to Rockfish Creek in Hoke County. 

The bypasses and failure to report them were in violation of House of Raeford’s pretreatment permit as well as the city’s sewer use ordinance.  Many of the bypasses took place while House of Raeford was subject to a consent order with the city that required it to construct a new pretreatment system and comply with all requirements of its pretreatment permit.  A number of the bypasses were recorded in log books kept by House of Raeford Inc. wastewater operators, and were never revealed to the City.

The case was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and was investigated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with the School District of Palm Beach County, Fla., the nation’s eleventh-largest school district, to prevent and address discrimination in school enrollment and student discipline. The agreement resolves the department’s investigation into complaints that the district failed to enroll children based on their or their parents’ national origin or immigration status, and that its system of discipline discriminated against students based on national origin and limited English proficiency. The district serves more than 179,000 students, including 20,000 English language learners (ELLs).

“All children deserve an equal opportunity to learn, no matter where they are from or what language they speak,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We commend the School District of Palm Beach County for working collaboratively with the department to remove barriers to student enrollment, and for taking strong action to promote a safe, inclusive school environment for all students.”

Under the agreement, the district will enroll all area students regardless of background and will provide translation and interpretation services throughout the registration process. The district will also limit the use of disciplinary measures that remove students from the classroom and implement behavior management and discipline practices that support and protect students. The agreement:

• Requires that ELL students and parents who are limited English proficient receive translation and interpretation services throughout the discipline process ;
• Places limits on exclusionary discipline, such as suspension, and prohibits exclusionary discipline for minor misbehavior;
• Expands the use of positive behavior interventions and supports, and requires that these interventions and supports be accessible to ELL students, including through appropriate translation or interpretation services;
• Prohibits school officials from involving law enforcement officers to respond to behavior that can be safely and appropriately handled under school disciplinary procedures;
• Requires school law enforcement officers to communicate with students in a language the student understands, including by securing an interpreter when appropriate;
• Requires monitoring of discipline data to identify and respond to disparities; and
• Requires training for relevant personnel on all revised policies and procedures.  

The enforcement of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or national origin, among other bases, in public schools, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974, which requires schools to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede students’ equal participation in instructional programs, are top priorities of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  The Civil Rights Division also works to protect the right of all children to enroll in public schools regardless of immigration status, as set forth in the Supreme Court’s Plyler v. Doe decision. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt.

Related Materials:

Palm Beach County Settlement Agreement

Aurelio Cano Flores, a Mexican national and high ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, was found guilty today by a federal jury of conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

Cano Flores, 40, aka “Yankee” and “Yeyo,” was convicted by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.  Cano Flores was one of 19 defendants charged in a superseding indictment on Nov. 4, 2010, with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana for importation into the United States.  Cano Flores was extradited to the United States from Mexico in August 2011 and was ordered detained in federal custody pending trial. 

“Aurelio Cano Flores was convicted today of leading one of the world’s most notorious criminal organizations in a conspiracy to traffic massive quantities of illegal drugs into the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “Cano Flores is the highest ranking Gulf Cartel member to be convicted by a U.S. jury in the past 15 years, and his conviction demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to hold ruthless cartel leaders responsible for importing narcotics into the United States – no matter where they conduct their illegal business.  Along with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, we will continue to bring our resource to bear to ensure that cartel members and associates are brought to justice for the damage they inflict on both sides of the border.”

“Our strategy of targeting the highest levels of the Gulf Cartel continues to pay off,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “DEA and our law enforcement counterparts on both sides of the border remain committed to using every law enforcement tool available to attack these criminal organizations, while taking out their financial infrastructure to thwart their illicit business models and deprive them of their ill-gotten gains.”

Evidence presented at trial included dozens of lawfully intercepted telephone conversations between Cano Flores and other leaders of the Gulf Cartel, as well as testimony from previously convicted Cartel members.  According to evidence presented at trial, Cano Flores began working for the Gulf Cartel in approximately 2001 while serving as a police officer in Mexico.  While serving as a police officer, Cano Flores recruited others into the Gulf Cartel, collected drug money and escorted large shipments of cartel drugs to the U.S. border. 

Cano Flores ultimately rose through the ranks of the Gulf Cartel to become a major transporter of narcotics within Mexico to the U.S. border and became the cartel’s top representative in the important border town of Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  As the “plaza boss” for Los Guerra, Cano Flores oversaw the mass distribution of cocaine and marijuana into the United States on a daily basis.  Testimony also established that between 2000 and 2010, the Gulf Cartel grew from an organization of only 100 members controlling three border towns to an organization of 25,000 people controlling the drug trade over approximately half of Mexico.  As established during the trial, the means and methods of this conspiracy included corruption, murder, kidnapping and intimidation.

At sentencing, scheduled for May 13, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein, Cano Flores faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
  
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Darrin McCullough and Sean Torriente of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in the provisional arrest and extradition of Cano Flores.  The investigation in this case was led by the DEA Houston Field Division’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force and the DEA Bilateral Investigation Unit.

Two former owners of a Los Angeles-area medical equipment wholesale supply company pleaded guilty today to conspiring with their customers to defraud Medicare.

The pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California; Glenn R. Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Bill L. Lewis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; and Joseph Fendrick, Special Agent in Charge of the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (Cal-DOJ).

 Rajinder Singh Paul, 69, and Baljit Kaur Paul, 65, of Redlands, Calif., each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in the Central District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

In court documents, Rajinder and Baljit Paul admitted that they were the president and vice president, respectively, and shareholders of AHPK Inc., a medical equipment wholesale supply company located in Redlands and Ontario, Calif., and formally known as Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply Inc.  The Pauls later sold Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply Inc. to Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply LLC (collectively, “Major’s”) and, according to court documents, remained employed at Major’s Wholesale Medical Supply LLC as consultants until they were terminated in February 2009.

During the time the Pauls either owned or worked as consultants for Major’s, Major’s sold durable medical equipment (DME) almost exclusively to customers who owned and operated DME supply companies, according to court documents.  A majority of Major’s customers were Medicare providers and relied on Medicare to make money, which they did by billing Medicare for the DME that they purchased from Major’s.

One of the more popular items of DME that the Pauls sold at Major’s were power wheelchairs.  Court documents indicate that to attract customers, the Pauls sold power wheelchairs to Major’s customers wholesale for between $850 to $1,000 each.  Major’s customers, however, billed these power wheelchairs to Medicare at a rate of between $3,000 to $6,000 per wheelchair.

The Pauls admitted they knew that Major’s customers were dependent on Medicare for their revenue, and that Major’s customers could not pay Major’s unless Medicare paid the customers first.  To foster customer loyalty, the Pauls engaged in a variety of conduct over a period of six years that helped Major’s customers defraud Medicare, including by providing Major’s customers with false inventory purchase agreements that showed they had higher credit limits than they really did.  Major’s customers submitted these false inventory purchase agreements to Medicare to prove, as required by Medicare, the ability to purchase the volume of DME they billed.

The Pauls also admitted they provided Major’s customers with backdated invoices, knowing customers were billing Medicare for power wheelchairs and DME before the customers actually purchased or delivered the equipment.  The Pauls admitted that by backdating these invoices, they provided Major’s customers with the paper trail the customers needed to prove to Medicare that they had both purchased the DME and purchased it before they submitted their claims to Medicare.  According to court documents, the Pauls backdated or falsified invoices for more than 100 different customers.

Court documents indicate that two of many customers who conspired with the Pauls to defraud Medicare owned and operated a number of fraudulent DME supply companies in the Los Angeles area, including one customer who used “straw” or nominee owners to operate the customer’s companies.  The Pauls admitted they provided these two customers with false inventory purchase agreements and backdated invoices that the customers used to defraud Medicare.  The Pauls admitted that as a result of their conduct, these two customers were able to use their fraudulent DME supply companies to submit approximately $16,662,143 in false claims to, and receive approximately $9,743,609.42 in ill-gotten reimbursement payments from, Medicare.

At sentencing, scheduled for July 8, 2013, the Pauls each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This case is being prosecuted by Jonathan T. Baum of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and Cal DOJ and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 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.

A Florida couple who owned a military contracting company pleaded guilty today in federal court in Salt Lake City for their roles in a bribery and fraud scheme involving federal procurement contracts, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David B. Barlow for the District of Utah.

Sylvester Zugrav, 70, of Sarasota, Fla., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and procurement fraud.  His wife, Maria Zugrav, 67, also of Sarasota, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony related to her efforts to conceal the conspiracy.  The Zugravs were charged in an indictment, returned on Oct. 12, 2011, along with Jose Mendez, 51, of Farr West, Utah, a procurement program manager for the U.S. Air Force Foreign Materials Acquisition Support Office (FMASO) at Hill Air Force Base, in Ogden, Utah. 

Mendez was charged in the indictment with conspiracy, bribery and procurement fraud, and has since pleaded guilty to all charges and agreed to forfeit more than $180,000 he received as part of the bribery scheme and awaits sentencing.

According to court documents, the Zugravs owned Atlas International Trading Company, a business that contracted to provide foreign military materials to the U.S. government through FMASO. 

 In his plea agreement, Sylvester Zugrav admitted that, from 2008 through August 2011, he gave Mendez more than $180,000 in bribe payments, and offered Mendez more than $1.05 million in additional bribe payments contingent upon Atlas’s receipt of future contracts with FMASO.  In exchange for Sylvester Zugrav’s bribe payments and offers, Mendez ensured that Atlas and Sylvester Zugrav received favorable treatment in connection with procurement contracts, including, among other things, assisting Atlas in obtaining and maintaining procurement contracts; assisting Atlas in receiving payments on such contracts; and providing Atlas with contract bid or proposal information or source selection information before the award of procurement contracts.

 In her plea agreement, Maria Zugrav admitted that she was aware of Sylvester Zugrav’s bribe payments to Mendez and assisted with concealment of the crime.  According to court records, Sylvester Zugrav provided bribe payments to Mendez in three ways: cash payments via Federal Express to Mendez’s residential address; in-person payments of cash and other things of value; and electronic wire transfers to a bank account in Mexico opened by and in the name of Mendez’s cousin.  Between November 2009 and August 2011, Sylvester Zugrav sent nine FedEx packages to Mendez’s home address.  Each package contained $5,000 in cash, except the last package, containing $3,000, which was seized by law enforcement.  Maria Zugrav assisted her husband and Mendez’s bribe scheme by limiting cash withdrawals from Atlas’ bank account to not more than $5,000 to avoid scrutiny by banking officials and law enforcement.
 
 According to the plea documents, on multiple occasions when Sylvester Zugrav and Mendez traveled to the same location, Sylvester Zugrav would give Mendez cash payments and other things of value.  From 2008 through August 2011, Sylvester Zugrav gave Mendez seven in-person cash payments ranging from $500 to $10,000, and purchased a laptop computer and software package worth over $2,900. 

 As Mendez admitted, during the course of the corrupt scheme, Mendez opened a foreign bank account so that Sylvester Zugrav could pay Mendez larger bribe payments.  Mendez asked his cousin in Mexico to open an account there.  After the account was opened by Mendez's cousin, Maria Zugrav made wire transfers to the bank account located in Mexico in the name of Mendez's cousin to avoid detection of the larger bribe payments by law enforcement.  From 2008 through August 2011, Maria Zugrav sent 10 wire transfers to the Mexico account ranging from $350 to $26,700.

 Court records also describe additional steps taken to conceal the bribery scheme, including creating and using covert e-mail accounts, using encrypted documents, adopting false names and using code words.  For instance, to avoid detection of their e-mail communications, Sylvester Zugrav and Mendez established e-mail accounts to be used only to communicate requests and offers for bribe payments.  Sylvester Zugrav and Mendez also created password-protected documents for e-mail communications, and used code words and false names. Within the encrypted documents, Mendez adopted the moniker “Chuco” and Sylvester Zugrav used the codename “Jugo.”  They referred to cash as “literature.”

Sylvester Zugrav faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count, and Maria Zugrav faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the misprision count.  Sentencing for the Zugravs is scheduled for June 19, 2013.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Marquest J. Meeks and Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos A. Esqueda for the District of Utah and Trial Attorney Deborah Curtis of the National Security Division’s Counterespionage Section.

A federal court in Los Angeles permanently barred a Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., married couple – Henock Teferi and Ruth Berhane – and their company, Plover Financial Services LLC, from engaging in certain abusive tax-preparation practices, the Justice Department announced today. The defendants are former owners of a Los Angeles-area Instant Tax Service franchise. Instant Tax Service is a national tax-preparation chain based in Dayton, Ohio, and claims to be the fourth-largest tax-preparation firm in the nation.

According to the government complaint in the civil case the defendants operated Instant Tax Service offices at multiple locations in the Los Angeles area until 2011. During that time, defendants’ employees allegedly engaged in a variety of misconduct, including preparing tax forms with unsubstantiated business income, falsely claiming education credits, improperly claiming false filing status, reporting false dependents, selling deceptive loan products, and preparing tax returns based on information from employee paystubs rather than employer-issued W-2 forms.

Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California signed the permanent injunction order, barring the defendants from violating the federal tax laws and consumer protection laws, and requiring an outside monitor to review a sample of tax returns that the defendants prepare in connection with their current tax preparation business, and report to a designated representative of the United States to ensure compliance with the injunction. The order also bars the defendants from marketing abusive loan products, including holiday or instant cash loans or advance loan products offered to customers based on information obtained from customers’ paystubs. The defendants consented to the permanent injunction without admitting the allegations against them.

The Justice Department brought five civil injunction suits against Instant Tax Service and some franchisees last year. One of those suits is pending against the nationwide franchisor of Instant Tax Service and its owner, Fesum Ogbazion, in Dayton. The court in that case has entered a preliminary injunction , and trial on the government’s request to shut down the Instant Tax Service franchisor permanently is scheduled for May 2013.

In the past ten years, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained hundreds of injunctions to stop the promotion of tax-fraud schemes and the preparation of fraudulent returns. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website .

Related Materials:

United States v. Henock Teferi, et al.
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Relief (PDF)
Order of Permanent Injunction Against Henock Teferi, Ruth Berhane, and Plover Financial Services LLC (PDF)

Patrick Scott, 47, of Tuba City, Arizona, was sentenced in Phoenix today to 30 days in prison, five months home confinement, one year supervised release and a $2,000 fine for illegally selling golden eagle and other migratory bird parts, a felony criminal offense, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and John S. Leonardo, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.

Scott pleaded guilty in December 2012 to a single felony count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  According to the plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona and accepted by the court today, in January 2008, Scott used the internet to illegally offer to sell a golden eagle fan for $950.   A covert law enforcement officer exchanged e-mails with Scott and ultimately agreed on a purchase price of $900.  In February 2008, a second undercover law enforcement officer went to Scott’s house and bought the golden eagle fan by making an initial payment of $550 and later deposited the remainder directly into Scott’s bank account in two installments.  The court also found today that between July 2007 and February 2009, Scott sold, purchased, and/or offered to sell other migratory bird parts, from species including bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, crested caracara, anhinga and rough-legged hawk.

Golden eagles and other migratory birds are protected by federal laws and regulations.  Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it is unlawful to possess, offer to sell, sell, offer to purchase or purchase any migratory bird or migratory bird part, or any product that consists, or is composed in whole or part, of any such bird or bird part.  It is a federal enforcement priority to prosecute those who violate federal laws by engaging in commercial activities involving federally protected bird feathers or other bird parts.  The objective of these enforcement efforts is to reduce and eliminate the unlawful taking of federally protected birds by prosecuting not only individuals who kill protected birds but also individuals who seek to profit from the commercialization of federally protected birds or their feathers or other parts.  This helps to ensure that golden eagle and other bird populations remain healthy and sustainable.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in coordination with the Navajo Fish and Wildlife Division of Natural Resources.  The case was prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Williston Rescue Squad Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $800,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by making false claims for payment to Medicare for ambulance transports, the Justice Department announced today. Williston, based in Williston, S.C., provides ambulance transport services in the southwestern part of South Carolina.

Medicare is a federally-funded health care program that is intended to provide basic medical insurance to people over the age of 65. Medicare reimburses providers only for non-emergency ambulance transports if the patient transported is bed-confined or has a medical condition that requires ambulance transportation. The settlement resolves allegations that Williston billed Medicare for routine, non-emergency ambulance transports that were not medically necessary and that Williston created false documents to make the transports appear to meet the Medicare requirements.

“Billing Medicare for unnecessary ambulance transports contributes to the soaring costs of health care,” said Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to pursuing companies that waste limited Medicare funds.”

“Medicare fraud is stealing, and it is crippling America’s health care system.  We have doubled the number of attorneys working these cases in South Carolina.  Take notice, if you are bilking the Medicare system designed to support our elders, we are working to find you.  For the honest service providers, which is a greater majority of the community, you can report fraud at 1-800-MEDICARE,” said William N. Nettles, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by Sandra McKee under the qui tam, or whistleblower provisions, of the False Claims Act. McKee is a clinical social worker at a facility that regularly received patients transported by Williston’s ambulances. Under the False Claims Act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. Ms. McKee will receive $160,000 as her share of the government’s recovery.

This resolution is part of the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in May 2009. 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 that effort is the False Claims Act, which the Justice Department has used to recover nearly $10.2 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department’s total recoveries in False Claims Act cases since January 2009 are over $14 billion.

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

The United States’ investigation was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

The False Claims Act suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and is captioned United States ex rel. McKee v. Williston Rescue Squad, Inc. , No. 11-CV-00186 (D.S.C.).

A former owner of mental health facilities in Florida and North Carolina was sentenced today to serve 168 months in prison for his leadership role in a health care fraud scheme involving defunct health provider Health Care Solutions Network Inc. (HCSN), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge 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.

Armando Gonzalez, 50, of Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida.  In addition to his prison term, Gonzalez was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay 28,092,283 in restitution, which, under the terms of Gonzalez’s plea agreement, will be satisfied in part by seized assets including $987,000 in currency seized in July 2012 and Gonzalez’s mansion in Hendersonville, N.C.

On Dec. 17, 2012, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

 According to court documents, HCSN operated community mental health centers at three locations in Miami-Dade County, Fla., and one location in Hendersonville.  HCSN purported to provide partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to individuals suffering from mental illness.  A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness.  According to court documents, HCSN obtained Medicare beneficiaries to attend HCSN for purported PHP treatment that was unnecessary and, in many instances, not even provided. 

Gonzalez orchestrated the HCSN fraud scheme, which centered on the recruitment and admission of patients who could not benefit from PHP services. In Miami, Gonzalez utilized patient recruiters to pay cash kickbacks in exchange for referrals from Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) patients who often suffered from conditions such as dementia and mental retardation.  Once the unqualified patients were admitted to HCSN, Gonzalez’s employees would fabricate virtually every portion of the patients’ mental health medical records.  The fake medical records were then utilized to support false billings to government sponsored health care benefit programs and to avoid detection by Medicare auditors. 

In North Carolina, HCSN employees also routinely submitted false billing for patients watching movies, attending BBQs and, more commonly, patients who were not even present at the Miami and North Carolina facilities.

Gonzalez also admitted to his role in a money laundering scheme involving Psychiatric Consulting Network Inc. (PCN), a Florida corporation that was utilized by HCSN as a shell corporation to launder millions in health care fraud proceeds. 

According to court documents, from 2004 through 2011, HCSN billed Medicare and the Florida Medicaid program approximately $63 million for purported mental health services that resulted in more than $28 million in payments.

Fifteen defendants have been charged for their alleged roles in the HCSN health care fraud scheme, and ten defendants have pleaded guilty.  Alleged co-conspirators Wondera Eason and Paul Layman are scheduled for trial on March 11, 2013, before Judge Altonaga in Miami.  Alleged co-conspirators Dr. Alina Feas, Dana Gonzalez and Lisset Palmero are scheduled for trial on June 3, 2013.  Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.

The cases are being prosecuted by Special Trial Attorney William Parente and Trial Attorney Allan J. Medina of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.  In support of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, the FBI Criminal Investigative Division’s Financial Crimes Section has funded the Special Trial Attorney position.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 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 co-owner and operator of three Miami discount pharmacies was sentenced today to 168 months in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme that submitted more than $23 million in false claims to Medicare.

The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge 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.

Jose Carlos Morales, 55, of Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida.  In addition to his prison term, Morales was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and to pay a $100,000 fine.  A hearing to determine the amount of restitution Morales will pay has been scheduled for April 29, 2013.

On Dec. 6, 2012, Morales pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay illegal health care kickbacks.

According to court documents, Morales was the co-owner of Pharmovisa Inc. and PharmovisaMD Inc., which operated a total of three pharmacies in Miami.  Morales paid illegal health care kickbacks to co-conspirators in return for a stream of beneficiary information to be used to submit claims to Medicare and Medicaid.  The beneficiaries who were referred to the pharmacies in exchange for kickback payments resided at assisted living facilities (ALFs) located in Miami.  Morales and his alleged co-conspirators also paid illegal health care kickbacks to physicians in exchange for prescription referrals, which the pharmacies ultimately billed to Medicare. 

 Court documents also reveal that beginning in approximately 2007, drivers working for Morales’ pharmacies, at his direction, delivered “bingo cards” containing pop out medications to ALFs located throughout the Southern District of Florida.  Morales instructed the drivers to pick up any unused “bingo cards” so that Morales pharmacy personnel could put the medications back into pill bottles.  Unused and partially used medications were eventually re-billed to Medicare and Medicaid, and a majority of the previously submitted claims to Medicare and Medicaid were never reversed.  Morales also instructed Morales pharmacy personnel to place unused and partially used medications into bottles to be sold directly to the general public from the “community” pharmacy shelves.

Morales and his alleged co-conspirators also engaged in sham financial transactions to facilitate and conceal the fraud schemes and the flow of fraud proceeds, according to court documents.  In most instances, the sham transactions involved shell entities owned and/or controlled by Morales or his alleged co-conspirators. 

According to court documents, Morales and his co-conspirators submitted and caused to be submitted approximately $23,367,755 in false and fraudulent claims to the Medicare and Florida Medicaid programs.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Allan J. Medina and Special Trial Attorney William Parente of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 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.

Louis Fazzini was sentenced today to serve 55 months in prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy involving illegal gambling and theft from an employee benefit plan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and John Brosnan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. 

Fazzini, 46, of Caldwell, N.J., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  In addition to his prison term, Fazzini was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

On Oct. 5, 2012, Fazzini pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) Family through a pattern of racketeering activity.  At the time of the plea colloquy, he admitted that, as a “made” member of the North Jersey crew of the Philadelphia LCN Family, he operated a sports bookmaking business and devised a fraudulent scheme to obtain health benefits through a “no show” job controlled by the LCN in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy.  As a “no show” employee, Fazzini performed no work or productive services, while still receiving health benefits.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.  Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

The Justice Department announced today that the Civil Rights Division will monitor elections on Feb. 26, 2013, in Cook County, Ill., and Seward County, Kan.  The monitoring will ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes.  The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group. In addition, the act requires certain covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance during the election process. Cook County is required to provide language assistance to its Hispanic, Chinese and Asian Indian voters, and Seward County is required to provide language assistance to its Hispanic voters.

Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Cook and Seward Counties.  Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country.  To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.

Visit www.justice.gov/crt/voting/index.php for more information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws.

James Francis Sampsell has been indicted in Houston for his alleged role as a leader of a racketeering enterprise known as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas. 

The second superseding indictment returned on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, by a federal grand jury in Houston charges Sampsell, aka “Skitz,” 50, of Midland, Texas, with conspiracy to engage in racketeering activity and possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine.

Sampsell’s co-defendants, who were previously charged for their alleged roles in the racketeering conspiracy, range from senior leaders to soldiers of the ABT, a “whites only,” prison-based gang with members operating inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and elsewhere in the United States since at least the early 1980s.  In total, the second superseding indictment charges 33 alleged members of the ABT.

According to court documents, the ABT has a detailed and uniform organizational structure, with territory divided into five regions, each run by a “general.”  Four alleged ABT generals, Terry Ross Blake, 55, aka “Big Terry”; Larry Max Bryan, 51, aka “Slick”; William David Maynard, 42, aka “Baby Huey”; and Charles Lee Roberts, 68, aka “Jive,” were charged in the superseding indictment with conspiracy to participate in the racketeering activities of the ABT, among other charges. The second superseding indictment charges the fifth general, Sampsell, with conspiracy to participate in the racketeering activities of the ABT, among other charges.

In total, the second superseding indictment charges 33 alleged members of the ABT with conspiracy to participate in the racketeering activities of the ABT.   Alleged members of the ABT are also charged with involvement in three murders, multiple attempted murders, kidnappings, assaults and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.  On Jan. 31, 2012, two previously indicted alleged gang members, Ben Christian Dillon, aka, “Tuff”, 40, of Houston, and James Marshall Meldrum, aka “Dirty,” 40, of Dallas, each  pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston.

According to court documents, the ABT was established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system.  The gang modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s.  According to court documents, previously, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism.  Over time, the ABT is alleged to have expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit.

Court documents allege that the ABT enforced its rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise.  Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”

The racketeering and drug conspiracy charges each carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.  The murder-related charges carry maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty.

An indictment is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; Texas Rangers; Texas Department of Public Safety; Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Department; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Office of Inspector General; Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Tarrant County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Atascosa County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Orange County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Waller County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Fort Worth, Texas, Police Department; San Antonio Police Department; Baytown, Texas, Police Department; Carrollton, Texas, Police Department; Alvin, Texas, Police Department; Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office; Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office; Harris County District Attorney’s Office; and the Kaufman County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

The Department of Justice announced today that the government has joined a civil lawsuit alleging that Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel and Tailwind Sports LLC and Tailwind Sports Corporation (Tailwind) submitted or caused the submission of false claims to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in connection with its sponsorship of a professional bicycle racing team by regularly employing banned substances and methods to enhance their performance, in violation of the USPS sponsorship agreements.

From 1996 through 2004, the USPS sponsored a professional cycling team owned by Tailwind and its predecessors. Lance Armstrong was the lead rider on the team, and between 1999 and 2004, he won six consecutive Tour de France titles as a member of the USPS-sponsored team. Johan Bruyneel was the directeur sportif, or manager, of the cycling team.

The sponsorship agreements gave the USPS certain promotional rights, including the right to prominent placement of the USPS logo on the cycling team’s uniform.  Each of the agreements required the team to follow the rules of cycling’s governing bodies, which prohibited the use of certain performance enhancing substances and methods.  Between 2001 and 2004 alone, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees.

The lawsuit joined today by the government alleges that riders on the USPS-sponsored team, including Armstrong, knowingly caused the USPS agreements to be violated by regularly employing banned substances and methods to enhance their performance. The lawsuit further alleges that Bruyneel knew that team members were using performance enhancing substances and facilitated the practice.

The government today notified the court that it is joining this lawsuit against Armstrong, Bruyneel and Tailwind, and will file its formal complaint within 60 days.

“The Postal Service contract with Tailwind required the team to enter cycling races, wear the Postal Service logo, and follow the rules banning performance enhancing substances – rules that Lance Armstrong has now admitted he violated,” said Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. “Today’s action demonstrates the Department of Justice’s steadfast commitment to safeguarding federal funds and making sure that contractors live up to their promises.”

“Lance Armstrong and his cycling team took more than $30 million from the U.S. Postal Service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules – including the rules against doping,” said Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. “The Postal Service has now seen its sponsorship unfairly associated with what has been described as ‘the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.’ This lawsuit is designed to help the Postal Service recoup the tens of millions of dollars it paid out to the Tailwind cycling team based on years of broken promises. In today’s economic climate, the U.S. Postal Service is simply not in a position to allow Lance Armstrong or any of the other defendants to walk away with the tens of millions of dollars they illegitimately procured.”

“The Postal Service conducts business with many different contractors and subcontractors, with a large majority of them providing a much needed service and fulfilling their contractual duties.  It is critical that public confidence in contractor performance remains high.  When that public trust is compromised, as occurred in this case, the Office of Inspector General will fully investigate,” said David C. Williams, Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service, and Office of Inspector General.

“The Postal Service strongly supports intervention by the Department of Justice in this matter and a vigorous pursuit of this case,” said Postal Service General Counsel and Executive Vice President Mary Anne Gibbons. “The defendants agreed to play by the rules and not use performance enhancing drugs. We now know that the defendants failed to live up to their agreement, and instead knowingly engaged in a pattern of activity that violated the rules of professional cycling and, therefore, violated the terms of their contracts with the Postal Service. For that reason, the Postal Service fully agrees with the decision by the Department of Justice to seek appropriate damages under the False Claims Act.”

For many years, including during the USPS sponsorships, Armstrong and others repeatedly denied that the team used performance enhancing substances or methods. Yet on Oct. 10, 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) issued a report concluding that Armstrong used banned performance enhancing substances starting in at least 1998 and continuing throughout his professional career, and that he pressured and helped his teammates to engage in similar conduct. Accordingly, USADA disqualified all of his competitive results since Aug. 1, 1998, including his seven Tour de France victories, and banned him from sport for life pursuant to the World Anti-Doping Code.

In a recently-televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong contradicted his earlier denials and admitted that he used banned substances and methods throughout his career, starting in the mid-1990s. In particular, he admitted having engaged in banned practices during each of his seven Tour de France victories, including the six he won as a USPS rider. Armstrong explained that he avoided detection by anti-doping authorities by carefully timing his use of banned drugs so that they would leave his system prior to his undergoing cycling’s required periodic drug testing.

The lawsuit joined by the United States was filed by Floyd Landis, a former rider and teammate of Armstrong on the USPS sponsored team from 2002 through 2004. The lawsuit was filed under the False Claims Act, which imposes liability on those who submit false claims for government funds, and provides for the recovery of three times the government’s damages, plus civil penalties. The False Claims Act contains a qui tam or whistleblower provision, which permits private parties to sue on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in any recovery. The False Claims Act permits the government to investigate the allegations and intervene, or decline to intervene in the whistleblower’s lawsuit. While the government notified the court that it was joining the lawsuit’s allegations as to Armstrong, Bruyneel, and Tailwind, it advised the court that it was not intervening in the case as to several other defendants named in the complaint.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Delery and U.S. Attorney Machen commended the coordinated effort of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the USPS Office of Inspector General and Office of General Counsel, in their investigation of this matter.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is captioned United States ex rel. Landis v. Tailwind Sports Corporation, et al. The claims made in the complaint are only allegations and do not constitute a determination of liability. Trial Attorney Robert Chandler of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Darrell Valdez and Mercedeh Momeni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are representing the government.

Pacific International Lines, a Singapore-based container ship company, was sentenced today in D.C. federal court  under the terms of a plea agreement that requires the company to pay $2.2 million in criminal penalties, the Department of Justice announced today. Pacific International Lines previously pleaded guilty to three felony charges that it made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by concealing illegal waste water operations and discharges in a falsified oil record book – a required log in which all overboard discharges must be recorded – and operating a vessel in waters of the United States without a functioning oil water separator (a required pollution control device). The charges are a result of Pacific International Lines illegal operation of the vessel M/V Southern Lily 2 in June 2012.

"Today's sentencing is a noteworthy success for the few federal law enforcement agencies charged with enforcing U.S. and international maritime laws protecting the oceans and natural marine resources both around the remote U.S. Pacific Islands and throughout the vast area of the South Pacific," said Joshua J. Masterson, Special Agent-in-Charge of Coast Guard Investigative Service-Pacific Region.  "This case, being the third of its kind since 2011, should send a clear message to those shipping companies and mariners who willfully cut corners and violate the laws enacted to protect the oceans as well as place a much needed spotlight on this region of the South Pacific."

According to the plea agreement, including a joint factual statement, the company operated the vessel Southern Lily 2 in American Samoa.  On June 22, 2012, the vessel was boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard for a routine inspection.  During the inspection the Coast Guard discovered that the ship’s oil water separator was not functioning.  The Coast Guard learned that the device had not been functioning for several months and, at the direction of the chief and second engineer, the oily waste water had been being discharged overboard in violation of international law.  The illegal discharges and the fact that the oil water separator did not function was not entered in the ship’s oil record book as required by federal law.

  Additionally, under the terms of the plea agreement, Pacific International Lines was placed on probation for three years, during which time it must operate under the terms of a government-approved Environmental Compliance Plan.  The plan includes review by an independent auditor of any of Pacific International Lines ships—including the Southern Lily 2—that trade in the United States. 

 In addition to the $2 million criminal fine, the judge also ordered Pacific International Lines to pay $200,000 to support community service projects.  The projects will be administered by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation asnd the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

 Engine room operations on-board large ocean-going vessels such as the Southern Lily 2 generate large amounts of waste oil and oil contaminated bilge waste.  International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste containing more than 15 parts per million oil and without treatment by an oil water separator and oil sensing equipment—a required pollution prevention device.  The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships also requires that all overboard discharges be recorded in an oil record book, which is subject to inspection by the Coast Guard.  The waste oil may be incinerated on board the ship or offloaded in port for proper disposal.

 In related prosecutions, the second engineer of the Southern Lily 2, Qing Cao, pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with operating the Southern Lily 2 in Waters of the United States without a functioning oil water separator in violation of the Act to prevent Pollution from Ships.  The court sentenced Cao to 36 months of probation and ordered Cao to depart the United States immediately.  As a condition of probation, the court ordered Cao not to work on any vessels that call at U.S. ports during the term of his probation.

This investigation was conducted by the Pacific Regional Office of the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service Honolulu, Hawaii, and Senior Litigation Counsel Howard P. Stewart of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

The United States has asked a federal court in Memphis, Tenn., to permanently bar husband and wife team Ahmed Grant and Lillian Madyun from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. According to the government complaint, Grant and Madyun have operated multiple tax return preparation businesses in the Memphis area, including SuperFast Taxes, MG Services, and most recently, Taxes-R-Us.

The complaint alleges that Grant and Madyun have prepared returns that unlawfully overstate refunds and understate tax liability through a variety of schemes. Specifically, the government alleges that Grant and Madyun have prepared returns that unlawfully claim the Earned Income Tax Credit for their clients by reporting fictitious Schedule C business income. The government alleges that Grant and Madyun also prepared returns that claimed the American Opportunity Credit, to which their clients were not entitled, without their clients’ knowledge or consent. According to the complaint, ninety percent of the American Opportunity Credits claimed on their clients’ returns were false. The complaint further alleges that Grant and Madyun improperly ensured that their clients’ refunds were deposited into their own business’s bank account. The estimated harm to the government is over $2 million for the 2010 tax year alone, and may be as high as $5 million, according to the complaint.

This lawsuit is part of the Justice Department’s nationwide crackdown on tax scams, including the preparation of fraudulent federal tax returns. In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .

Related Materials:

United States v. Ahmed Grant, et al.
Grant Madyun Complaint (PDF)

A health care worker who sold Medicare beneficiary information to Detroit-area home health agency operators as part of a $24.7 million home health care fraud conspiracy pleaded guilty today for his role in the scheme, which sought to profit by billing for home healthcare services that were medically unnecessary and not provided.

The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III 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.

Clarence Cooper, 54, of Detroit, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. 

According to court documents, Cooper and others conspired to defraud Medicare through purported home health care companies operating in the Detroit area, including now-defunct First Choice Home Health Care Services Inc. and Reliance Home Care, LLC.  Cooper admitted that he sold Medicare information he obtained from Detroit-area Medicare beneficiaries to other conspirators at these and other health care companies, knowing that it was to be used to submit claims to Medicare for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.  According to court documents, from 2008 through May 2012, Cooper sold co-conspirators the Medicare information of hundreds of Medicare beneficiaries, at $200 to $300 per beneficiary, and this Medicare information was used at these companies to bill Medicare for nearly $1 million in home health care services. 

Court documents show that the larger scheme in which Cooper participated resulted in more than $24.7 million in claims to Medicare for the cost of home health services, psychotherapy and other medical services.

Cooper faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencing is currently scheduled for July 23, 2013.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney William G. Kanellis and Assistant Chief Gejaa Gobena of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  It was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 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.

Two men were arrested today on charges of allegedly extorting a Detroit-area restaurant owner, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade for the Eastern District of Michigan and Robert D. Foley III, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Division.

 Giuseppe D’Anna, aka “Joe,” 60, and Girolamo D’Anna, aka “Mimmo,” 48, were charged in an indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.  Both defendants made their initial court appearances today in Detroit.

The defendants are charged in a three-count indictment with one count of Hobbs Act conspiracy and two counts of attempted Hobbs Act extortion, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.  According to the indictment, the defendants and other co-conspirators allegedly attempted to extort the owner of a Shelby Township, Mich., restaurant from approximately 2009 through approximately April 2011.

Indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The investigation of this case was led by the FBI’s Detroit Field Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Straus of the Eastern District of Michigan and Principal Deputy Chief David Jaffe of the Organized Crime and Gang Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The United States has asked a federal court in Camden, N.J., to bar Doris E. Baules, who operates D’Vazquez Tax Solutions, from preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. According to the government complaint, Baules continually and improperly claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on her clients’ returns to enable them to receive erroneous tax refunds. The suit alleges that the defendant improperly increases their EITC claims.

According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service previously conducted an investigation into the tax returns that Baules prepared for the 2009 tax year, and assessed $12,500 in return preparer penalties against her because she failed to exercise due diligence in determining whether her clients were entitled to the EITC. Baules continued to claim increased EITC on returns she prepared even after the IRS contacted her. According to the complaint, the total harm to the U.S. Treasury caused by Doris Baules’ misconduct is estimated to be as high as $6.2 million.

In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website

Related Materials:

United States v. Doris E. Baules
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Relief (PDF)
 

The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court in Detroit to permanently bar Calvin Carter and brothers Raheen Stroud and Laron Stroud, who do business as E-File Tax Pros LLC and Tax King, from preparing federal tax returns. The civil injunction suit alleges that Carter and the Stroud brothers falsify customers’ income on their tax returns, frequently by fabricating business income and expenses, in order to claim the maximum earned income tax credit (EITC) for them.

The EITC is a refundable credit available to certain low-income people. The maximum credit in 2010 was $5,666. Due to the method used to calculate the EITC, people with higher annual incomes may be entitled to a larger credit. Some tax preparers refer to the range of earned income generating a maximum EITC as the “sweet spot.” According to the complaint, Carter and the Stroud brothers fabricated businesses and reported fake business income and expenses on their customers’ tax returns to achieve reported income in the EITC sweet spot. The complaint alleges that the defendants filed tax returns in 2009, 2010, and 2011 that had an extremely high refund-request rate of 97 percent.

The complaint also alleges that the defendants prepare returns for customers that falsely claim the first-time-homebuyer credit even though the customers had not bought new homes and were ineligible for the credit.

In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .

Related Materials:

United States v. Calvin Carter, et al.
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Relief (PDF)
 

A 76-count indictment was unsealed yesterday charging four former officials of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and a related company with numerous charges relating to salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut products, the Justice Department announced today. Stewart Parnell, 58, of Lynchburg, Va.; Michael Parnell, 54, of Midlothian, Va.; and Samuel Lightsey, 48, of Blakely, Ga., have been charged with mail and wire fraud, the introduction of adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, and conspiracy. Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Mary Wilkerson, 39, of Edison, Ga., were also charged with obstruction of justice.

Also yesterday, an information filed against Daniel Kilgore, 44, of Blakely was unsealed. On the same day that charges against Kilgore were filed, he pleaded guilty to that information, which charged him with mail and wire fraud, the introduction of adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, and conspiracy.

The investigation into the activity at PCA began in 2009, after the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced a national outbreak of salmonella to a PCA plant in Blakely as the likely source. As alleged in the indictment, the Blakely plant was a peanut roasting facility where PCA roasted raw peanuts and produced granulated peanuts, peanut butter, and peanut paste; PCA sold these peanut products to its customers around the country.

The charging documents charge that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in a scheme to manufacture and ship salmonella-contaminated peanuts and peanut products, and in so doing misled PCA customers. As alleged in the indictment, those customers ranged in size from small, family-owned businesses to global, multibillion-dollar food companies.

“When those responsible for producing or supplying our food lie and cut corners, as alleged in the indictment, they put all of us at risk,” said Stuart F. Delery, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to pursue any person whose criminal conduct risks the safety of Americans who have done nothing more than eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

Although PCA is now no longer in business, the allegations against each of the defendants arise from his or her conduct while at PCA and a related company. The following allegations are set forth in the indictment: Stewart Parnell was an owner and president of PCA; Michael Parnell, who worked at P.P. Sales, was a food broker who worked on behalf of PCA; Lightsey was the operations manager at the Blakely plant from on or about July 2008 through February 2009; and Wilkerson held various positions at the Blakely plant – receptionist, office manager and quality assurance manager – from on or about April 2002 through February 2009. As charged in the information, Kilgore served as operations manager of the PCA plant in Blakely from on or about June 2002 through May 2008.

“We all place a great deal of trust in the companies and individuals who prepare and package our food, often times taking it for granted that the public’s health and safety interests will outweigh individual and corporate greed,” said Michael Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.  “Unfortunately and as alleged in the indictment, these defendants cared less about the quality of the food they were providing to the American people and more about the quantity of money they were gathering while disregarding food safety.  This investigation was complex and extensive, and I credit the cooperation of our federal agencies with not only making sure that the cause of this outbreak was uncovered and the people responsible called to account, but also with working hard every day to make sure that parents across the country can feel confident that the food they are feeding their children is safe.”

The charging documents allege that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in several schemes by which they defrauded PCA customers about the quality and purity of their peanut products and specifically misled PCA customers about the existence of foodborne pathogens, most notably salmonella, in the peanut products PCA sold to them. As the charging documents allege, the members of the conspiracy did so in several ways – for example, even when laboratory testing revealed the presence of salmonella in peanut products from the Blakely plant, Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore failed to notify customers of the presence of salmonella in the products shipped to them.

In addition, the charging documents allege that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in a scheme to fabricate certificates of analysis (COAs) accompanying various shipments of peanut products. COAs are documents that summarize laboratory results, including results concerning the presence or absence of pathogens. As alleged in the charging documents, on several occasions these four defendants participated in a scheme to fabricate COAs stating that shipments of peanut products were free of pathogens when, in fact, there had been no tests on the products at all or when the laboratory results showed that a sample tested positive for salmonella.

After the salmonella outbreak that gave rise to this investigation, FDA inspectors visited the plant several times in January 2009. According to the indictment, the inspectors asked specific questions about the plant, its operations, and its history, and, in several instances, Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Wilkerson gave untrue or misleading answers to these questions.

“The charges announced today show that if an individual violates food safety rules or conceals relevant information, we will seek to hold them accountable,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The health of our families and the safety of our food system is too important to be thwarted by the criminal acts of any individual or company.”

Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, and Samuel Lightsey are each charged with two counts of conspiracy; multiple counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud; multiple counts of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud; multiple counts of interstate shipment fraud; and multiple counts of wire fraud. Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Wilkerson are also charged with multiple counts of obstruction of justice.

Kilgore pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce, eight counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud, six counts of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud, eight counts of interstate shipment fraud, and five counts of wire fraud.

Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “The FBI was brought in to this matter to provide additional resources and expertise to a complex and very serious investigation. We fully understand the victim impact as a result of this salmonella outbreak and will be asking to hear from other possible victims in this matter.”

Individuals who feel that they may have been affected by or have become ill from tainted PCA products, and businesses that purchased products that were recalled as a result of the outbreak, should visit the following website for further details: https://forms.fbi.gov/pca-salmonella-tainted-product-case/

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Patrick Hearn and Mary M. Englehart of the Consumer Protection Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia. Marietta Geckos, formerly a Trial Attorney with the Consumer Protection Branch, also worked on the prosecution. The case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the FBI.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

---  

Due to public interest in this case, the Department of Justice is releasing documents that may not be in an accessible format. If you have a disability and the format of any material on the site interferes with your ability to access some information, please email the Department of Justice webmaster at webmaster@usdoj.gov or contact Charles Miller at 202.514.2007. To enable us to respond in a manner that will be of most help to you, please indicate the nature of the accessibility problem, your preferred format (electronic format (ASCII, etc.), standard print, large print, etc.), the web address of the requested material, and your full contact information so we can reach you if questions arise while fulfilling your request.

Portable Document Format (PDF) files may be viewed with a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Related Materials:

Kilgore Information
PCA Indictment
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery Speaks at the PCA Pen and Pad

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder today awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor to 18 public safety officers who exhibited exceptional courage in saving and protecting others and whose heroic actions were above and beyond the call of duty.

“This year’s Medal of Valor recipients have fearlessly responded to desperate cries for help – courageously risking their own lives to secure innocent victims, protect fellow officers, and end deadly assaults,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “These extraordinary public servants have distinguished themselves by going above and beyond the call of duty.   And today, I am honored to join Vice President Biden in bestowing one of our nation’s most prestigious decorations on each of these heroes.”

The Medal of Valor, authorized by the Public Safety Medal of Valor Act of 2001, is awarded by the President of the United States to public safety officers cited by the Attorney General. Public safety officers are nominated by the chiefs or directors of their employing agencies and recommended by the Medal of Valor Review Board. The Attorney General has designated the department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to serve as the federal point of contact for the Medal of Valor initiative. OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), led by Director Denise E. O’Donnell, administers the Medal of Valor initiative.

“We recognize 18 extraordinary individuals for their quick thinking, selflessness and exceptional courage,” said Office of Justice Program Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary. “They are law enforcement, corrections officers, and firefighters who went beyond the call of duty to risk – and in some cases, to give – their lives for their fellow citizens and colleagues.”

Today’s 18 recipients of the Medal of Valor are: Officer Julie Olson, Maplewood Police Department, Minn.; Officer Reeshemah Taylor, Osceola County Corrections Department, Fla.; Wildlife Officer Michael Neal, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; Officer Sean Haller and Officer Rafael Rivera, California Highway Patrol; Trooper Robert Lombardo and fallen Trooper Joshua Miller, Pennsylvania State Police; Firefighter Peter Demontreux, New York City Fire Department; Firefighter Hope Scott and Captain William Reynolds, Virginia Beach Fire Department, Va.; Deputy Sheriff Krista McDonald, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, Wash.; Officers Timothy McClintick, Max McDonald, Douglas Weaver, Sergeant Karl Lounge Jr. and fallen Sergeant Thomas Baitinger, St. Petersburg Police Department, Fla.; and fallen Deputies William Stiltner and Cameron Justus, Buchanan County Sheriff's Office, Va.

“The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor is the highest national award for valor awarded to a public safety officer,” said Bureau of Justice Assistance Director, Denise E. O’Donnell. “BJA is proud to administer a program which serves to recognize the exceptionally brave actions of individuals who have given selflessly in order to protect citizens and communities throughout our nation.”

Including today’s awardees, a total of 78 medals have been presented since the first recipients were honored in 2003. More information about the award and today’s recipients, the Medal of Valor Review Board members, and the nomination process is on the OJP website at: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/medalofvalor .

Related Materials:

Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony
Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department announced today the launch of its first Spanish-language educational video. The video was developed by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices to assist employers in avoiding charges of discrimination in the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 process and to assist employees to be aware of their legal rights.  OSC enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against work-authorized individuals in hiring, firing, and recruitment or referral for a fee, regardless of their citizenship status or national origin.  The law additionally prohibits discrimination during the Form I-9 and E-Verify processes.

OSC developed the video to address an issue that frequently comes to OSC’s attention through calls to its hotline and charges filed by employees. Employers occasionally incorrectly believe that they need to reverify the employment authorization of lawful permanent resident workers when their Permanent Resident Cards expire.  OSC’s new video illustrates this practice, explaining that is not permissible and may lead to claims under the anti-discrimination provision.

“We believe this video will help both employers and employees across the country understand employment eligibility verification rules and also help lawful permanent residents maintain their employment,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “Federal law prohibits discrimination in the employment eligibility verification process, and the Justice Department is committed to enforcing the law.” 

The Spanish language video may be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLps_3sWJxk.

A version of the same video subtitled in English can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWRSMNFxxKY.

The video is part of OSC’s series of educational videos launched in 2012.  OSC also operates a hotline for employers and workers, frequently providing guidance to employers on how to avoid discrimination and educating employees on rights protected by the anti-discrimination provision. OSC offers live webinars to educate employers on avoiding workplace discrimination and to educate employees about their rights.  The next Spanish language webinar will be held today at 3:00 pm.  You can register on-line at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration law, call OSC’s worker hotline at: 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TDD for the hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at: 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, TDD for the hearing impaired); send an e-mail to: osccrt@usdoj.gov; or visit OSC’s website www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with FTD Inc., to resolve allegations that the company retaliated against a man for asserting rights under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The Justice Department initiated the investigation after receiving a complaint from a work-authorized immigrant that FTD rescinded the individual’s conditional job offer after a background check revealed a purported error in his Social Security account number. The man informed FTD that he was authorized to work in the United States and provided documents showing his status. The man also expressed concern to FTD that the company may be violating the anti-discrimination provision of the INA by refusing to hire him and threatened to pursue his legal rights under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision. FTD responded by terminating all communication with the individual.

Under the terms of the agreement, FTD has agreed to pay $1,800 in back pay to the man and $3,000 in civil penalties. FTD has also agreed to undergo Justice Department training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The case settled prior to the Justice Department filing a complaint in this matter.

“People authorized to work in this country should not be afraid to dispute errors in databases relating to their employment eligibility or documents,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “It is unlawful to retaliate against an individual for asserting a right to work under the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TDD for hearing impaired), call the OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, TDD for hearing impaired), sign up for a no-cost webinar at www.justice.gov/about/osc/webinars.php , email osccrt@usdoj.gov or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc .