District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Florida RestaurantRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with Ark Rustic Inn LLC d/b/a Rustic Inn Crabhouse (Rustic Inn), a restaurant located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The agreement resolves the department’s investigation into whether Rustic Inn discriminated against work-authorized immigrants when verifying their employment authorization, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The department’s investigation revealed that Rustic Inn routinely requested that work-authorized non-U.S. citizens present specific documents, such as Permanent Resident Cards or Employment Authorization Documents, to verify their citizenship status information, but did not subject U.S. citizens to such verification. The anti-discrimination provision of the INA prohibits employers from subjecting employees to different or unnecessary documentary demands based on employees’ citizenship, immigration status or national origin.
Under the settlement, Rustic Inn will pay a civil penalty to the United States, train its staff, post notices informing workers about their rights under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, and be subject to departmental monitoring for three years.
“Employers, large and small, must be aware of their legal obligations to avoid imposing barriers to employment based on citizenship status or national origin,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “We commend Rustic Inn for its cooperation throughout this investigation and its commitment to ensure compliance with the law.”
The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship/immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship/immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against California Company and Chief Executive Officer to Stop the Distribution of Custom Nutritional ProductsRead the Press Release
A California federal court entered a consent decree permanently prohibiting Custompax Inc. of Fremont, California, and owner and Chief Executive Officer Cedric P. Ling from distributing adulterated dietary supplements, the Department of Justice announced today. Under the terms of the injunction, the defendants must stop manufacturing such products until remedial steps are taken.
The Department also filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Sept. 12, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the complaint, the company did not manufacture its dietary supplements in conformity with current good manufacturing practices. For example, the complaint alleged that the defendants failed to establish and maintain adequate specifications and testing procedures for the purity, strength, and composition of its dietary supplements, and failed to adequately test the identities of the ingredients used to make those supplements.
“Dietary supplement manufacturers that fail to comply with basic manufacturing requirements risk the health and well-being of consumers in the United States and abroad,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice and FDA remain vigilant against the dangers posed by such adulterated products.”
The consent decree entered today resolves the litigation, requiring that the defendants adhere to the law’s current good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements. The decree also directs Custompax to stop manufacturing dietary supplements until the company implements specified remedial measures. The measures include, among other things, retaining an expert to inspect Custompax’s facilities and certifying that the company’s manufacturing methods, facilities and controls are in conformity with current good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements.
This matter was handled by Trial Attorney Gabriel H. Scannapieco of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement Tara Boland of the FDA’s Office of General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca.
Colorado Man Who Fled to Costa Rica After Trial Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Prison for Tax CrimesRead the Press Release
A Grand Junction, Colorado, man was sentenced to 88 months in prison today for tax evasion and failing to file personal and corporate income tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Timothy Stubbs, 52, was convicted in September 2015 of tax evasion, wilful failure to file an individual income tax return, and wilful failure to file a corporate income tax return following a jury trial in Denver, Colorado. According to the evidence presented at trial, Stubbs owned National Rebate Fund Inc. in Grand Junction. Despite earning more than $7 million between 2005 and 2007, Stubbs did not file corporate income tax returns. Stubbs also earned more than $2 million in income taxable to him personally during those same years and did not file individual tax returns. According to the evidence at trial, Stubbs had not filed a personal tax return since 1992 and had not paid individual income taxes since 1993. To conceal his income, Stubbs paid more than $700,000 in personal expenses from the business bank accounts and acquired more than $370,000 in gold and silver in 2007. The evidence also showed that during those three years Stubbs purchased real estate in Grand Junction and Crested Butte, Colorado, and two condos in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, which cost in total more than $2.9 million dollars.
In December 2015, two weeks prior to his scheduled sentencing hearing, Stubbs removed his electronic GPS monitoring ankle bracelet and fled to Costa Rica, where he had been living in 2014, prior to being arrested for the indictment.
According to documents filed with the court, Stubbs lied to immigration officials in Costa Rica in an attempt to renew his residency in Costa Rica and stay there permanently in an effort to avoid punishment in this case. In April 2017, Costa Rica deported Stubbs. He has been held in custody pending sentencing since that time and was remanded.
In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello ordered Stubbs to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $639,114 in restitution to the IRS and a fine of $50,000.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Lori A. Hendrickson and Leslie A. Goemaat of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Justice Department Provides Last Chance for Cities to Show 1373 ComplianceRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today responded to seven jurisdictions following a preliminary assessment of the jurisdictions’ compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373. These jurisdictions were identified in a May 2016 report by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General as having laws that potentially violate 8 U.S.C. 1373.
The following jurisdictions have preliminarily been found to have laws, policies, or practices that may violate 8 U.S.C. 1373:
- Cook County, Illinois;
- Chicago, Illinois;
- New Orleans, Louisiana;
- New York, New York; and
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The department found no evidence that the following jurisdictions are currently out of compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373:
- Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; and
- the State of Connecticut.
The department also previously sent letters to the following jurisdictions notifying them that the department found no evidence that they are currently out of compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373:
- Clark County, Nevada; and
- Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Jurisdictions that were found to have possible violations of 8 U.S.C 1373 will have until Oct. 27, 2017 to provide additional evidence that the interpretation and application of their laws, policies, or practices comply with the statute.
“Jurisdictions that adopt so-called ‘sanctuary policies’ also adopt the view that the protection of criminal aliens is more important than the protection of law-abiding citizens and of the rule of law,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “I commend the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the State of Connecticut on their commitment to complying with Section 1373, and I urge all jurisdictions found to be out of compliance in this preliminary review to reconsider their policies that undermine the safety of their residents. We urge jurisdictions to not only comply with Section 1373 but to establish sensible and effective partnerships to properly process criminal aliens.”
South Carolina Man Charged with Forcing Victim with Intellectual Disability to Work at RestaurantRead the Press Release
An indictment was unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina charging Bobby Paul Edwards, 52, of Conway, S.C., with one count of forced labor, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Beth Drake of the District of South Carolina.
According to the indictment, over a five-year period, between September 2009 and October 2014, Edwards used force, threats of force, physical restraint, and coercion, among other means, to compel the victim, who has an intellectual disability, to work as the buffet cook of J&J Cafeteria in Conway, South Carolina. Edwards managed the restaurant at the time of the alleged incidents.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of forced labor, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and mandatory restitution.
The case is being investigated by FBI’s Myrtle Beach Resident Agency. It is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Jared Fishman and Trial Attorney Lindsey Roberson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alyssa Richardson of the District of South Carolina.
Justice Department to Award $1 Million Grant to the State of Nevada in Response to the Las Vegas Mass ShootingRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced it will offer a $1 million award to the State of Nevada in order to assist with the immediate costs of responding to the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. The grant is drawn from emergency response funds within the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
The grant funds announced today recognize the hard work and dedication of law enforcement officers across Las Vegas and the State of Nevada, who worked tirelessly in the wake of the tragic shooting last week. The Justice Department is continuing to work with Las Vegas officials to address law enforcement and public safety costs related to this tragedy.
Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Retaliation Claim Against Texas CompanyRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with InMotion Software LLC (InMotion), a software developer and recruiter in Texas, resolving the department’s investigation into whether the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision.
Based on its investigation, the department concluded that InMotion retaliated against a work-authorized job applicant after she protested InMotion’s requirement that she provide a Permanent Resident Card even though she had a valid employment authorization card issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. After the worker complained that InMotion’s request constituted discrimination under the INA, InMotion removed her from its pool of candidates available for job placement. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from retaliating against or intimidating workers because they have opposed employer conduct that may violate that provision or have participated in the department’s activities to enforce it.
Under the settlement agreement, InMotion will pay the maximum civil penalty for an instance of retaliation, post notices informing workers about their rights under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, train its staff, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for one year.
“Employees must be able to assert their rights without fear of reprisal,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “Employers should familiarize themselves with the law and ensure that they do not engage in retaliatory conduct against workers who raise concerns about compliance.”
The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to retaliation, different documentary requirements based on their citizenship/immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship/immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
El Departamento de Justicia Resuelve Una Denuncia de Represalias Relacionada con la Inmigración contra Una Empresa de TejasRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha llegado a un acuerdo con InMotion Software LLC (InMotion), una compañía que se dedica al reclutamiento y desarrollo de software en Tejas, lo que resuelve la investigación iniciada por el Departamento con el fin de determinar si tal compañía había vulnerado la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA, por sus siglas en inglés).
Con base en su investigación, el Departamento concluyó que InMotion tomó represalias contra un solicitante de empleo, autorizada a trabajar en los EEUU, después de que protestara contra el requisito de InMotion que presentara una tarjeta de residencia permanente aunque ella disponía de una tarjeta de autorización para trabajar válida, emitida por los Servicios de Ciudadanía e Inmigración de los EE. UU. Tras quejarse de que el requisito de InMotion constituya discriminación conforme a la INA, InMotion la eliminó de su lista de posibles candidatos para empleo. La disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA prohíbe que los empleadores intimiden o tomen represalias contra los trabajadores porque estos se opongan a una conducta del empleador que podría representar una vulneración de la disposición o porque participen en las actividades del Departamento para hacer cumplir la ley.
Conforme al acuerdo, InMotion pagará la sanción civil máxima por haber tomado represalias. Asimismo, publicará avisos para informar a sus trabajadores acerca de sus derechos al amparo de la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA, capacitará a su personal y se someterá a la supervisión y los requisitos de declaración del Departamento durante un año.
«Es de primordial importancia que los empleados puedan hacer valer sus derechos sin temer represalias», declaró el Fiscal General Auxiliar en funciones, John M. Gore, de la División de Derechos Civiles. «Los empleadores deben familiarizarse con la ley y asegurar que no tomen represalias contra aquellos trabajadores que vocalicen sus preocupaciones acerca del cumplimiento».
La Sección para los Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados (IER, por sus siglas en inglés), que anteriormente se conocía como la Oficina del Consejero Especial para Prácticas Injustas en el Empleo Relacionadas a Inmigración, que pertenece a la División, es responsable de aplicar la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. Entre otras cosas, esta ley prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión; la discriminación en el proceso de verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar; las represalias y la intimidación.
Para más información sobre protecciones contra la discriminación en el empleo en virtud de las leyes migratorias, llame a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1‑800‑255-7688 (1‑800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); llame a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); matricúlese para un seminario en línea gratuito; mande un correo electrónico a [email protected] o visite la página web de la IER en inglés o español.
Aquellos postulantes o empleados que creen haber sido sometidos a otros requisitos documentales por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen, o a la discriminación por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión deben llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores para pedir ayuda.
Departments of Justice and State Partner to Protect U.S. Workers from Discrimination and Combat FraudRead the Press Release
The Departments of Justice and State announced today that they have formalized a partnership aimed at protecting U.S. workers from discrimination and combatting fraud by employers that misuse visas. The partnership, memorialized by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, facilitates information sharing in an effort to help each agency advance its mission.
Under the MOU, the Civil Rights Division and the Bureau of Consular Affairs will share information about employers that may be engaging in unlawful discrimination, committing fraud, or making other misrepresentations in their use of employment-based visas, such as H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B visas. The agencies will also provide each other with technical assistance and training to encourage complaint referrals and effective collaboration.
The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The provision prohibits, among other things, citizenship and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruiting.
In February 2017, IER launched its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, an initiative aimed at targeting, investigating, and bringing enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers. The Initiative filed its first lawsuit last week against a Loveland, Colorado company for allegedly discriminating against U.S. workers.
“Employers that discriminate against qualified U.S. workers by favoring foreign visa workers will be held accountable,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “Today’s agreement reflects the Civil Rights Division’s commitment to use all available tools, including collaboration with other federal agencies, to protect U.S. workers from discrimination. The Division welcomes the Department of State as a partner in this effort.”
“The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs is pleased to have joined forces with the Department of Justice to protect U.S. workers, combat fraud, and facilitate legitimate international travel,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Carl C. Risch.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral, or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify), should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
For additional information on U.S. visas and other U.S. consular services, please see the State Department's website at travel.state.gov.
Justice Department Settles with Montgomery County, Maryland, After School Program to Ensure Compliance with the ADARead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Bar-T Year Round Programs for Kids (Bar-T), located in Montgomery County, Maryland, to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title III of the ADA prohibits public accommodations, including child care centers, from discriminating against individuals with disabilities and those associated with them. Bar-T is the largest provider of before and after school programs in Montgomery County, operating at approximately 30 Montgomery County public school locations.
The department investigated whether Bar-T discriminated against a student with a disability, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and her parents when it expelled the student on the basis of behaviors associated with ASD, without properly considering whether Bar-T staff could implement reasonable modifications to permit the student to remain enrolled. The settlement agreement requires Bar-T to adopt a nondiscrimination policy; designate staff at each operating location to address ADA issues; implement a process for parents or guardians of children with disabilities to request reasonable modifications and for Bar-T to conduct an individualized assessment of each request; provide ADA training to staff; and report on compliance with the agreement. Bar-T will also pay $13,500 in compensatory damages to the student and her parents.
“Through this agreement, Bar-T is taking important steps to make sure that all children in its programs, including children with disabilities, will be given the opportunity to have a positive and successful experience in a supportive after school environment,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division.
“Children with disabilities deserve equal opportunities to attend after school programs. The policies Bar-T has agreed to implement will ensure that its programs provide an inclusive environment for all students,” said Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning.
To read the settlement agreement or for more information on the ADA, visit www.ada.gov. For more information about the ADA, including how to file a complaint, call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.
Attorney General Sessions Statement on President Trump's Immigration Priorities AnnouncementRead the Press Release
Attorney General Jeff Sessions today issued the following statement on restoring the rule of law to a lawful immigration system:
“For decades the American people rightly have pleaded with their government for a lawful system of immigration. They have asked for secure borders and an immigration system that serves the national interest.
“Unfortunately, over the last several decades respect for the rule of law has broken down and immigration enforcement has been sacrificed for the sake of political expediency. This has made us less secure and it cannot stand.
“Now President Trump has put forth a series of proposals that will restore the rule of law to our immigration system, prioritize America's safety and security, and end the lawlessness.
"These are reasonable proposals that will build on the early success of President Trump's leadership. This plan will work. If followed it will produce an immigration system with integrity and one in which we can take pride. Perhaps the best result will be that unlawful attempts to enter will continue their dramatic decline.
“I applaud President Trump and urge Congress to listen to the American people and swiftly pass these commonsense proposals into law. The Department of Justice stands ready to continue making our neighborhoods and communities safe and secure again.”
Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging in Northern California Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
A real estate investor pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.
Jim Appenrodt pleaded guilty to two counts of bid rigging in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Appenrodt was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on October 22, 2014.
According to court documents, Appenrodt participated in a conspiracy to rig bids by agreeing to refrain from bidding against other coconspirators at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco County and San Mateo County from as early as August 2008 until January 2011.
“The Antitrust Division has prosecuted scores of real estate investors who, for their own benefit and profit, conspired to corrupt the bidding process at foreclosure auctions,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates the Division’s continued commitment to bringing to justice the individuals who committed these crimes.”
Today’s guilty plea is the result of the Department’s ongoing investigation into bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, California. To date, 63 individuals have agreed to plead or have pleaded guilty.
These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to real-estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300 or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.
Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against California Staffing CompaniesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with CitiStaff Solutions Inc., and CitiStaff Management Group Inc. (collectively CitiStaff), companies that provide staffing services in the greater Los Angeles, California area. The settlement resolves the department’s investigation into whether CitiStaff violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against work-authorized immigrants when verifying their work authorization.
Based on its investigation, the department concluded that CitiStaff routinely requested that non-U.S. citizens present specific documents to prove their work authorization, such as Permanent Resident Cards or Employment Authorization Documents, but did not make similar requests for specific documents to U.S. citizens. The department’s investigation also found that CitiStaff unnecessarily required lawful permanent resident workers to prove their work authorization again when their Permanent Resident Cards expired, while not making similar requests to U.S. citizen workers when their documents expired.
All work-authorized individuals, whether U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens, have the right to choose which valid documentation to present to prove they are authorized to work, and employers should not reverify Permanent Resident Cards. The anti-discrimination provision of the INA prohibits employers from subjecting employees to different or unnecessary documentary demands based on employees’ citizenship, immigration status or national origin.
Under the settlement, CitiStaff will pay a civil penalty of $200,000 to the United States, train its staff on the law, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for three years.
“Employers must take care to avoid discrimination in the employment eligibility verification process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “Companies should ensure that their practices at initial hire, and in re-verifying employees’ work authorization, comply with federal law.”
The division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship/immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship/immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
First U.S.-China Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity DialogueRead the Press Release
Summary of Outcomes
On October 4, 2017, Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions III and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke, together with Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, co-chaired the first U.S.-China Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue (LECD). The LECD is one of four dialogues agreed to by President Trump and President Xi during their first meeting in Mar-a-Lago in April 2017 and is an important forum for advancing bilateral law enforcement and cyber priorities between our two governments.
The following topics were discussed:
1) Repatriation. Both sides acknowledged the need to make continued progress in the area of repatriation of foreign nationals with final orders of removal. The United States and China committed to develop a repeatable process whereby the identities of individuals with final orders of removal are verified in a timely manner and travel documents are issued within 30 days of verification. This process should be finalized within three months following the LECD.
2) Counter-narcotics. Both sides intend to continue to enhance cooperation on narcotics control and enforcement. Such cooperation may include: exchanging intelligence and operational information on trafficking of new psychoactive substances and other synthetic drugs, opioids, and cocaine; combatting the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances and precursor chemicals, with attention to applicable laws, scheduling actions, and use of express mail and consignment services; exchanging technical information on the relevant science and law; demand reduction cooperation; exchanging views on international narcotics control issues through UN-based and other multilateral forums; and sharing tracking information for packages between the two countries so as to identify individuals and criminal networks responsible for narcotics trafficking.
3) Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Both sides will continue their implementation of the consensus reached by the Chinese and American Presidents in 2015 on U.S.-China cybersecurity cooperation, consisting of the five following points: (1) that timely responses should be provided to requests for information and assistance concerning malicious cyber activities; (2) that neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors; (3) to make common effort to further identify and promote appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace within the international community; (4) to maintain a high-level joint dialogue mechanism on fighting cybercrime and related issues; and (5) to enhance law enforcement communication on cyber security incidents and to mutually provide timely responses.
Both sides reiterated that all consensus and cooperative documents achieved at the three rounds of the China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Combating Cyber Crimes and Related Issues since 2015 remain valid.
Both sides intend to improve cooperation with each other on cybercrime, including sharing cybercrime-related leads and information, and responding to Mutual Legal Assistance requests, in a timely manner, including with regard to cyber fraud (including business email compromises), hacking crimes, abuse of internet for terrorist purposes, and internet dissemination of child pornography.
Both sides will continue to cooperate on network protection, including maintaining and enhancing cybersecurity information sharing, as well as considering future efforts on cybersecurity of critical infrastructure.
Both sides intend to maintain and make full use of the established hotline mechanism for addressing urgent cybercrime and network protection issues pertaining to significant cybersecurity incidents, and to communicate in a timely way at the leadership level or working level, as needed.
4) Fugitives. Both sides will continue to cooperate to prevent each country from becoming a safe haven for fugitives and will identify viable fugitive cases for cooperation. Both sides plan to continue regular meetings and working groups to identify priority cases. Both sides commit to take actions involving fugitives only on the basis of respect for each other’ssovereignty and laws, and any violation of the above mentioned principles will be addressed in accordance with law.
While differences remain, both sides intend to make actual progress on all of the above matters, to make possible another Dialogue in 2018 to measure that progress.
El Departamento de Justicia Resuelve Una Denucia de Discriminación Relacionada Con la Inmigración Contra Agencias de Empleo en CaliforniaRead the Press Release
El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que había llegado a un acuerdo con CitiStaff Solutions, Inc. y CitiStaff Management Group, Inc. (colectivamente, CitiStaff), empresas que ofrecen servicios de contratación y empleo en el área metropolitana de Los Ángeles, California. El acuerdo resuelve la investigación por parte del Departamento en cuanto a si CitiStaff vulneró la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA, por sus siglas en inglés) al discriminar a inmigrantes con autorización para trabajar a la hora de verificar su autorización para trabajar.
Con base en su investigación, el Departamento concluyó que CitiStaff habitualmente había solicitado a aquellos postulantes que no fueran ciudadanos estadounidenses que presentasen documentos específicos para demostrar su autorización para trabajar, tales como las tarjetas de residencia permanente o documentos de autorización para trabajar. No obstante, no pidió documentos específicos a los ciudadanos estadounidenses. Asimismo, la investigación del Departamento determinó que CitiStaff tuvo el requisito innecesario de que todo trabajador que fuera residente permanente legal demostrara nuevamente su autorización para trabajar al vencerse su tarjeta de residencia permanente, mientras que no pidió lo mismo a trabajadores que son ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos cuando sus documentos se vencieron.
Todos aquellos que disponen de autorización para trabajar, ya sean ciudadanos o no, tienen el derecho a elegir cuáles documentos válidos desean presentar para demostrar su autorización para trabajar, y los empleadores no deben reverificar las tarjetas de residencia permanente. La disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA prohíbe que los empleadores sometan a los empleados a requisitos documentales diferentes o innecesarios con base en la ciudadanía, estatus migratorio o nacionalidad de origen del empleado.
Conforme al acuerdo, CitiStaff pagará $200,000 en sanciones civiles a los Estados Unidos, capacitará a su personal en cuanto a la ley y se someterá a la supervisión del Departamento, así como a sus requisitos de declaración, durante tres años.
Los empleadores deben procurar que eviten la discriminación durante el proceso de verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar», declaró el Fiscal General Auxiliar en funciones, John M. Gore, de la División de Derechos Civiles. Las empresas deben asegurar que sus prácticas durante la contratación inicial, así como la reverificación de la autorización del empleado para trabajar, cumplan con las leyes federales aplicables».
La Sección para los Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Empleados (IER, por sus siglas en inglés), que anteriormente se conocía como la Oficina del Consejero Especial para Prácticas Injustas en el Empleo Relacionadas a Inmigración, que pertenece a la División, es responsable de aplicar la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. Entre otras cosas, esta ley prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión; la discriminación en el proceso de verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar; las represalias y la intimidación.
Para más información sobre protecciones contra la discriminación en el empleo en virtud de las leyes migratorias, llame a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1‑800‑255-7688 (1‑800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); llame a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); matricúlese para un seminario en línea gratuito; mande un correo electrónico a [email protected] o visite la página web de la IER en inglés o español.
Aquellos postulantes o empleados que creen haber sido sometidos a otros requisitos documentales por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen, o a la discriminación por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión deben llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores para pedir ayuda.
Attorney General Sessions Issues Guidance on Federal Law Protections for Religious LibertyRead the Press Release
Attorney General Sessions today issued guidance to all administrative agencies and executive departments regarding religious liberty protections in federal law and made the following statement:
“Our freedom as citizens has always been inextricably linked with our religious freedom as a people. It has protected both the freedom to worship and the freedom not to believe. Every American has a right to believe, worship, and exercise their faith. The protections for this right, enshrined in our Constitution and laws, serve to declare and protect this important part of our heritage.
“As President Trump said, ‘Faith is deeply embedded into the history of our country, the spirit of our founding and the soul of our nation . . . [this administration] will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore.’
“The constitutional protection of religious beliefs and the right to exercise those beliefs have served this country well, have made us one of the most tolerant countries in the world, and have also helped make us the freeist and most generous. President Trump promised that this administration would ‘lead by example on religious liberty,’ and he is delivering on that promise.”
The memorandum was issued pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order No. 13798 (May 4, 2017), which directed the Attorney General to “issue guidance interpreting religious liberty protections in Federal law” in order “to guide all agencies in complying with relevant Federal law.”
The guidance interprets existing protections for religious liberty in Federal law, identifying 20 high-level principles that administrative agencies and executive departments can put to practical use to ensure the religious freedoms of Americans are lawfully protected. Attorney General Sessions also issued a second memorandum to the Department of Justice, directing implementation of the religious liberty guidance within the Department.
NOTE: To view the guidance click here and to view the Attorney General’s implementing memorandum click here.Three Men Plead Guilty to Illegally Trafficking American EelsRead the Press Release
William Sheldon, Timothy Lewis, and Charles Good appeared today in federal court in Portland, Maine, where each pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act by trafficking juvenile American eels (also known as “elvers” or “glass eels”). Sheldon and Lewis had each been separately indicted by a Grand Jury in March 2017 for conspiring to smuggle elvers and violate the Lacey Act. Good pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with aiding and abetting the illegal transport of elvers in violation of the Lacey Act.
Historically, Japanese and European eels were harvested and sold as food in East Asia As overfishing has led to a decline in the population of these eels, harvesters have turned to the American eel to fill the void resulting from the decreased number of Japanese and European eels.
American elvers are exported to East Asia, where they are raised to adult size and sold for food. Harvesters and exporters of American eels can sell elvers to East Asia for more than $2000 per pound. Because of the threat of overfishing, elver harvesting is prohibited in the United States in all but two states: Maine and South Carolina. Both states heavily regulate elver fisheries, requiring that individuals be licensed and report all quantities of harvested eels to state authorities.
Today’s guilty pleas were the result of “Operation Broken Glass,” a multi-state U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation into the illegal trafficking of American eels. To date, the investigation has resulted in 18 guilty pleas in Maine, Virginia, and South Carolina. Combined, these 18 defendants have admitted to illegally trafficking more than $4.5 million worth of elvers. The offenses in these case are felonies under the Lacey Act, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years’ incarceration, a fine of up to $250,000 or up to twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss, or both.
Operation Broken Glass was conducted by the USFWS and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section in collaboration with the Maine Marine Patrol, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Bureau of Law Enforcement, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Conservation Police, Virginia Marine Resources Commission Police, USFWS Refuge Law Enforcement, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, Massachusetts Environmental Police, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Law Enforcement, New York State Environmental Conservation Police, New Hampshire Fish and Game Division of Law Enforcement, Maryland Natural Resources Police, North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission Division of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Yarmouth, Massachusetts Division of Natural Resources, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Police Department and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The government is represented by Environmental Crimes Section Trial Attorneys Cassandra Barnum and Shane Waller.
Former Arkansas State Judge Pleads Guilty to Dismissing Cases in Exchange for Personal Benefits and Tampering with a WitnessRead the Press Release
A former Arkansas State Judge pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and witness tampering for perpetrating a seven year-long fraud and bribery scheme in which he dismissed cases on his docket in exchange for personal benefits, and then bribed a witness in an attempt to obstruct an official investigation into the scheme. Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.
O. Joseph Boeckmann, 71, of Wynne, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of witness tampering. The plea was entered before U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker of the Eastern District of Arkansas. Boeckmann has been on home detention since his arrest in October 2016 and will remain on home detention until he is sentenced at a later date.
According to admissions made in connection with his plea, from 2009 to 2015, Boeckmann served as a district judge for the First Judicial Circuit of Arkansas. Boeckmann admitted to corruptly using his official position to dismiss traffic citations and misdemeanor criminal charges for young men in exchange for acts that he claimed were “community service,” but which actually benefited Boeckmann himself. Among other things, Boeckmann admitted that on some occasions he took official action to order these individuals to perform “community service” and used his access to these individuals during their purported “community service” to take photographs of them in compromising positions. In other cases, Boeckmann dismissed pending charges against defendants in exchange for sexually related conduct.
Boeckmann admitted that the corrupt use of his office defrauded the State of Arkansas and its citizens of their right to Boeckmann’s honest services and also defrauded various cities and counties in Arkansas, as well as the State of Arkansas and the Arkansas courts, of money and property that they should have received as fines or fees from the individuals whose cases were fraudulently dismissed.
In addition, Boeckmann admitted that during his scheme he instructed various individuals not to tell anyone about their “community service” sentences. After Boeckmann learned he was under investigation, Boeckmann also arranged to pay a witness to change his testimony. Specifically, Boeckmann admitted that in the fall of 2015, he learned of a witness who had provided information to the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (JDDC) regarding Boeckmann’s practice of imposing personally beneficial “community service” sentences. Boeckmann admitted that he directed another individual to pay the witness to write a letter recanting the information the witness gave to the JDDC. According to his admissions, Boeckmann did this in order to prevent that witness from providing truthful information about Boeckmann to law enforcement and to influence, delay, and prevent that witness’s testimony in an official proceeding.
The FBI investigated this case with assistance of the Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission. Trial Attorneys Peter Halpern, Jonathan Kravis, and Simon Cataldo of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case, with assistance from Special Prosecutor Jack McQuary of the State of Arkansas Office of the Prosecutor Coordinator.
Attorney General Sessions Announces Robert Patterson as Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement AdministrationRead the Press Release
Attorney General Jeff B. Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced the designation of Robert W. Patterson as the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Patterson took charge upon the departure of former Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg.
“The DEA plays a vital role in combatting the drug crisis facing this country. Robert Patterson is currently the highest ranking career special agent at DEA, where he has ably served for almost 30 years,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “I have the highest confidence that Acting Administrator Patterson will continue the important mission of the DEA in stemming the tide of the opioid crisis.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein added, “Ending the unprecedented rise in deaths from drug overdoses is one of the Department of Justice’s highest priorities. I thank Acting Administrator Patterson for taking the helm of the DEA at this critical time.”
Patterson joined the DEA in 1988, starting in the DEA’s New York Division. In that role, he was part of a special program established to combat the growing opioid epidemic and associated violence in the greater New York area.
Since joining the agency, Patterson has served in a number of high-ranking leadership positions within the DEA. Patterson was an acting special agent in charge of the DEA Special Operations Division, where he oversaw classified programs and communication exploitation tools. In November 2015, Patterson was named as DEA’s chief inspector, where he had oversight over the agency’s Office of Inspections, Office of Security Programs, and Office of Professional Responsibility. In November 2016, Patterson was appointed the DEA’s principal deputy administrator. In that role, he served as DEA’s chief operating officer, overseeing all of the agency’s enforcement, intelligence, administrative, and regulatory activities worldwide.
Attorney General Sessions Announces Reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhoods and Other Actions to Reduce Rising Tide of Violent CrimeRead the Press Release
Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced several Department of Justice actions to reduce the rising tide of violent crime in America. Foremost of those actions is the reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.
In announcing this recommitment to Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Attorney General issued a memo directing United States Attorneys to implement an enhanced violent crime reduction program that incorporates the lessons learned since Project Safe Neighborhoods launched in 2001.
In a statement on the program, the Attorney General said:
"According to the FBI, the violent crime rate has risen by nearly seven percent over the past two years, and the homicide rate has risen by more than 20 percent. We cannot be complacent or hope that this is just an anomaly: we have a duty to take action.
“Fortunately, we have a President who understands that and has directed his administration to reduce crime. The Department of Justice today announces the foundation of our plan to reduce crime: prioritizing Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program that has been proven to work.
“Let me be clear – Project Safe Neighborhoods is not just one policy idea among many. This is the centerpiece of our crime reduction strategy.
“Taking what we have learned since the program began in 2001, we have updated it and enhanced it, emphasizing the role of our U.S. Attorneys, the promise of new technologies, and above all, partnership with local communities. With these changes, I believe that this program will be more effective than ever and help us fulfill our mission to make America safer."
The Attorney General also announced the following Department of Justice initiatives to help reduce violent crime:
-Additional Assistant United States Attorney Positions to Focus on Violent Crime – The Department is allocating 40 prosecutors to approximately 20 United States Attorney’s Offices to focus on violent crime reduction.
-More Cops on the Streets (COPS Hiring Grants) – As part of our continuing commitment to crime prevention efforts, increased community policing, and the preservation of vital law enforcement jobs, the Department will be awarding approximately $98 million in FY 2017 COPS Hiring Grants to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.
-Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) National Gang Strategic Initiative – The National Gang Strategic Initiative promotes creative enforcement strategies and best practices that will assist in developing investigations of violent criminal groups and gangs into enterprise-level OCDETF prosecutions. Under this initiative, OCDETF provides “seed money” to locally-focused gang investigations, giving state, local, and tribal investigators and prosecutors the resources and tools needed to identify connections between lower-level gangs and national-level drug trafficking organizations.
-Critical Training and Technical Assistance to State and Local Partners – The Department has a vast array of training and technical assistance resources available to state, local and tribal law enforcement, victims groups, and others. To ensure that agencies in need of assistance are able to find the training and materials they need, OJP will make available a Violence Reduction Response Center to serve as a “hot line” to connect people to these resources.
-Crime Gun Intelligence Centers (CGIC) – The Department has provided grant funding to support a comprehensive approach to identifying the most violent offenders in a jurisdiction, using new technologies such as gunshot detection systems combined with gun crime intelligence from NIBIN, eTrace, and investigative efforts. These FY 2017 grants were awarded to Phoenix, AZ, and Kansas City, MO.
-Expand ATF’s NIBIN Urgent Trace Program – The Department will expand ATF’s NIBIN Urgent Trace Program nationwide by the end of the year. Through this program, any firearm submitted for tracing that is associated with a NIBIN “hit” (which means it can be linked to a shooting incident) will be designated an “urgent” trace and the requestor will get information back about the firearm’s first retail purchaser within 24 hours, instead of five to six business days.
Note: For more information, please see the attached memo from the Attorney General.Spectrum Brands Ordered to Pay Civil Penalty for Failure to Report and Post-Recall Sales of Defective SpaceMaker Coffee CarafesRead the Press Release
A federal court in Madison, Wisconsin, ordered Spectrum Brands Inc., a large consumer products distributor, to pay $1.9 million in civil penalties for failing to timely report dangerously defective Black & Decker SpaceMaker coffee carafes and for continuing to distribute the carafes following a recall, the Department of Justice announced today.
The civil penalty and a related permanent injunction, imposed by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley, follows a 2016 court ruling that Spectrum and its former subsidiary, Applica Consumer Products Inc., violated the Consumer Product Safety Act by waiting years to inform the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) of customer reports about handles that suddenly broke or separated from carafes of hot coffee. The court noted that between 2008 and 2012, Spectrum received approximately 1,600 reports of broken SpaceMaker carafe handles, with about 66 consumers referencing burns from spilled coffee, and three others referencing cuts from broken carafe glass. The court noted that one consumer reported to the company in 2009 that she sought medical attention after hot coffee burned her stomach.
“When a company learns that one of its products could seriously injure customers, it must immediately report that information to the CPSC,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Waiting until someone is hurt before taking action is irresponsible and illegal. We will continue to enforce safety laws that protect consumers from unreasonable harm.”
The Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) requires manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of consumer products to report “immediately” to the CPSC information that reasonably supports the conclusion a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard or creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury. In its summary judgment ruling, the court held that Spectrum knowingly failed to report information it was required to report to the CPSC. The court found that by May 2009, the company knew of 60 reports of broken handles and four reports of burns, and had identified a similar cause of the breakages in two separately returned carafes. While the company implemented a design change in 2009 to remedy the handle issue, it continued to sell the old carafes through the end of that year. By June 2010, the court found, Spectrum knew of 714 complaints regarding carafe-handle failures.
As set out in the court orders, Spectrum did not report the carafe-handle incidents to the CPSC until April 2012, after the company was served with a private class action complaint alleging the carafes were defectively designed. Spectrum subsequently recalled the coffeemakers in consultation with the CPSC. As the company acknowledged, however, it distributed more than 600 additional carafes after the recall announcement. The United States filed suit against Spectrum in 2015 in the Western District of Wisconsin over the company’s failure to timely report the carafe hazard and the company’s sales of recalled products.
“I am pleased with the court’s order for a permanent injunction and a civil penalty against Spectrum Brands Inc.,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle. “Companies who fail to immediately report hazards with their products to CPSC put consumers at risk. Consumer safety should be the top priority for companies making consumer products.”
As detailed in the court’s summary judgment ruling, Applica and Spectrum received reports over the years from customers who said that they believed the carafe handle was dangerous. Numerous consumers told the company that spills related to broken handles caused burns to themselves or to family members. Other consumers reported near misses.
Along with the $1,936,675 in civil penalties, the court entered a permanent injunction against the company. The court ordered Spectrum to maintain systems and internal controls to ensure future compliance with the CPSA. The court further ordered Spectrum to provide copies of its rulings to officers and managers at the company. Under the terms of the injunction, Spectrum must report back to the court in six months to verify the company has made improvements to avoid repeating the CPSA violations.
The government was represented in the case by former Trial Attorney Thomas Ross and Assistant Director Alan Phelps of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Harriet Kerwin of the CPSC Office of the General Counsel and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the Consumer Product Safety Commission, visit its website at https://www.cpsc.gov.
Real Estate Investor Sentenced to 14 Months in Prison for Rigging Bids at Northern California Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
A real estate investor was sentenced today for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.
Brian McKinzie was charged on June 30, 2011, in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California. McKinzie pleaded guilty on Oct. 26, 2016, to two counts of bid rigging at real-estate foreclosure auctions in Alameda and Contra Costa County. Today, McKinzie was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison and to serve three years of supervised release. In addition to his term of imprisonment, McKinzie was ordered to pay a criminal fine of $10,000 and $652,824.43 in restitution.
“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of offenses that subvert the competitive process,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Division remains firm in its resolve to seek prison terms for individuals who commit antitrust crimes.”
Between November 2008 and January 2011, McKinzie and other bidders at the auctions conspired not to bid against one another for selected properties, instead designating a winning bidder to win the property at the auction. The members of the conspiracy then held second, private auctions, known as “rounds,” to award the properties to members of the conspiracy and determine payoffs for other conspirators who had agreed not to bid against each other at the public auctions. The private auctions often took place at or near the courthouse steps where the public auctions were held.
When real estate properties are sold at public auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with the remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner.
The sentence is a result of the division’s ongoing investigation into bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in California’s San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office.
Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300 or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.
Michigan Tax Return Preparer Indicted for Allegedly Preparing Fraudulent Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment today charging the owner of a tax return preparation business with 26 counts of preparing fraudulent tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to the indictment, Gary Hairston owned and operated Gary Y Hairston & Co PLLC, a tax return preparation business located in Inkster, Michigan. From at least 2010 through 2014, Hairston allegedly filed fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of his clients. The indictment alleges that Hairston reported fake businesses and falsely claimed the earned income tax credit on clients’ tax returns, seeking refunds to which those clients were not entitled.
If convicted, Hairston faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison on each count, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Carl F. Brooker, IV and Thomas F. Koelbl Sr. of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged in indictments are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Justice Department Releases Statistics on the Impact of Immigration Judge SurgeRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today released statistics on the impact of Executive Order (EO) 13767: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, which called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assign immigration judges to immigration detention facilities.
Pursuant to the President’s Executive Order, over one hundred immigration judges have been mobilized to Department of Homeland Security detention facilities across the country, including along the southern border. This mobilization includes both in-person assignments and dockets heard via video teleconferencing (VTC).
Comparing the results of the surge to historical scheduling and outcome data, EOIR has projected that the mobilized immigration judges have completed approximately 2,700 more cases than expected if the immigration judges had not been detailed. This means that completed cases by detailed immigration judges have outpaced expected home court deferrals, resulting in a positive net effect on the nationwide caseload. Also, immigration judges mobilized to surge sites completed approximately 21 percent more cases on detail than the historical, expected performance of nondetailed immigration judges at the same base locations.
“EOIR is pleased with the results of the surge of immigration judges to detention facilities and the potential impact it has on the pending caseload nationwide,” said Acting Director James McHenry. “The Justice Department will continue to identify ways in which it can further improve immigration judge productivity without compromising due process.”
Justice Department Reaches Agreement with the City of New Albany, Indiana, to Resolve Disability Discrimination ComplaintRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced that it reached an agreement with the city of New Albany, Indiana (New Albany), to resolve its lawsuit alleging that the New Albany Police Department and Merit Commission discriminated against an employee on the basis of his disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that the New Albany Police Department and Merit Commission disclosed to the public and press an employee’s confidential medical information, which it had obtained through employment-related medical examinations and inquiries. The complaint further alleges that New Albany provided documents and information detailing the employee’s disability, prescription medications, medical care, and psychological evaluations to the press and that, as result of this unlawful disclosure, local press widely publicized the employee’s medical information.
Under the agreement, New Albany’s Police Department and Merit Commission will institute policies to keep confidential its employees’ medical information and procedures to effectively respond to employees’ complaints of unlawful disclosure of medical information. The City of New Albany will also ensure that Police Department and Merit Commission officials, supervisors, and personnel who have access to employees’ confidential medical information are fully trained in those policies. In addition, New Albany will pay $100,000 in compensatory damages to the employee.
“Under the ADA, employers have a legal responsibility to keep confidential their employees’ medical information. This responsibility is critical to ensuring that employees with disabilities can work without fear of discrimination,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement is another important step towards eliminating employment barriers for people with disabilities.”
“The unlawful disclosure in this case deprived an employee of his privacy and his dignity, causing him to endure public ridicule and emotional stress,” said U.S. Attorney Josh J. Minkler of the Southern District of Indiana. “We commend the City of New Albany for committing to changing its policies, training its staff, and compensating the employee.”
This matter was based on a referral from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Indianapolis District Office, which completed the initial investigation of the facts.
To read the settlement agreement, please find it here, and to read the complaint, please find it here. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Rights Section, please call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.
Former Georgia Prison Guard Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault of Female Inmates, Obstruction, and Maliciously Conveying False Information About ExplosivesRead the Press Release
Former Georgia prison guard Edgar Daniel Johnson, 51, pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually assaulting three female inmates at the Emanuel Women’s Facility in Swainsboro, Georgia, and to coercing the women to help him cover up the assaults. Johnson also pleaded guilty to making a bomb threat at Elba Island on a separate occasion, in May 2017. Johnson pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Georgia to three counts of willfully depriving the inmates of their Eighth Amendment rights under color of law, three counts of obstruction for coercing the women to cover up the assaults, and one count of maliciously conveying false information about explosive materials.
During the plea hearing, Johnson admitted that, between November 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013, while he was working as a Georgia Department of Corrections prison guard at the Emanuel Women’s Facility, he engaged in non-consensual vaginal intercourse on more than one occasion with female inmates S.A., M.A., and M.P. Johnson further admitted that each act of intercourse was against the inmate’s will and violated the inmate’s right under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, which includes the right to be free from unwanted sexual assaults. Johnson further admitted that he coerced each of the inmates to cover up the assaults after the fact to help him avoid detection by investigators. Johnson also admitted that on May 3, 2017, he used a cellular telephone to call Southside Fire Department in Chatham County, Georgia and falsely report a bomb threat at Elba Island.
“This defendant abused his legal authority to prey on vulnerable women who had been entrusted to his care. His actions undermine the rule of law and the well-being of our communities,” said John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is committed to protecting the constitutional and civil rights of all individuals, and will hold law enforcement officers accountable to their oath to uphold the Constitution.”
“No one is above the law, and the criminal actions of this former prison guard compel a strong rebuke. Anyone who chooses to prey on others under color of official right should expect federal prosecution and jail,” said United States Attorney R. Brian Tanner.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Augusta Resident Agency with assistance from the Georgia Department of Corrections and the District Attorney’s Office for Swainsboro, Georgia. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara Lyons and Matthew Josephson of the Southern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Risa Berkower of the Civil Rights Division.
U.S. Postal Service Manager Sentenced to More Than Eight Years for Directing a Federal Corruption and Drug Distribution SchemeRead the Press Release
A former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) station manager was sentenced on Oct. 2, to 97 months in prison for his role directing a bribery and drug scheme in which USPS workers delivered hundreds of pounds of marijuana to individuals in the District of Columbia in exchange for cash bribes. Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.
Deenvaughn Rowe, 48, of Odenton, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Court Judge Chutkan ordered Rowe to serve four years of supervised release and to forfeit $64,000. During the sentencing Judge Chutkan told Rowe, who had immigrated to the United States from Jamaica, “What you have done has betrayed all this country has given you.” Last month, Judge Chutkan sentenced two of Rowe’s co-conspirators, Kendra Brantley, 32, and Alicia Norman, 39, both of Washington, D.C., to 46 months and 18 months in prison respectively, for using their positions as letter carriers to deliver boxes of marijuana.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Rowe, the then-acting manager of the River Terrace Carrier Annex, used his USPS computer to track packages containing marijuana mailed from the Western United States to the Lamond-Riggs Post Office in Washington, D.C. The packages were typically addressed to fictitious individuals or non-existent addresses. The evidence at trial revealed that once the packages arrived at Lamond-Riggs, Rowe coordinated the delivery of the packages with Lamond-Riggs Letter Carriers Brantley and Norman, among others, by cell phone and text message. Brantley and Norman then delivered the boxes of marijuana on the street to men in expensive cars in exchange for cash bribes.
This case was investigated by the USPS Office of the Inspector General’s Capital Metro Field Office and the Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division. Trial Attorneys Mark J. Cipolletti, Shamiso Maswoswe, Molly Gaston and Nicholas Connor of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case.
Justice Department Requires Divestitures in Order for CenturyLink to Proceed with Its Acquisition of Level 3 CommunicationsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it will require CenturyLink, Inc. and Level 3 Communications, Inc. to divest Level 3’s telecommunications networks in Albuquerque, Boise, and Tucson, and to offer long-term leases called indefeasible rights of use (IRUs) for dark fiber along 30 intercity routes in order for the companies to proceed with CenturyLink’s acquisition of Level 3. The deal is valued at approximately $34 billion.
The Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition. At the same time, the Department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the Court, would resolve the competitive concerns alleged.
“Because of competition between CenturyLink and Level 3, consumers have benefited from lower prices and higher-quality services in local telecommunications services and in the sale of intercity dark fiber,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “These divestitures will ensure that consumers of such services in the affected metropolitan areas and consumers of dark fiber between the city pairs in question will continue to enjoy the benefits of competition.”
According to the department’s complaint, the combined company would have reduced competition for fiber-optic-based telecommunications services in Albuquerque, Boise, and Tucson as well as for the sale of dark fiber along certain intercity routes across the U.S., including routes traversing Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Dark fiber is fiber-optic cable with no electronics attached to it. The complaint states that this reduction in competition likely would have led to higher prices, lower quality, and reduced access for consumers.
The proposed settlement requires the parties to divest all assets that support Level 3’s provision of telecommunications services in Albuquerque, Boise, and Tucson to a buyer or buyers to be approved by the United States. The parties must also enter into IRUs for 24 strands of dark fiber on 30 specified routes. Each IRU must have a 25-year term with two optional renewal periods of five years. The dark fiber to be divested must go to a single buyer to be approved by the United States.
The transaction is also subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is ongoing. The Department coordinated with the FCC throughout its investigation.
CenturyLink, the third largest wireline telecommunications provider in the United States, is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in portions of 37 states and is also a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, big data analytics and IT consulting. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 360,000 route-mile global network, including a 265,000 route-mile U.S. fiber network. In 2016, CenturyLink had revenues of approximately $17.5 billion.
Level 3, one of the largest competitive exchange carriers (CLEC) in the United States, is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3’s portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; and data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries across a global services platform, including over a 200,000 route-mile global fiber network. In 2016, Level 3 had revenues of approximately $8.2 billion.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed settlement, along with a competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement during a 60-day comment period to Scott Scheele, Chief, Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 7000, Washington D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may approve the proposed settlement upon finding that it is in the public interest.
Justice Department Obtains $150,000 Settlement in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Owner and Manager of Michigan Rental PropertiesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that Frank D. Tjoelker, an owner and manager of rental properties in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, will pay $150,000 to resolve allegations that he sexually harassed multiple women who have lived in or inquired about his rental properties. Since January of this year, the Civil Rights Division has filed or settled five cases alleging unlawful sexual harassment of women in housing and recovered over $1 million for victims such harassment.
“No woman should ever have to endure sexual harassment to secure a roof over her head,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Such harassment is unacceptable and illegal, and this Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act in order to combat this type of discrimination and to obtain relief for its victims.”
“It is illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of sex, including through such unwelcome and unwanted behavior as alleged in this case,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Western Michigan Andrew Birge. “Cases like this will always be a priority for my office.”
Under the settlement agreement, Tjoelker will pay $140,000 to compensate ten victims of discrimination already identified by the Justice Department, along with any additional individuals who are determined to be victims through a process established in the settlement agreement. Individuals who believe they may have been victims of housing discrimination by Tjoelker or who have information about this matter can contact the Justice Department by phone at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox number 4, or by e-mail at [email protected]. In addition, Tjoelker must pay $10,000 as a civil penalty to the United States. The settlement agreement also prohibits Tjoelker from engaging in discrimination and requires him to establish a non-discrimination policy and hire an independent manager for his rental properties.
The settlement will resolve a lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleging that Tjoelker’s unlawful conduct against female tenants and applicants at his properties has included making unwelcome sexual comments and advances towards them, engaging in unwanted sexual touching of these women, offering housing benefits in exchange for sex acts, and taking or threatening to take adverse housing actions against women who object to his harassment. Under the terms of the settlement, the parties will jointly move to dismiss the lawsuit after Tjoelker makes the monetary payments, which are due within 30 days.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability. Sexual harassment is a form of prohibited sex discrimination under this law. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the civil rights laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination should call the department at 1-800-896-7743, or send an e-mail to [email protected], or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or through HUD’s website at www.hud.gov.
Justice Department Awards More Than $130 Million to Improve Public Safety, Address Violence Against Women and Victim Services for American Indian and Alaska Native PeopleRead the Press Release
Awards Include Over $56.3 Million for Responses to Violence Against Women in Indian Country
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand today announced more than $130 million in Department of Justice grants to combat violence against women, improve public safety, serve victims of crime, and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
“Supporting our tribal partners as they work to protect their communities remains fundamental to our mission at the Department of Justice,” said Brand. “These awards stand as a clear expression of our support for Native American women and tribal self-determination and reflect the vital role we believe American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages play in ensuring the safety of all our citizens.”
Associate Attorney General Brand, the Department’s third ranking official, will make the announcement as part of her remarks during the Department’s participation in the 12th Annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation on the reservation of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
On Wednesday, Associate Attorney General Brand will visit a domestic violence shelter in the Gila River Indian Community. Gila River will receive two grant awards this year: one that supports the tribe’s implementation of special domestic violence jurisdiction under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act and one to enhance the safety of rural victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
More than $101 million was awarded to 125 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal consortia and tribal designees through the Department’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), a streamlined application for tribal-specific grant programs. Of the $101 million, $47.6 million comes from the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), $34.1 million from the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), and $19.4 million from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) awarded 101 grants totaling $56.3 million to tribal governments and nonprofit entities to help respond to the crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking and sex trafficking in Indian country. Of the $56.3 million, $34.1 was awarded through the CTAS application process as noted above and $22.1 million was awarded through other OVW grant programs and special initiatives.
CTAS grants are designed to enhance law enforcement practices, expand victim services and sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts. Awards cover nine purpose areas: public safety and community policing; justice systems planning; alcohol and substance abuse; corrections and correctional alternatives; children’s justice act partnerships; services for victims of crime; violence against women; juvenile justice; and tribal youth programs.
American Indians and Alaska Natives experience disproportionate rates of violence and victimization and often encounter significant obstacles to culturally relevant services. CTAS funding helps tribes develop and strengthen their justice systems’ response to crime, while expanding services to meet their communities’ public safety needs.
Today’s announcement is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
A listing of today’s CTAS awards is available at www.justice.gov/tribal/awards. Additional tribal grant awards announced by the Office on Violence Against Women and other department components are available at: www.justice.gov/ovw/page/file/1000416/download.
Justice Department Announces Initiative to Combat Sexual Harassment in HousingRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced a new initiative to combat sexual harassment in housing. The initiative specifically seeks to increase the Department’s efforts to protect women from harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, security guards, and other employees and representatives of rental property owners. As part of the initiative, the Department will work to identify barriers to reporting sexual harassment to the Department and other enforcement agencies, and will collaborate with local law enforcement, legal services providers, and public housing authorities to leverage their expertise.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division enforces the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability. Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under this law. The Civil Rights Division plans to launch a pilot of the initiative in two jurisdictions -- Washington, D.C., and western Virginia -- where it is working with legal service providers and local law enforcement to raise awareness about this issue. The Department hopes to expand the effort to other areas of the country in the near future.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Department’s successful resolution of two sexual harassment cases in Kansas City, Kansas, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since January of this year, the Civil Rights Division has filed or settled five cases and recovered over $1 million for victims of sexual harassment in housing. In the Kansas City case, the Justice Department recovered $360,000 for 14 female residents and applicants of a housing authority who were subjected to unwanted sexual conduct. The Department’s complaint alleged in part that an employee of the housing authority subjected women to unwanted sexual conduct as a condition for favorable hearing decisions, including asking them sexual questions, showing pornographic pictures and videos, making explicit sexual comments, and exposing himself.
“No woman should be made to feel unsafe in her own home,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in announcing the initiative. “The Justice Department is committed to vigorously enforcing the Fair Housing Act’s ban on sexual harassment and is looking forward to working closely with state and local partners to combat this problem.”
More information about the Civil Rights Division and the civil rights laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination should call the department at 1-844-380-6178, or send an e-mail to [email protected], or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777.
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Charged with Obstruction of Justice, Perjury, Conversion and Other Crimes; Former Task Force Officer Also ChargedRead the Press Release
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent was charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday with obstruction of justice, perjury, falsifying records in a federal investigation, seeking and receiving an illegal gratuity, conversion of property by an officer or employee of the United States and removing property to prevent seizure and conspiracy. A former DEA task force officer was also charged.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Monte Cason of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General’s (DOJ-OIG) Dallas Field Office and Chief Inspector Brian M. McKnight of the DEA’s Office of Professional Responsibility (DEA-OPR) made the announcement.
Chad A. Scott, 49, of Covington, Louisiana, the DEA special agent, and Rodney P. Gemar, 41, of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, the former task force officer, were charged in an indictment returned on Sept. 29, in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Scott is charged with three counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury, one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation, one count of seeking and receiving an illegal gratuity, one count of unlawful conversion of property by a government officer or employee, one count of removing property to prevent seizure and one count of conspiracy to commit conversion to remove property to prevent seizure. Gemar is charged with two counts of unlawful conversion of property by a government officer or employee, two counts of removing property to prevent seizure and two counts of conspiracy to commit conversion and to remove property to prevent seizure. According to the indictment, Scott, Gemar and their co-conspirators committed these offenses while serving with the New Orleans Division of the DEA.
Specifically, the indictment alleges that Scott committed obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with a January 2016 trial in the Eastern District of Louisiana, misappropriated the personal property of individuals who were arrested by the New Orleans Division of the DEA and falsified documentation relating to the seizure of a Ford pick-up truck. The indictment further alleges that Gemar also misappropriated personal property from individuals detained by the DEA, as well as money seized from an individual detained by local law enforcement.
Gemar currently serves as a police officer with the Hammond, Louisiana Police Department.
Former DEA task force officer Karl Emmett Newman, 50, of Kentwood, Louisiana, was also charged with numerous offenses in a separate May 13, 2016 indictment and in an Oct. 7, 2016 superseding indictment. Newman pleaded guilty on July 20, to unlawfully possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and conspiring to misappropriate money seized by the DEA during the execution of a search. Former DEA task force officer Johnny Jacob Domingue, 28, of Maurepas, Louisiana, was arrested on a criminal complaint on May 12, 2016, and was also charged in an Oct. 7, 2016 superseding indictment with falsifying records in a federal investigation. Domingue’s case remains pending. Chad Scott’s detention hearing will take place on Oct. 3 at 2:00 p.m. CDT.
The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are only accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This case was initiated by the Louisiana State Police and investigated by the FBI, DOJ-OIG, DEA-OPR and LSP. Assistant Chief Diidri Robinson and Trial Attorney Antonio Pozos of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
Department of Justice Announces Tribes Selected for Expansion of Program to Enhance Tribal Access to National Crime Information DatabasesRead the Press Release
Department of Justice Tribal Access Program Will Continue to Improve the Exchange of Critical Data
The Department of Justice announced 15 additional American Indian tribes selected to participate in the expansion of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP), a program to provide federally recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with national crime information databases for both civil and criminal purposes.
These TAP deployments are part of the Justice Department’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, allowing tribes to more effectively serve and protect their communities by ensuring the exchange of critical data.
“The Tribal Access Program provides tribal governments access to federal crime information databases containing highly useful information, such as criminal background records, outstanding warrants, and domestic violence protection orders,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “When federal, state, and tribal governments share information, it makes communities and law enforcement officers safer. It helps solve crimes and protect people from being victimized.”
The TAP Team is pleased to announce that the following tribes have been selected for the next phase of TAP:
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California
Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation (Washington)
Mashantucket Pequot Indian Tribe (Connecticut)
Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico
Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation, Arizona
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (Mississippi)
Nez Perce Tribe (Idaho)
Passamaquoddy Tribe (Maine)
Round Valley Indian Tribes, Round Valley Reservation, California
TAP is primarily funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). TAP prioritized selection of tribes that had a tribal sex offender registry pursuant to the Adam Walsh Act and are currently unable to directly submit data to national crime information databases; and/or had a tribal law enforcement agency that will use TAP to access the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC), Next Generation Identification (NGI), and other national databases to both view and enter information.
TAP is currently deployed to 32 tribes with over 160 tribal criminal justice and civil agencies participating. The service provides software to enable tribes to access national crime information databases and/or a kiosk-workstation that provides the ability to submit and query fingerprint-based transactions via FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) for both criminal and civil purposes.
Success stories from the past two years include:
- Recovered safely a vulnerable adult kidnap victim and captured the alleged kidnapper through the use of the National Data Exchange (N-DEx).
- Identified a previously unknown active warrant issued by another jurisdiction, on a sex offender during the routine process of registering that offender
- Stopped a known drug user with mental problems, who was found incompetent to stand trial, from purchasing a weapon
- Prevented a person convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm after the police department identified an imminent threat to former spouse
- Completed entry of information on all sex offenders on tribal registries into both NGI (with fingerprint, palm prints, mug shots) and NCIC’s National Sex Offender Registration (NSOR) file so sex offender status will be obvious to anyone running a subsequent NCIC check or fingerprint-based background check
TAP enhances tribal efforts to register sex offenders pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA); have orders of protection enforced off-reservation; protect children; keep firearms away from persons who are disqualified from receiving them; improve the safety of public housing, and allow tribes to enter their arrests and convictions into national databases.
TAP supports tribes in analyzing their needs for national crime information and includes appropriate solutions, including a-state-of-the-art biometric/biographic kiosk workstation with capabilities to process finger and palm prints, take mugshots and submit records to national databases, as well as the ability to access CJIS systems for criminal and civil purposes through the Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Information Network. TAP, which is managed by the Department of Justice Chief Information Officer, provides specialized training and assistance for participating tribes, including computer-based training and on-site instruction, as well as a 24x7 Help Desk.
For more information on TAP, visit www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap
For more information about the Justice Department’s work on tribal justice and public safety issues, visit: www.justice.gov/tribalJustice Department Obtains $365,000 Settlement of Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Kansas City, Kansas, Housing AuthorityRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that the Kansas City, Kansas, Housing Authority (KCKHA) and three of its former employees have agreed to pay $365,000 to resolve a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the department in 2015. So far this year, the Justice Department has filed or settled four cases alleging unlawful sexual harassment of women in housing.
Under the settlement, KCKHA, former Administrative Coordinator Victor Hernandez, former Property Manager Derrick Estelle, Sr., and former Director of Housing Management Ronald Cobb, will pay a total of $360,000 in monetary damages to 14 current and former KCKHA residents and applicants who were subjected to sexual harassment, as well as $5,000 to the United States in civil penalties. The settlement also requires KCKHA to conduct training, to adopt new policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment by its employees, and to provide a mechanism by which tenants and applicants can register complaints about sexual harassment with KCKHA management.
“Sexual harassment of women is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “No one should ever have to endure the type of outrageous conduct that occurred in this case in exchange for obtaining or keeping a place to live.”
“No woman should be subjected to harassment in her own home. This action sends a message to all housing providers that not only is this type of behavior unacceptable and immoral, it is illegal,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Anna Maria Farías. “HUD will continue to work to protect the fair housing rights of victims of harassment.”
This matter began when two female public housing tenants filed complaints about Hernandez with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After HUD investigated the complaints, it issued a charge of discrimination and the matter was referred to the Justice Department. During its investigation, the department identified additional KCKHA applicants and tenants who had been sexually harassed by Hernandez, Estelle, or Cobb. Among other things, the department’s complaint alleged that Hernandez subjected women to unwanted sexual conduct as a condition for favorable hearing decisions, including asking them sexual questions, showing pornographic pictures and videos, making explicit sexual comments, and exposing himself. Hernandez admitted in sworn testimony that he had exposed himself to multiple women during appeals hearings concerning their housing.
The complaint also alleged that Estelle and Cobb explicitly conditioned housing benefits in return for sexual favors and made repeated unwelcome and offensive sexual advances to women residing in or applying for public housing. The complaint further alleged that Hernandez, Estelle, and Cobb engaged in this conduct while exercising their authority as employees of KCKHA.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability. Sexual harassment is a form of prohibited sex discrimination under this law. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the civil rights laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination should call the department at 1-800-896-7743, or send an e-mail to [email protected], or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777.
Justice Department Invests More Than $47 Million to Combat Human Trafficking and Assist VictimsRead the Press Release
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced more than $47 million in funding to combat human trafficking and provide vital services to trafficking victims throughout the United States.
As part of this announcement, Associate Attorney General Rachel L. Brand visited the national headquarters of the International Association of Chiefs of Police this afternoon, where she met with Executive Director Vincent Talucci, Deputy Executive Director Terrence Cunningham, and Director for Programs Domingo Herraiz. While there, she provided notification that the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) had awarded the organization a $1 million grant to support a National Anti-Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement Task Force, which supports criminal justice systems efforts to investigate, and prosecute all forms of human trafficking.
“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the victims of human trafficking,” said Associate Attorney General Brand. “DOJ grants provide training and technical assistance to state and local law governments, law enforcement, and victim service organizations.”
Approximately $31 million of the funds was awarded under nine OJP grant programs. The grants aim to support the criminal justice system’s efforts to investigate and prosecute all forms of human trafficking; offer victims services through experienced providers; and seeks to strengthen communities’ responses to the sexual exploitation and forced labor of victims by raising community awareness and providing training and technical assistance.
Grants awarded under Fiscal Year 2017 OJP programs include the following:
- Specialized Services for Victims of All Forms of Human Trafficking; About $7.5 million to 13 victim service organizations to enhance the quality and quantity of specialized services available to all victims of human trafficking.
- Legal Access to Victims of Crime: Innovations in Access to Justice Programs; Approximately $5 million to support an award to Equal Justice Works, which will partner with qualified nonprofit organizations to host attorneys who will provide comprehensive and holistic legal services to survivors of human trafficking and enforce victims' rights.
- Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking: A Jurisdiction Wide Approach; Nearly $5.2 million to four states to improve jurisdiction-wide coordination and multidisciplinary collaboration to address the trafficking of children and youth.
- Comprehensive Services for Victims of All Forms of Human Trafficking; Over $3.6 million to five community agencies under this program with a demonstrated history of serving victims of human trafficking.
- Specialized Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance for Service Providers; $1.7 million to the Freedom Network USA and Futures Without Violence to help victim service providers develop and implement housing and employment practices that better serve victims of human trafficking.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime awarded four grants totaling nearly $3 million to two multidisciplinary human trafficking task forces under the Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking Program. This initiative supports task forces made up of victim service providers, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors that implement a victim-centered approach and work collaboratively to identify sex and labor trafficking victims of all ages and sexes; investigate and prosecute trafficking cases at the local, state, tribal and federal levels; and provide a comprehensive array of quality services that address the individualized needs of victims.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded $1 million to the International Association of Chiefs of Police to support National Anti-Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement Task Forces. The task forces support efforts to investigate, and prosecute all forms of human trafficking. For a list of OVC and BJA awardees, visit https://go.usa.gov/xRhQ7.
The National Institute of Justice awarded about $2 million to three research organizations under the Research and Evaluation on Trafficking in Persons program, which funds research and evaluation efforts to understand, prevent and respond to trafficking in persons in the United States. For a list of NIJ awardees, visit https://go.usa.gov/xRh8f.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded approximately $1.9 million to three mentoring project sites and one training site under the Mentoring for Child Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Domestic Sex Trafficking Initiative. This program helps organizations develop their capacity to respond to the needs of child victims. For a list of OJJDP awardees, visit https://go.usa.gov/xRhQs.
In addition to the awards, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) transferred more than $16 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs to help address the housing needs of human trafficking victims. OVC also dedicated funding of about $100,000 to the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit (HTPU) within the DOJ Civil Rights Division for training and technical assistance. HTPU provides anti-trafficking training and technical assistance to agencies outside of DOJ, and follows several mandates since the passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.
The Office of Justice Programs, headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan R. Hanson, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.
Former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Officer Pleads Guilty to Excessive Use of Force ViolationRead the Press Release
Former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officer Richard Scavone pleaded guilty today in federal court to assaulting a handcuffed woman in his custody.
Acting U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre of the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse of the FBI’s Las Vegas Office made the announcement.
According to admissions made in the plea agreement, on January 6, 2015, Scavone, 50, was working as an LVMPD patrol officer, and was accompanied in his patrol car by an LVMPD jail corrections officer on a ride-along. At approximately 5:00 a.m., Scavone and the ride-along encountered A.O., who was talking on the phone and holding a cup of coffee. When Scavone told A.O. to “move along,” A.O responded that she was waiting on someone and threw her cup of coffee to the ground. Scavone, who was wearing a body-worn camera that recorded video and audio, exited his patrol car and approached A.O. with a Taser in hand.
Scavone admitted that during the interaction with A.O., and while A.O. was handcuffed, he: shoved A.O. to the ground; grabbed her around the neck with his hand and threw her to the ground; struck her in the forehead with an open palm; grabbed her by the head and slammed her face onto the hood of his patrol vehicle; grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face onto the hood of his patrol vehicle a second time; and slammed A.O. into the door of his patrol vehicle.
Scavone admitted that he took those actions without legal justification and that he knew his actions were against the law.
Scavone faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Sentencing will be held on January 11, 2018.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Nevada citizens, regardless of their backgrounds,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Myhre. “The defendant took an oath to serve and protect with honor and integrity. Misconduct such as this will not be tolerated and those who break the law will be held accountable for their actions.”
“As Mr. Scavone realized today, no one is above the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Rouse. “Law enforcement takes an oath to protect and serve our communities. We are, and rightfully should be, held to a higher standard. Every day, the vast majority of police officers in our community uphold that standard under difficult, dangerous conditions. However, when law enforcement breaks that vow, they will be held accountable.”
After conducting its own investigation into Scavone’s conduct, LVMPD terminated Scavone’s employment.
This case was investigated by the Las Vegas Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the cooperation of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Phillip N. Smith, Jr. and Nicholas Dickinson of the District of Nevada and Trial Attorney Julia Gegenheimer of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Former Executive of a Tenet Hospital Charged Along with Clinic Owner and Operator in $400 Million Fraud and Bribery SchemeRead the Press Release
A former executive of a Tenet Healthcare Corporation-owned hospital and the owner and operator of an Atlanta-area chain of pre-natal clinics were charged in a superseding indictment that also added additional charges against another former Tenet executive for their alleged roles in an over $400 million fraud and bribery scheme. The indictment alleges that the scheme victimized the United States government, the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs and patients of Tenet hospitals.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge David J. LeValley of the FBI’s Atlanta Division and Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Atlanta Field Office made the announcement.
Bill Moore, 61, of John’s Creek, Georgia, and Edmundo Cota, 64, of Dunwoody, Georgia, were charged in an indictment returned on September 26, 2017, in the Northern District of Georgia. The indictment charges Moore, who formerly served as the chief executive officer of Atlanta Medical Center, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia, with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care bribes, two counts of wire fraud, one count of falsifying corporate books and records, and one count of major fraud against the United States. The indictment charges Cota, who served as the president and chief executive officer of Hispanic Medical Management, Inc., which did business as Clinica de la Mama, and later Cota Medical Management Group, Inc., with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care bribes, three counts of receiving health care bribes and three counts of wire fraud.
Additional charges were brought against a third defendant, John Holland, 60, of Dallas, Texas, who was originally charged in January 2017. Holland, who formerly served as a senior vice president of operations for Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Southern States Region and as chief executive officer of North Fulton Medical Center, Inc., in Roswell, Georgia, is now charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care bribes, three counts of paying health care bribes, five counts of wire fraud, one count of falsifying corporate books and records, and one count of major fraud against the United States.
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from approximately 2000 to approximately 2013, Holland, Moore and Cota engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States, the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs, and patients who attended Cota’s pre-natal clinics and were referred to Tenet hospitals. The indictment also alleges that Holland and Moore caused the payment of bribes in return for the referral of patients to Tenet hospitals in the Southern States Region, including Atlanta Medical Center, Inc., North Fulton Medical Center, Inc., Spalding Regional Medical Center, Inc. and Hilton Head Hospital. The indictment alleges that Holland and Moore took affirmative steps to conceal the scheme by, among other methods, circumventing internal accounting controls, falsifying Tenet’s books, records and reports, and making, and causing to be made, false representations to the federal government. According to the indictment, these bribes helped Tenet bill the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs for over $400 million, and Tenet obtained more than $149 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds based on the resulting patient referrals.
The indictment further alleges that, to effectuate the scheme, Holland, among other things, personally made false and fraudulent statements to HHS-OIG in connection with Tenet’s 2006 Corporate Integrity Agreement (the CIA), in which he falsely certified to HHS-OIG that Tenet was in compliance with the terms of participation in the Medicare and Medicaid Programs and the terms of the CIA, when in fact he knew that Tenet was paying for illegal patient referrals. Holland’s certifications were included as part of Tenet’s yearly annual reports that were mailed to the HHS-OIG monitor. During the duration of the CIA, from 2007 through 2011, Tenet received over $10 billion in payments from federal health care programs – money that Tenet would not have received had the company been excluded from participation in federal health care programs, the indictment alleges.
In October 2016, North Fulton Medical Center, Inc., and Atlanta Medical Center, Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Tenet subsidiary Tenet HealthSystem Medical Inc. and its subsidiaries (THSM) also entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the government at that time. Under the terms of the NPA, THSM and Tenet will avoid prosecution if they, among other requirements, cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation and enhance their compliance and ethics program and internal controls. Tenet also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor to address and reduce the risk of any recurrence of violations of health care bribery by any entity owned in whole, or in part, by Tenet. Tenet and its subsidiaries also agreed to pay over $513 million to resolve the criminal charges and civil claims arising from the matter.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, HHS-OIG and the FBI Healthcare Fraud Unit Major Provider Response Team are conducting the investigation. Assistant Chief Sally B. Molloy and Trial Attorneys Angela Adams and Scott Armstrong of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine locations across the country, has charged nearly 3,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $11 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
If you believe you are a victim of this offense, please visit this website or call (888) 549-3945.
Foreign National Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Rhinoceros HornRead the Press Release
Michael Hegarty, 40, an Irish national, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami to fraudulently facilitating the transportation and concealment of a Libation Cup carved from an endangered rhinoceros horn, that was illegally smuggled from the United States to Great Britain.
The guilty plea was announced today by Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida, and Ed Grace, Acting Assistant Director of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The prosecution of Hegarty is part of Operation Crash, a continuing effort by the Special Investigations Unit of the FWS Office of Law Enforcement in coordination with the Department of Justice to detect, deter, and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), was enacted by Congress to conserve endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The ESA makes it unlawful to knowingly deliver, receive, carry, transport, or ship in interstate or foreign commerce, by any means whatsoever and in the course of a commercial activity, endangered species, including rhinoceros; and to sell and offer to sell endangered species of wildlife, including rhinoceros, in interstate and foreign commerce.
According to the Plea Agreement, a Joint Factual Statement filed by the parties, other court records, and statements at the hearing, in mid-April 2012, Hegarty and his co-conspirator joined a Miami resident to attend an auction in Rockingham, North Carolina where the co-conspirator functioned as the bidder on behalf of the three individuals, and made the winning bid for a rhinoceros horn libation cup. Hegarty and his co-conspirator received the rhinoceros horn libation cup in Florida. The co-conspirator then smuggled the libation cup out of the United States in his luggage, and failed to declare the export of the rhino horn libation cup as required by law to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and neither applied for nor obtained the permit required under the Endangered Species Act.
The co-conspirator, along with two other Irish nationals, was arrested by Metropolitan Police in London, while attempting to sell the same rhinoceros horn libation cup to a Hong Kong native. Scientific analysis conducted at the National Fish & Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon determine that the Libation Cup was in fact fashioned from the horn of an ESA-protected Great Indian Rhinoceros.
Hegarty was arrested on the charges through an INTERPOL Red Notice and extradited to the United States from Belgium. His co-conspirator was convicted on unrelated charges in England, is currently incarcerated there, and is still wanted to face wildlife trafficking charges in the Southern District of Florida.
“Trafficking in endangered and threatened species is illegal,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Greenberg. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we will strictly enforce the laws that protect our environment and our wildlife. The international community strongly supports these enforcement efforts and is capable of finding and holding accountable these criminals wherever they attempt to hide.”
“By trafficking in wildlife products, such as items made from a rhinoceros horn, smugglers are fueling the illegal trade in endangered wildlife, which may ultimately lead to the species extinction,” said Ed Grace, Acting Assistant Director of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “I am proud of our special agents who exposed this complex, international scheme that spanned many international borders. This case showed the direct link between wildlife trafficking and transnational organized crime and reinforced our commitment to continue working with U.S. and international partners to pursue these criminals who profit from the illegal trade in wildlife.”
Hegarty will be sentenced by the Honorable Donald M. Middlebrooks, United States District Court Judge, who accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing will be held Nov. 14, 2017 at 2:20 p.m. Hegarty faces a maximum penalty of up to ten years in prison, followed by a term of supervised release of up to three years, and a maximum fine of $250,000, or up to twice the gross gain.
The investigation is being handled by the FWS Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
3,800 Miembros de Pandillas son Enjuiciados en Operación que Abarca los Estados Unidos y CentroamericaRead the Press Release
Oficiales principales de las agencias del orden público de los Estados Unidos, El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras anunciaron hoy la radicación de imputaciones de más de 3,800 miembros de las pandillas de la MS-13 y Calle 18 en los Estados Unidos y Centroamérica, en una operación judicial coordinada conocida como Operación Escudo Regional. Las imputaciones fueron anunciadas por el Fiscal General Adjunto Interino de los Estados Unidos Kenneth A. Blanco, el Fiscal General Douglas Meléndez de El Salvador, la Fiscal General Thelma Aldana de Guatemala, y el Fiscal General Oscar Chinchilla de Honduras. Este anuncio marca el aniversario de seis meses del compromiso para combatir el crimen organizado transnacional iniciado el pasado marzo por el Fiscal General Jeff Sessions con los Fiscales Generales de los tres países centroamericanos.
Las 3,800 imputaciones anunciadas hoy, incluyen más de 70 individuos en los estados de California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nueva York, Ohio y Virginia en los Estados Unidos. Agentes del orden público incautaron seis armas de fuego e imputaron a 284 miembros de pandillas en Guatemala; incautaron 14 establecimientos y 11 vehículos de lujo y arrestaron a 12 miembros de pandillas MS-13 dedicados al lavado de dinero en Honduras; y radicaron 3,477 imputaciones que resultaron en más de 1,400 arrestos en El Salvador.
Casos que son resultado de la Operación Escudo Regional incluyen:
- Una imputación hecha pública ayer en el distrito de Massachusetts donde se acusa a Edwin Manica Flores c/p/ Sugar, Chugar y Shugar, líder de la ganga MS-13 encarcelado en El Salvador, en una conspiración bajo la ley federal contra el crimen organizado (RICO) por alegada actividad criminal que este dirigió en los Estados Unidos como líder del “Programa de la Costa Este” de la MS-13.
- Imputaciones radicadas en Long Island el 19 de julio contra 17 miembros de la pandilla MS-13 por la comisión de 12 asesinatos, incluyendo el asesinato de cuatro hombres en Central Islip cometido el 11 de abril; crimen organizado; tentativa de asesinatos; obstrucción a la justicia; incendios provocados; conspiración para distribuir marihuana y armas de fuego.
El 9 de febrero de 2017, el Presidente Donald J. Trump emitió la Orden Ejecutiva Para Hacer Cumplir la Ley Federal Sobre las Organizaciones de Crímenes Transnacionales y Prevenir el Tráfico Internacional para desmantelar y eradicar las pandillas transnacionales que amenazan la seguridad de nuestras comunidades. Conforme a esa orden, el Fiscal General Sessions ha hecho su prioridad el desmantelar las pandillas transnacionales como la MS-13.
En marzo, el Fiscal General Sessions se reunió con sus homólogos de la región y desarrollaron estrategias y planes concretos para responder en forma sólida y coordinada a las crecientes actividades criminales transnacionales de la MS-13. Por los pasados seis meses, los equipos de enjuiciamiento de la región han estado compartiendo información, evidencia y buenas prácticas para combatir las pandillas. También se han coordinando operaciones simultáneas que afectan tanto a los Estados Unidos como a Centroamérica.
“La MS-13 es una de las pandillas más violentas y despiadadas hoy en día en América, que pone en peligro las comunidades en más de 40 estados. Pero bajo el gran liderazgo del Presidente Trump, el Departamento de Justicia está removiéndolos de nuestras calles,” dijo el Fiscal General Sessions. “Hoy, estamos declarando que nuestra alianza con agencias del orden público en Centroamérica, ha producido imputaciones en contra de más de 3,800 miembros de pandillas en sólo los últimos seis meses. Más de 70 de estos imputados estaban viviendo en los Estados Unidos, de California a Boston. La MS-13 coordina a lo largo de nuestras fronteras para asesinar, violar, traficar en drogas y en la trata de niñas menores de edad; tenemos que coordinar a lo largo de nuestras fronteras para detenerlos. Eso es exactamente lo que nuestros valientes y profesionales agentes y fiscales del Departamento de Justicia están haciendo. Vamos a seguir manteniendo esta política firme y desmantelando esta pandilla.”
“Estudiando su modus operandi, nos dimos cuenta que afrontando las pandillas, requeriría trabajar conjuntamente con los Estados Unidos, Guatemala y El Salvador,” dijo el Fiscal General Oscar Chinchilla Banegas. “Esta estrategia nos ha permitido compartir información y golpear las estructuras financieras de las pandillas.”
“Hemos llevado a cabo operaciones simultáneas coordinadas entre todos nuestros países impactando la estructura de liderazgo de las pandillas y con un énfasis en la hermandad de estas pandillas que están generando los ingresos más grandes y con los lazos transnacionales más fuertes,” dijo el Fiscal General Meléndez Ruiz.
“Nuestros ciudadanos exigen respuestas rápidas y efectivas del sistema de seguridad y justicia,” dijo la Fiscal General Aldana Hernández. “Por lo tanto, debemos continuar promoviendo e implementando acciones como la de Operación Escudo Regional que efectivamente fortalecen la norma jurídica y erigen sociedades más seguras, comprensivas, prósperas y justas.”
En El Salvador, Guatemala, y Honduras, las investigaciones de la MS-13 se manejan por fiscales regionales anti-pandillas que reciben capacitaciones financiadas por el Departamento de Estado y asesoría por el FBI, HSI, y la Oficina Internacional para el Desarrollo, Asistencia y Capacitación Técnica del Departamento de Justicia (OPDAT). A través del apoyo de la Oficina de Narcóticos Internacionales y Asuntos de Aplicación de la Ley del Departamento de Estado, los fiscales de OPDAT han ayudado a establecer fuerzas de tarea en la región y trabajan con las Unidades Transnacionales Anti-Pandillas (TAG) del FBI y también las Unidades de Investigaciones Criminales Transnacionales de HSI (TCIU). Estos esfuerzos han ayudado a nuestros aliados en Centroamérica a condenar a miles de criminales, confiscar más de USD$ 1 billón de activos ilícitos, y coordinar docenas de investigaciones transnacionales con sus homólogos de Estados Unidos.
3,800 Gang Members Charged in Operation Spanning United States and Central AmericaRead the Press Release
Senior law enforcement officials from the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras announced here today criminal charges against more than 3,800 MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in the United States and Central America in a coordinated law enforcement action known as Operation Regional Shield. The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the United States, Attorney General Douglas Meléndez of El Salvador, Attorney General Thelma Aldana of Guatemala, and Attorney General Oscar Chinchilla of Honduras, marking the six-month anniversary of the commitment to combat transnational organized crime initiated in March by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, together with the Attorneys General of the three Central American countries.
The more than 3,800 individuals charged announced today include over 70 individuals in the United States in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Virginia. Law enforcement officers seized six firearms and charged 284 gang members in Guatemala; seized 14 businesses and 11 luxury vehicles and arrested 12 MS-13 money launderers in Honduras; and filed 3,477 criminal charges, resulting in more than 1,400 arrests in El Salvador.
Cases resulting from Operation Regional Shield include:
· One indictment unsealed yesterday in the District of Massachusetts charges Edwin Manica Flores aka Sugar, Chugar and Shugar, an MS-13 leader incarcerated for murder in El Salvador, with a RICO conspiracy for alleged criminal activity he directed in the United States as the leader of MS-13’s “East Coast Program.”
· Charges filed in Long Island on July 19 against 17 MS-13 members for 12 murders, including the April 11 quadruple murder of four men in Central Islip; racketeering; attempted murders; assaults; obstruction of justice; arson; conspiracy to distribute marijuana; and firearms.
On February 9, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking to dismantle and eradicate transnational gangs threatening the safety of our communities. Pursuant to that order, Attorney General Sessions has made dismantling transnational gangs, including MS-13, a top priority.
In March, Attorney General Sessions met with his counterparts from the region and developed strategies and concrete plans to give a strong and coordinated response to MS-13’s increasingly transnational criminal activities. Over the last six months, prosecution teams from the region have been sharing information, evidence and best practices to combat the gangs, as well as coordinating simultaneous operations against gangs that affect both the United States and Central America.
“MS-13 is one of the most violent and ruthless gangs in America today, endangering communities in more than 40 states. But under President Trump’s strong leadership, the Department of Justice is taking them off our streets,” Attorney General Sessions said. “Today, we are announcing that our partnership with law enforcement in Central America, has yielded charges against more than 3,800 gang members just in the last six months. More than 70 of these defendants were living in the United States, from California to Ohio to Boston. MS-13 coordinates across our borders to kill, rape, and traffic drugs and underage girls; we’ve got to coordinate across our borders to stop them. That’s exactly what our courageous and professional DOJ agents and attorneys are doing. We will continue to maintain this steadfast policy and dismantle this gang.”
“Studying their modus operandi, we realized tackling [the gangs] would require working jointly with the United States, Guatemala, and El Salvador,” said Honduran Attorney General Chinchilla Banegas. “This approach has allowed us to share information and strike the financial structures of the gangs.”
“We conducted simultaneous operations coordinated among all of our countries impacting the leadership structure of the gangs and with an emphasis on the gang cliques which are generating the most revenues and with the strongest transnational ties,” said El Salvadoran Attorney General Melendez Ruiz.”
“Our citizens demand prompt and effective responses from the security and justice system,” said Guatemalan Attorney General Aldana Hernandez. “We must therefore continue promoting and implementing actions such as Operation Regional Shield that effectively strengthen the rule of law and build safer, more supportive, more prosperous and fairer societies.”
In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the investigation into MS-13 is being handled by regional gang prosecutors who receive State Department-funded training and mentoring from the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Justice Department’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT). With support from State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, prosecutors from OPDAT helped establish task forces in the region and work with FBI’s local Transnational Anti-Gang (TAG) units, as well as HSI’s Transnational Criminal Investigative Units (TCIUs). These efforts have helped Central American partners convict thousands of criminals, seize over $1 billion in illicit assets, and coordinate on dozens of transnational investigations with their U.S. counterparts.
New Hampshire Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking of a MinorRead the Press Release
Steven Tucker, 31, of New Hampshire, pleaded guilty in the District of New Hampshire today to one count of sex trafficking of a minor.
According to the plea agreement, from 2013 to 2014, the defendant recruited a minor victim to engage in commercial sex acts, provided a location for the commercial sex acts, arranged her transportation to perform commercial sex acts, paid for internet advertisements for the commercial sex acts, and collected a portion of the cash proceeds from the minor’s commercial sex acts.
“Sex trafficking is a heinous crime that often times preys on the youngest and most vulnerable members of our society,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “Combatting sex trafficking is one of the highest priorities of the Department of Justice, and we will continue to hold traffickers accountable and to seek justice on behalf of sex trafficking victims.”
“The United States Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire is committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to combat human trafficking,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John J. Farley. “I am proud of the work that the members of the New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force do each day to combat the scourge of human trafficking using a multidisciplinary approach. This successful prosecution is an example of the Task Force’s ongoing efforts to seek justice for victims of sex trafficking crimes.”
Tucker was charged in a three-count indictment returned on January 25, 2016 with sex trafficking of a minor, operation of a prostitution enterprise, and maintaining a drug-involved premises. He faces a possible sentence of 10 years to life in prison. The sentencing is scheduled for January 5, 2018. As part of the plea agreement, Tucker will also be ordered to pay restitution to the minor victim, in an amount to be determined at the time of sentencing.
This prosecution is the result of the joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Manchester Police Department, the New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire and the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
The Task Force is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Justice. Its goals are to ensure that comprehensive and specialized services are made available to victims of human trafficking through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, and that perpetrators of sex trafficking and forced labor are investigated and prosecuted.
The core team members of the Task Force are the Manchester Police Department, Child and Family Services of New Hampshire, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Huftalen and District of New Hampshire and Trial Attorney Vasantha Rao of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Moore County Man Charged in Fourteen-Count Dogfighting IndictmentRead the Press Release
Today a federal magistrate judge unsealed a superseding indictment charging Brexton Redell Lloyd, 54, of Eagle Springs, with one count of conspiracy and thirteen counts of violating the animal fighting prohibitions of the federal Animal Welfare Act, announced Acting United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina, and Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
The charges returned today pertain to pit bull-type dogs allegedly kept by Lloyd at his residence in Eagle Springs. The Defendant allegedly possessed and trained the dogs for fighting ventures and conspiring to commit these acts throughout the United States. The dogs were seized by federal authorities in a search warrant executed in March 2017.
This case is part of Operation Grand Champion, a coordinated effort across numerous federal judicial districts to combat organized dog fighting. The phrase “Grand Champion” is used by dog fighters to refer to a dog with more than five dog-fighting “victories.” To date, approximately one hundred dogs have been rescued as part of Operation Grand Champion, and either surrendered or forfeited to the government.
The federal Animal Welfare Act makes it a felony punishable by up to five years in prison to knowingly sell, buy, possess, train, transport, deliver, or receive any animal, including dogs, for purposes of having the animal participate in an animal fighting venture. Under federal law, an animal fighting venture means “any event, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, that involves a fight conducted or to be conducted between at least two animals for purposes of sport, wagering, or entertainment.”
This part of Operation Grand Champion was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the Department of Justice, with assistance from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the Moore County Sheriff’s Office.
The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney JoAnna G. McFadden of the Middle District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Erica Pencak of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division. The Humane Society of the United States assisted with the care of the dogs seized by federal law enforcement.
An indictment is an allegation based upon a finding of probable cause by a grand jury. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
If convicted, the defendant faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count. The investigation is ongoing.
Justice Department Sues Guam’s Government for Racial and National Origin Discrimination in Violation of the Fair Housing ActRead the Press Release
The U.S. Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit alleging that the Government of Guam, as well as the Chamorro Land Trust Commission and its Administrative Director, have violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating against non-Chamorros in the enforcement and implementation of Guam’s Chamorro Land Trust Act. “Chamorro” is a term often used to refer to descendants of the indigenous people of Guam.
“The Fair Housing Act prohibits states and territories of the United States from discriminating because of race or national origin in the provision of housing and housing-related benefits and services,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The complaint filed today seeks to ensure that any land program implemented by Guam complies with these principles and does not unlawfully limit the availability of housing opportunities based on a person’s race or national origin.”
Part of the Government of Guam, the Chamorro Land Trust Commission holds and administers approximately 20,000 acres, or 15% of Guam’s total land area. As part of its mission to administer this land, the Commission grants 99-year residential leases for one-acre tracts, at a cost of one dollar per year. Only “native Chamorros,” however, are eligible for these leases. Additionally, the Commission makes numerous housing-related benefits available exclusively to Chamorro lease holders, including below-market-rate loans. Among those harmed by this policy are non-Chamorro spouses of Chamorro beneficiaries. As alleged in the complaint, for example, one African-American man was evicted from the home he and his wife built on land administered by the trust after his wife, who was Chamorro, passed away.
Guam’s approximate demographics, based on Census 2010 data, are: Chamorro 37.3% (plus an additional 6.1% who identify as two or more races/ethnic origins including Chamorro); Filipino 26.3%; Native Hawaiian and non-Chamorro Pacific Islander 12.0%; non-Filipino Asian 5.9%; White 7.1%; and Black or African American 1.0%.
The complaint seeks a court order that would (1) declare that the Chamorro Land Trust Act and its implementing regulations are invalid to the extent that they require or permit any action that would be a discriminatory housing practice under the Fair Housing Act, (2) prohibit the defendants from discriminating on the basis of race and national origin in providing residential land leases and other real estate-related benefits under the Chamorro Land Trust Act, (3) award monetary damages for any persons harmed by the defendants’ discriminatory conduct, and (4) require the defendants to pay civil penalties. Any individuals who have information relevant to this case are encouraged to contact the Civil Rights Division at 1-800-896-7743, Option 8.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the civil rights laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they have been victims of housing discrimination may call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, email the Justice Department at [email protected], or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or through its website at www.hud.gov.
The case is being jointly handled by the Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must still be proven in federal court.
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Crop Production Services Alleging Discrimination Against U.S. WorkersRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it filed a lawsuit against Crop Production Services Inc. (Crop Production), headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, for allegedly discriminating against U.S. workers in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The complaint alleges that in 2016, Crop Production discriminated against at least three United States citizens by refusing to employ them as seasonal technicians in El Campo, Texas, because Crop Production preferred to hire temporary foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. According to the department’s complaint, Crop Production imposed more burdensome requirements on U.S. citizens than it did on H-2A visa workers to discourage U.S. citizens from working at the facility. For instance, the complaint alleges that whereas U.S. citizens had to complete a background check and a drug test before being permitted to start work, H-2A workers were allowed to begin working without completing them and, in some cases, never completed them. The complaint also alleges that Crop Production refused to consider a limited-English proficient U.S. citizen for employment but hired H-2A workers who could not speak English. Ultimately, all of Crop Production’s 15 available seasonal technician jobs in 2016 went to H-2A workers instead of U.S. workers.
Under the INA, it is unlawful for employers to intentionally discriminate against U.S. workers because of their citizenship status or to otherwise favor the employment of temporary foreign workers over available, qualified U.S. workers. In addition, the H-2A visa program requires employers to recruit and hire available, qualified U.S. workers before hiring temporary foreign workers.
“In the spirit of President Trump’s Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, the Department of Justice will not tolerate employers who discriminate against U.S. workers because of a desire to hire temporary foreign visa holders,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “The Justice Department will enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act in order to protect U.S. workers as they are the very backbone of our communities and our economy. Where there is a job available, U.S. workers should have a chance at it before we bring in workers from abroad.”
The United States’ complaint seeks back pay on behalf of the workers, civil penalties, and other remedial relief to correct and prevent discrimination. The workers have also filed their own private suit, and are represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Both suits were filed in the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, a specialized administrative court that Congress created to resolve such claims.
The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation; and intimidation.
This case is part of the Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, an initiative aimed at targeting, investigating, and bringing enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email [email protected]; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to: different documentary requirements based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin; or discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.
El Departamento Presenta una Denuncia contra Crop Production Services Alegando Que Discriminaron A Trabajadores en los EE. UU.Read the Press Release
WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha presentado una denuncia contra Crop Production Services, Inc. (Crop Production), con sede en Loveland, Colorado, por su alegada discriminación contra trabajadores en este país, en contra de la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA, por sus siglas en inglés).
La denuncia alega que en el 2016, Crop Production discriminó al menos a tres ciudadanos estadounidenses al negarse a contratarlos como técnicos estacionales en El Campo, Tejas porque Crop Production prefirió contratar a trabajadores extranjeros temporales bajo el programa de visas H-2A. Según la denuncia del Departamento, Crop Production impuso requisitos más onerosos y exigentes a los ciudadanos estadounidenses a los que impuso a los trabajadores con visas H-2A para desalentar a ciudadanos estadounidenses a trabajar en sus instalaciones. Por ejemplo, la denuncia alega que mientras que los ciudadanos estadounidenses tenían que someterse a una investigación de antecedentes y un ensayo de drogas antes de recibir autorización para trabajar, los trabajadores con visas H-2A pudieron comenzar a trabajar sin completar estos pasos y en algunos casos nunca los completaron. Asimismo, la denuncia alega que Crop Production se negó a considerar a un ciudadano estadounidense con dominio limitado del inglés para un empleo mientras que contrató a trabajadores con visas H-2A que no podían hablar inglés. Al final, de los 15 puestos disponibles en el 2016 para técnicos estacionales, todos fueron adjudicados a trabajadores con visas H-2A en vez de a trabajadores en este país.
Conforme la INA, es ilegal que los empleadores discriminen de manera intencionada a trabajadores en este país por motivos de su estatus de ciudadanía o de otra forma dar preferencia a la hora de contratar a empleados a trabajadores extranjeros temporales en vez de a trabajadores cualificados en este país que están disponibles para trabajar. Además, el programa de visas H‑2A requiere que los empleadores recluten y contraten a trabajadores cualificados y disponibles en este país antes de contratar a trabajadores extranjeros temporales.
«En el espíritu de la orden ejecutiva del Presidente Trump para Buy American and Hire American, el Departamento de Justicia no tolerará a empleadores que discriminen a trabajadores en este país debido a su deseo de contratar a trabajadores extranjeros temporales», declaró el Fiscal General Jeff Sessions. «El Departamento de Justicia hará cumplir la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad para proteger a los trabajadores en este país, ya que representan el pilar de nuestras comunidades y economía. Siempre que haya un trabajo disponible, debemos de darles una oportunidad a los trabajadores en este país antes de comenzar a traer trabajadores de otros países».
La denuncia de los Estados Unidos busca pagos retroactivos en nombre de los trabajadores afectados, sanciones civiles y otras formas de indemnización para corregir y prevenir la discriminación. Asimismo, los trabajadores han presentado su propia denuncia privada y están siendo representados por Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Ambas denuncias se presentaron ante la Oficina del Oficial Principal de Vistas Administrativas, un tribunal administrativo especializado que el Congreso creó para resolver tales casos.
La Sección de Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados (IER, por sus siglas en inglés), que anteriormente se conocía como la Oficina del Consejero Especial para Prácticas Injustas en el Empleo Relacionadas a Inmigración, que pertenece a la División, es responsable de aplicar la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. Entre otras cosas, esta ley prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión; la discriminación en el proceso de verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar; las represalias y la intimidación.
Este caso forma parte de la Iniciativa para la Protección de Trabajadores en los EE. UU., de la División. El objetivo de esta iniciativa es identificar, investigar y denunciar a compañías que discriminan a trabajadores en este país a favor de trabajadores extranjeros con visa.
Para más información sobre protecciones contra la discriminación en el empleo en virtud de las leyes migratorias, llame a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1‑800‑255-7688 (1‑800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); llame a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); matricúlese para un seminario en línea gratuito; mande un correo electrónico a [email protected] o visite la página web de la IER en inglés o español.
Aquellos postulantes o empleados que creen haber sido sometidos a otros requisitos documentales por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen, o a la discriminación por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión deben llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores para pedir ayuda.
Credit Counseling and Financial Education Requirements for Bankruptcy Filers Are Waived Temporarily in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin IslandsRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) today announced a temporary waiver of the federal statutory requirements for credit counseling and personal financial management education for consumer bankruptcy filers in the District of Puerto Rico and the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands, due to the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Under the Bankruptcy Code, individual bankruptcy filers are required to receive credit counseling from an approved agency within 180 days before they file bankruptcy. In addition, in order to receive a bankruptcy discharge, individual bankruptcy filers must complete a course in personal financial management offered by an approved provider.
The Bankruptcy Code permits U.S. Trustees to waive the credit counseling and financial education requirements within a judicial district where approved agencies and providers are not reasonably able to provide adequate services. Acting U.S. Trustee Guy Gebhardt made this determination with respect to the District of Puerto Rico and the District of the Virgin Islands. The waiver applies to bankruptcy cases filed on or after September 28, 2017.
The U.S. Trustee Program is the component of the Department of Justice that promotes integrity and efficiency in the nation’s bankruptcy system by enforcing bankruptcy laws, providing oversight of private trustees, and maintaining operational excellence. The Program has 21 regions and 92 field offices. The Program is responsible for overseeing bankruptcy cases in all jurisdictions except those in Alabama and North Carolina. The Districts of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are located in the Program’s Region 21, which is based in Atlanta.
Tyson Poultry Pleads Guilty to Clean Water Act Violations in Connection with Discharge of Acidic Feed SupplementRead the Press Release
Tyson Poultry Inc. (“Tyson”), pleaded guilty today in federal court in Springfield, Missouri, to two criminal charges of violating the Clean Water Act stemming from discharges at its slaughter and processing facility in Monett, Missouri.
Tyson, the nation’s largest chicken producer, is headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas. Tyson is a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., which owns and operates multiple companies in the food supply and food service industry. The charges to which Tyson pleaded guilty arose out of a spill after the company mixed ingredients in its chicken feed at its feed mill in Aurora, Missouri.
One ingredient in Tyson’s feed was a liquid food supplement called “Alimet,” which has a pH of less than one. According to the plea agreement filed in federal court, in May 2014, the tank used to store Alimet at the Aurora feed mill sprang a leak, and the acidic substance flowed into a secondary containment area. Tyson hired a contractor to remove the Alimet and transport it to Tyson’s Monett plant, where the Alimet was unloaded into the in-house treatment system that was not designed to treat waste with Alimet’s characteristics. Some of the Alimet made it into the City of Monett’s municipal waste water treatment plant, where it killed bacteria used to reduce ammonia in discharges from the treatment plant into Clear Creek, and resulting in the death of approximately 108,000 fish.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Tyson will pay a $2 million criminal fine and serve two years of probation. In addition, Tyson will pay $500,000 to maintain and restore waters in the Monett area, with a focus on Clear Creek and the adjoining waterways. Tyson will also implement environmental compliance programs including: hiring an independent, third-party auditor to examine all Tyson poultry facilities throughout the country to assess their compliance with the Clean Water Act and hazardous waste laws; conducting specialized environmental training at its poultry processing plants, hatcheries, feed mills, rendering plants, and waste water treatment plants; and implementing improved policies and procedures to address the circumstances that gave rise to these violations.
“Our Division is hopeful that the outcome of this case will help deter future violations of the Clean Water Act and keep our water supply and marine life free from pollution,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Today’s agreement will remedy environmental harm caused by the defendant’s actions while also helping to ensure that these kinds of problems do not happen again.”
“Tyson’s admitted criminal conduct caused significant environmental damage, including a large-scale fish kill,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Larson of the Western District of Missouri. “Today’s plea agreement not only holds Tyson accountable for its actions in Missouri, but requires the company to take steps to insure compliance with the Clean Water Act at its poultry facilities throughout the United States.”
“Ensuring agricultural operations dispose of their waste in a lawful way is critical to protecting the health of local communities and clean water,” said Larry Starfield, acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The plea agreement in this case will improve Tyson’s compliance with important clean water and hazardous waste laws and help prevent future violations.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood and Acting U.S. Attorney Larson thanked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division for its work in this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri and the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Norwegian Company Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing on Ocean Shipping Services for Cars and TrucksRead the Press Release
A Norwegian corporation has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $21 million criminal fine for its involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids, the Department of Justice announced today.
According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Höegh Autoliners AS conspired with competitors to suppress and eliminate competition by allocating customers and routes, rigging bids, and fixing prices for the sale of international ocean shipments of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the United States and elsewhere, including the Port of Baltimore. Höegh participated in this conspiracy from as early as January 2001 until at least September 2012.In addition to the fine, Höegh has agreed to be placed on corporate probation for three years to ensure full compliance with the antitrust laws. Höegh has also agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.
“With today’s charge, the United States has brought to justice another participant in a long-running global conspiracy to subvert competition for shipping services,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We expect Höegh to reform its corporate culture and prevent criminal conduct from recurring.”
“Today’s plea announcement is significant and highlights the FBI’s collaboration with our partner agencies as we hold this company accountable for this elaborate antitrust scheme,” said Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the FBI’s Baltimore Division. “The effort by investigators and prosecutors in this case cannot be overstated and will play a part in restoring confidence in the shipping industry. Our job is to protect victims who don’t see these crimes occurring, but who always end up paying the price.”
Höegh is the fifth company to plead guilty in this investigation—bringing the total criminal fines to over $255 million. Four executives have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison terms. An additional seven executives are known to have been indicted, but remain fugitives.
Today’s charge is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the international roll-on, roll-off ocean shipping industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, along with assistance from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility, Special Agent in Charge Washington/Special Investigations Unit. Anyone with information in connection with this investigation is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section at 202-307-6694, visit www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations, or call the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office at 410-265-8080.
Justice Department Requires Divestiture of SGL's U.S. Graphite Electrodes Business in Order for SDK to Proceed with Its Acquisition of SGL's Global Graphite Electrodes BusinessRead the Press Release
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) will be required to divest SGL Carbon SE’s (SGL) entire U.S. graphite electrodes business in order for SDK to proceed with its proposed $264.5 million acquisition of SGL’s global graphite electrodes business, the Department of Justice announced today.
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction. At the same time, the Department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the Department’s competitive concerns.
“The acquisition, as originally proposed, would have eliminated one of the three major suppliers of large ultra-high power graphite electrodes to U.S. electric arc furnace steel mills, leaving these mills with limited choices for this important product,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s settlement will ensure that U.S. electric arc furnace mill operators continue to benefit from robust competition for this critical input in the steelmaking process.”
According to the department’s complaint, SDK and SGL manufacture and sell large ultra-high power graphite electrodes, which are used to generate sufficient heat to melt scrap metal in electric arc furnaces. The complaint alleges that SDK and SGL are two of the three leading suppliers of large ultra-high power graphite electrodes to U.S. electric arc furnace steel mills, and that the two firms together have a combined market share of approximately 56 percent. According to the complaint, the loss of competition between SDK and SGL would likely result in higher prices and lower quality of delivery and service to U.S. electric arc furnace customers.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, SDK must divest SGL’s entire U.S. graphite electrodes business, including its manufacturing facilities in Ozark, Arkansas and Hickman, Kentucky, to Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd., or an alternate acquirer approved by the United States. The department said that the divestiture will remedy the acquisition’s anticompetitive effects by providing the acquirer with the domestic manufacturing presence and robust local service capabilities that U.S. electric arc furnace steel mills prefer.
SDK, a Japanese corporation headquartered in Tokyo, is one of Japan’s leading chemical companies with operations in approximately 14 countries. In 2016, SDK’s global revenues were $5.8 billion, with approximately $85 million derived from its U.S. graphite electrodes business.
SGL, a German corporation headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of carbon-based products with operations in 34 countries. In 2016, SGL’s global revenues were approximately $885 million, with approximately $58.6 million derived from its U.S. graphite electrodes business.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed consent decree, along with the department’s competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement within 60 days of its publication to Maribeth Petrizzi, Chief, Litigation II Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 8700, Washington, D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the court may enter the final judgment upon a finding that it serves the public interest.
Justice Department Obtains $700,000 for Servicemembers to Resolve Allegations that Westlake Services and Wilshire Consumer Capital Conducted Illegal Auto RepossessionsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that Westlake Services LLC and its subsidiary, Wilshire Consumer Capital LLC, have agreed to pay $760,788 to resolve allegations that the companies violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) by repossessing 70 vehicles owned by SCRA-protected servicemembers without first obtaining the required court orders.
Westlake, which does business as Westlake Financial Services, is a Los Angeles-based auto financing company that specializes in purchasing and servicing subprime and near-subprime retail installment sales contracts. Wilshire, which does business as Wilshire Consumer Credit, originates and services vehicle title loans. Both companies target junior enlisted servicemembers for their loans and products. During its investigation, the department found that Westlake and Wilshire had failed to adopt policies and procedures necessary to ensure that their motor vehicle repossessions complied with the SCRA.
“The members of our armed forces should be able to devote their full attention to their duties without having to worry about whether their legal rights will be violated by creditors,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore. “We honor all servicemembers for their sacrifice and service to our nation, and this settlement signals our ongoing commitment to protecting the rights of our men and women in uniform.”
“The women and men who serve in the armed forces protect our country from danger every day,” said Acting United States Attorney Sandra R. Brown of the Central District of California. “Given the enormous sacrifice they make for all of us, we have a responsibility to ensure that their rights are protected. Westlake and Wilshire did not live up to this responsibility. But the settlement we have reached will fix the lending practices that led to violations, and vindicate the rights of the servicemembers affected.”
The agreement requires Westlake and Wilshire to provide $10,000 in compensation to each of the 70 affected servicemembers, plus any lost equity in the vehicle with interest. Westlake and Wilshire also must repair the credit of all affected servicemembers, pay a $60,788 civil penalty to the United States and determine, in the future, whether any vehicle it is planning to repossess is owned by an SCRA-protected servicemember. If so, Westlake and Wilshire will not repossess the vehicle without first obtaining a court order or valid waiver of SCRA rights. The agreement also contains provisions ensuring that all eligible servicemembers will receive the benefit of the
SCRA’s six percent interest rate cap on their auto loans.
The agreement resolves the claims and causes of action asserted in the United States’ Complaint against Westlake and Wilshire filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and the parties will stipulate to the dismissal of the Complaint once Westlake and Wilshire deposit the funds required by the settlement agreement into an escrow account and pay the civil penalty to the United States. Westlake and Wilshire will contact servicemembers to be compensated through this settlement in the upcoming months. They will locate victims and distribute payments at no cost to servicemembers.
This matter came to the department’s attention in 2016, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Servicemember Affairs notified the department that it had received a complaint that Westlake and Wilshire were conducting motor vehicle repossessions in violation of the SCRA.
The SCRA protects servicemembers against certain civil proceedings that could affect their legal rights while they are in military service. It requires a court to review and approve any repossession if the servicemember took out the loan and made a payment before entering military service. The court may delay the repossession or require the lender to refund prior payments before repossessing. The court may also appoint an attorney to represent the servicemember, require the lender to post a bond with the court and issue any other orders it deems necessary to protect the servicemember. By failing to obtain court orders before repossessing motor vehicles owned by protected servicemembers, Westlake and Wilshire prevented servicemembers from obtaining a court’s review of whether their repossessions should be delayed or adjusted to account for their military service.
The department’s enforcement of the SCRA is conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, often in partnership with local United States Attorney’s Offices. Since 2011, the department has obtained over $450 million in monetary relief for servicemembers through its enforcement of the SCRA. The SCRA provides protections for servicemembers in areas such as evictions, rental agreements, security deposits, prepaid rent, civil judicial proceedings, installment contracts, credit card interest rates, mortgage interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, automobile leases, life insurance, health insurance and income tax payments. For more information about the department’s SCRA enforcement, please visit www.servicemembers.gov.
Servicemembers and their dependents who believe that their rights under SCRA have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations may be found at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/locator.php.