District Not Recorded

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. has agreed to pay the U.S. government $1.8 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by improperly charging for labor and other associated costs that were not actually provided on certain National Institutes of Health contracts, the Justice Department announced today. Charles River is a for-profit corporation headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

 

“Contractors are expected to deal fairly with federal agencies when receiving taxpayer funds,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to ensure that contractors spend taxpayer dollars appropriately and that those who do not are held accountable.”

 

Charles River holds contracts with National Institutes of Health (NIH) for services relating to the development, maintenance, and distribution of colonies of animals as well as the provision of laboratory animals to the NIH. Charles River billed to NIH labor and associated costs of employees at its Raleigh, North Carolina and Kingston, New York facilities despite the fact these individuals did not render the services as Charles River had claimed. Charles River disclosed the improper billing to the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

“Companies that do business with the federal government must bill honestly,” said Special Agent in Charge Phillip M. Coyne of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

 

“We expect companies that contract with HHS to provide the services as claimed and paid for by the taxpayers,” said Chief Counsel to the Inspector General, HHS-OIG, Gregory E. Demske. “Charles River’s self-disclosure and resolution of this matter underscores the importance of contractors preventing, detecting, and remediating overcharges of labor costs to HHS. Under our contractor self-disclosure program, OIG is committed to working with HHS contractors that detect fraud issues to review, take any appropriate action, and resolve these matters fairly.”

 

The case was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the HHS-OIG. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Senior leaders from INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), participated in the annual International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) Heads of National Central Bureaus (NCB) conference this week. The gathering brought together 270 police officials from 149 countries. INTERPOL Washington representatives were Acting Director Wayne Salzgaber, Chief of Staff Bernard Graham, and Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Ferrigno. The conference, held March 7-9 at INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon, France, highlighted the need for increased sharing of biometric data, such as fingerprints, DNA and facial recognition, and enhanced use of INTERPOL’s firearms tracing and ballistic data sharing capabilities, according to INTERPOL.

INTERPOL Washington serves as the designated U.S. representative to INTERPOL on behalf of the Attorney General. While it is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), INTERPOL Washington is co-managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

U.S. membership in INTERPOL is authorized by U.S. law. As a condition of membership, the United States maintains a National Central Bureau (NCB) in Washington, D.C., which liaises with INTERPOL’s General Secretariat and the National Central Bureaus of INTERPOL’s 189 other member countries. The United States also details law enforcement officials to serve at INTERPOL Headquarters.

INTERPOL Washington coordinates U.S. law enforcement actions and responses, ensuring that they are consistent with U.S. interests and law, as well as INTERPOL policies, procedures, and regulations. As the official U.S. point of contact in INTERPOL's worldwide, police-to-police communications and criminal intelligence network, INTERPOL Washington operates 24/7/365. It supports more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies in the United States as well as their foreign counterparts seeking assistance in transnational criminal investigations.

INTERPOL Washington criminal investigative data assists U.S. law enforcement officials in bringing many criminals to justice. To date in 2017, two major high profile cases benefited from INTERPOL Washington assistance. For example, INTERPOL Washington partnered with U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to bring down four multi-million dollar international fraud and money laundering schemes perpetrated by a transnational organized crime network. In another case, the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice, wanted for a July 10, 2016, murder in the Dominican Republic, was arrested Thursday, February 23, by U.S. Marshals and Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with the New York/ New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. INTERPOL Washington also provided critical assistance during that investigation. These are only two examples of the contributions INTERPOL Washington makes to domestic and international law enforcement.

​

Photograph courtesy INTERPOL INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock addresses the INTERPOL Heads conference.

​

 

A federal court in Spokane, Washington has found Dr. James Hood, a dentist, and his wife, Karen Hood, in contempt for violating the Court’s previous permanent injunction requiring them to timely file payroll tax returns and pay payroll taxes, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. The Court ordered the Hoods to close their dental care businesses, cease operating as employers, and barred them from opening any new businesses where the Hoods would serve as employers.

 

On March 8, U.S. District Court Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson for the Eastern District of Washington found James Hood and Karen Hood in contempt after they demonstrated a consistent pattern of disregarding their tax obligations by making incomplete employment tax payments, making dishonored payments, and missing deadlines. The Court had previously entered a permanent injunction requiring James and Karen Hood, and their entities, to comply with the federal employment tax laws.

 

According to the United States’ supplemental filing in the case, the Hoods had failed to show full compliance with the tax laws and the Court’s injunction by Jan. 31, as the Court had ordered. The court found that, the Hoods had failed to pay their taxes for the Fourth Quarter 2016 by the end of January 2017. The court also found that the Hoods had attempted to make payroll tax payments that were dishonored due to insufficient funds in their accounts.

 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Hubbert thanked the revenue officer of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Field Collection for investigating the taxpayer’s tax compliance.

 

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of employers that fail to meet their employment tax obligations. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website.

 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today directed federal prosecutors nationwide to engage in a focused effort to investigate, prosecute and deter the most violent offenders. 

This builds on the announcement last week of the creation of the U.S. Department of Justice Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, which is central to the Attorney General’s commitment to combatting illegal immigration and violent crime, such as drug trafficking, gang violence and gun crimes, and to restoring public safety to all of the nation’s communities.

“Turning back our nation’s recent rise in violent crime is a top priority for the Department of Justice, and it requires decisive action from our federal prosecutors,” said Attorney General Sessions.  “I’m urging each of them to continue working closely with their counterparts at all levels, and to use every tool we have to put violent offenders behind bars and keep our citizens safe.”

In a memo to federal prosecutors in the department’s 94 United States Attorney’s Offices, the Attorney General made clear that prosecuting violent criminals is a high priority and prosecutors should work closely with their federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners to target the most violent offenders in each district.  Working together, law enforcement at every level should determine which venue – federal or state – would best get those identified immediately off our streets and punished appropriately for their crimes. 

The memo states when federal prosecution is determined appropriate, federal prosecutors should ensure the individuals driving violent crime in their district are prosecuted using the tools at their disposal, which may include firearms offenses, including possession and straw purchasing offenses; possession of a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime or drug trafficking offense; Hobbs Act robbery; carjacking; violent crime in aid of racketeering; Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; and drug offenses under the Controlled Substances Act, among others. 

The Attorney General recognized that many offices are already employing these strategies and asked that those offices ensure their efforts are achieving the desired results.

Additional guidance and support in executing this priority will be forthcoming.

Memo on Commitment to Targeting Violent Crime

Kiekert AG, an automotive parts manufacturer based in Heiligenhaus, Germany, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $6.1 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to rig bids of side-door latches and latch minimodules installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.  

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Kiekert participated in a conspiracy to eliminate competition by agreeing to allocate sales, rig bids and fix prices for side-door latches and latch minimodules sold to Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere between September 2008 and May 2013.  In addition to Kiekert’s agreement to pay a $6.1 million criminal fine, the manufacturer has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.  The plea agreement is subject to court approval.

“The Antitrust Division has uncovered conspiracies involving more than 50 automotive parts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Automobile manufacturers, and the American consumers who buy their cars, are entitled to prices set by competition, not secret cartels.”

“Americans expect corporations in the United States and overseas to conduct their business honestly.  To do anything less, compromises consumer trust,” said Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios of FBI’s Detroit Division.  “Today’s plea agreement of Kiekert AG, demonstrates the resolve of the FBI and the Department of Justice to protect American consumers from price fixing and bid rigging schemes that ultimately harm the U.S. economy.”

Side-door latches secure car doors to the body.  Latch minimodules include the side-door latch and all related mechanical operating components, including the electronic lock function.  

According to the charges, Kiekert officials participated in meetings and communications with representatives of another major side-door latch producer, during which they agreed to allocate sales, rig bids and fix prices submitted to Ford.  To effectuate those agreements, the conspirators exchanged information on bids and price quotations for submission to Ford. 

Today’s charge is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  Including Kiekert, 48 companies and 65 executives have been charged in the division’s ongoing investigation and have agreed to pay a total of more than $2.9 billion in criminal fines. 
                         
These charges were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.  Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to other products in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at (888) 647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/new case.html or call the FBI’s Detroit Field Office at (313) 965-2323.

Kiekert AG Information

A federal court in Orlando, Florida, has permanently barred Jason Stinson, of Longwood, Florida, from preparing federal tax returns for others and from owning or operating a tax return preparation business, following a six-day bench trial held in 2016, the Justice Department announced today. The civil order, signed by Judge Anne C. Conway of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, also requires Stinson to disgorge to the United States $949,952.47 of funds he received from “improper and fraudulent tax return preparation.”

 

The court determined that Stinson owns a company called “Nation Tax Services” and had stores in four states: Birmingham and Fairfield, Alabama; St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida; Albany and Augusta, Georgia; and Greenville and Raleigh, North Carolina. Stinson’s stores, the court found, targeted “underprivileged, undereducated poor people and earned income credit claims.”

 

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit for working people with low to moderate income. Eligibility depends on factors such as the amount of income, filing status, and the amount of dependents. To illustrate, the court noted that customers with earned income between $13,050 and $17,100 in tax year 2012 could receive the maximum EITC. The court found that Stinson falsified information on his customers’ returns to claim the maximum EITC amount by: “claiming bogus dependents, fabricating unreimbursed employee expenses and charitable contributions, and fabricating business income and expenses.” The court found that in many instances Stinson and his preparers fraudulently lowered a customer’s taxable income by claiming false unreimbursed business expenses in large amounts, at times more than half of what the customer earned in a given year. According to the court’s decision, “it is illogical for an individual making $35,000 a year to spend as much as half of their yearly income, around $16,000, on unreimbursed business expenses.”

 

Stinson’s stores charged customers in excess of $600 to prepare a single tax return, even as much as $999, sometimes without telling the customer, the court determined. Moreover, the court found that Stinson’s practice was to take his fees out of his customer’s refund, rather than charge fees upfront, meaning that “a larger refund was better for the client and better for Stinson.” Based upon the pattern of abusive claims made by Stinson and his preparers, the court ordered Stinson to pay the United States nearly $950,000 in fees he received.

 

“The Tax Division works with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to protect taxpayers from unscrupulous return preparers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Court decisions like this show that those who prepare false tax returns will be stopped and will not profit from their fraudulent conduct.”

 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Hubbert thanks the Tax Division attorneys assigned to the case, Daniel Applegate, Sean Green, Alison Yewdell, Steven Woodliff, Jared Wiesner, and Joshua Levine, and the revenue agents of the IRS—Small Business/Self-Employed Division, who conducted the investigation.

 

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

 

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

 

A senior paramilitary leader and one of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers was sentenced on Friday to serve 198 months in prison for his role leading an international drug trafficking conspiracy responsible for the importation of ton-quantities of cocaine into the United States.   Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Chief of Operations Anthony Williams of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the announcement. 

Hernan Giraldo Serna, a Colombian national, pleaded guilty in 2009 to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine knowing and intending that it would be imported into the United States.  U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton imposed the sentence.

According to admissions in the plea agreement, Serna ascended to a leadership position in 1996 within the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia or AUC), a terrorist and paramilitary organization in Colombia.  In September 2001, the AUC was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department of State.  In May 2003, the AUC was placed on the Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers list by order of the President, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.  In February 2004, Giraldo Serna individually was designated as a Tier II Kingpin by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, subjecting him to severe economic sanctions under the Kingpin Act. 

The statement of facts also established that Giraldo Serna became a senior commander in the AUC by 1996, and his armed force controlled a significant part of northern Colombia.  In connection with his guilty plea, Giraldo Serna admitted that, from the early 1990s through the early 2000s, soldiers operating under his direction controlled large areas in northern Colombia where cocaine was cultivated, produced and distributed. Giraldo Serna also admitted to providing security for drug traffickers in the region under his control, including those individuals responsible for coca cultivation and distribution.  Giraldo Serna also admitted to knowing that multi-ton quantities of cocaine were manufactured and transiting the region under his control and that significant quantities of that cocaine was transported to the United States.  He further admitted his responsibility for the illegal importation of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States. 

“The sentence demonstrates the successful and vigorous partnership we have with our law enforcement colleagues in Colombia.  We have been able to disrupt the flow of drugs coming from the north coast of Colombia, and punish the narco-traffickers responsible,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco.  “This defendant, operating with the resources of an illegal para-military group that controlled drug trafficking in a large portion of northern Colombia, distributed large quantities of cocaine into international commerce, much of which was imported into the United States.  International drug traffickers who believe they can operate with impunity learn the hard way that they cannot, and we will continue to work with our international partners to bring to justice those who knowingly transport cocaine to the United States.”

“DEA agents work every day to attack global criminal networks that use drug trafficking as a means to finance their terrorist activities and we are pleased that this AUC leader will finally face American justice,” said DEA Chief of Operations Williams.  “We will continue to work with our international partners as DEA targets the transnational criminal groups destroying the lives of many people around the world.”    

Today’s sentence does not account for violations of Colombian human rights-related laws allegedly committed by Giraldo Serna, which are being addressed in Colombia through the Justice and Peace process – a legal framework enacted in 2005 to facilitate the demobilization of its paramilitary organizations – and Colombian criminal justice system.     

The case was investigated by DEA’s Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia Country Offices, and the DEA Special Operations Division.  The government of Colombia provided invaluable assistance through the investigation, prosecution, and sentencing of this case, with specific assistance provided by the Judicial Police of the Prosecutor General’s Office in Colombia and the Colombian National Police.  

This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Paul Laymon of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS), with significant assistance provided by the NDDS Judicial Attachés in Bogotá, Colombia; the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs; and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Colombia (Fiscalía), including the Fiscalía’s Transnational Justice program.

Hackensack, NJ - The subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice, wanted for a July 10, 2016, murder in the Dominican Republic, was arrested Thursday, February 23, by U.S. Marshals and Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with the New York/ New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. INTERPOL Washington—the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB)--provided critical assistance during the investigation.

Kelbin Perez De Los Santos was being sought on an international arrest warrant for fatally shooting a man with a shotgun in a restaurant after a verbal altercation. The incident occurred in Los Girasoles near the capital city of Santo Domingo. Perez De Los Santos is thought to have fled the Dominican Republic shortly after the incident. The INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Santo Domingo issued a Red Notice in August 2016 requesting Perez De Los Santos’ arrest.

After receiving information from INTERPOL that Perez De Los Santos could be in the United States, the U.S. Marshals International Investigations Branch determined that the fugitive was likely residing in the Hackensack area, and on Thursday, members of the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, along with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations agents, tracked Perez De Los Santos to an apartment where he was arrested on immigration violations.

De Los Santos is currently being held in the custody of ICE and is facing deportation back to the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. Marshals Service is the primary agency within the federal government responsible for locating and apprehending fugitives who are wanted by foreign countries and who have been identified and located in the United States. Cases are referred to the U.S. Marshals Service through INTERPOL Washington (USNCB), the Department of Justice-Office of International Affairs (DOJ-OIA), and through foreign embassies in the United States.

A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington is co-managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As the designated representative to the International Criminal Police Organization on behalf of the Attorney General, INTERPOL Washington serves as the national point of contact for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies in the United States.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

 

A federal indictment was unsealed today in San Antonio, Texas, charging four individuals for their roles in a cocaine distribution conspiracy, announced the Department of Justice.

Jesus Armando Chavez, 40, and Michelle Chavez, 35, both of Del Rio, Texas; Jose Luis Balderas, 29, of Eagle Pass, Texas; and Javier Hernandez, 31, of San Antonio, are charged in a 14-count indictment unsealed today in the Western District of Texas with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  On March 2, the defendants were arrested and appeared for their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge John W. Primomo in San Antonio.

According to the indictment, between August 2014 and May 2016, the defendants allegedly knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other to possess and distribute narcotics, including cocaine, in the Western District of Texas. 

The defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, if convicted on the charges. 

An indictment is merely an allegation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the Texas Department of Public Safety investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlie Strauss for the United States is prosecuting the case. 

Chavez Balderas Hernandez Indictment

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned indictments separately charging three Queens, New York residents with identity theft-related crimes, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

 

According to the indictments, which were unsealed today, Sharon Coffee-Dean, a former Social Security Administration (SSA) employee, Kishore Jattan and Michael Bratton were each indicted for aggravated identity theft, misusing stolen social security numbers and fraudulent activity in connection with identification documents. Coffee-Dean was also indicted for conspiring to defraud the SSA and Bratton was also indicted for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

 

The indictment against Coffee-Dean alleges that from approximately December 2011 through January 2012, she stole the IDs of 41 people from SSA records, which she then sold to other individuals who used them to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS. If convicted, Coffee-Dean faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy, five years for fraud and related activity in connection with means of identification, 10 years for the misuse of a social security number as an SSA employee and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. She also faces a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

 

The indictment against Jattan alleges that while working as a messenger, from April through June 2012, he stole student IDs from packages he delivered for a University located in New York and sold the stolen IDs to other individuals who used the IDs to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS. If convicted, Jattan faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years for fraud and related activity in connection with means of identification, five years for misuse of a social security number and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. He also faces a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

 

The indictment against Bratton alleges that from January 2011 through June 2012, he purchased stolen IDs, which he provided to a co-conspirator for the purpose of filing fraudulent tax returns with the IRS. If convicted, Bratton faces a maximum of five years for misuse of a social security number and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. He also faces a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged in indictments are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the SSA Office of the Inspector General, New York Field Division, who conducted the investigations, and Trial Attorneys Mark Kotila and Ann M. Cherry of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting these cases.

 

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

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today issued the following statement:

“During the course of the confirmation proceedings on my nomination to be Attorney General, I advised the Senate Judiciary Committee that ‘[i]f a specific matter arose where I believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, I would consult with Department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed.’ 

“During the course of the last several weeks, I have met with the relevant senior career Department officials to discuss whether I should recuse myself from any matters arising from the campaigns for President of the United States. 

“Having concluded those meetings today, I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States. 

“I have taken no actions regarding any such matters, to the extent they exist. 

“This announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation. 

“Consistent with the succession order for the Department of Justice, Acting Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente shall act as and perform the functions of the Attorney General with respect to any matters from which I have recused myself to the extent they exist.” 

A former U.S. Air Force service member pleaded guilty today in connection with a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Jacqueline Crawford, 33, of Gulfport, Mississippi, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of the District of Columbia to one count of conversion of government funds.  As part of her plea agreement, Crawford has agreed to forfeit $45,917.  

According to her plea agreement, in October 2014, Crawford spoke with a friend and former U.S. Air Force service member, who worked at the VA in Washington, D.C., and described her financial difficulties.  In response, her friend suggested that he could send her VA hardship money available to veterans and that all he needed was her bank account information.  Crawford agreed to this arrangement despite knowing that her friend was not obtaining the hardship money through proper channels.  He later asked Crawford to kick back a portion of the money she received to him, which she agreed to do despite knowing that it was wrong.  Between October 2014 and February 2015, Crawford received a total of seven unlawful special payments from the VA totaling $45,917.  Crawford admitted she kicked back $13,100 of the funds she received from her friend via 16 wire transfers, usually through Walmart2Walmart money grams.  

The VA Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section is prosecuting the case. 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced the formation of the U.S. Department of Justice Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety.  

The Task Force was formed pursuant to the President’s Executive Order on a Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety and will be chaired by the Deputy Attorney General.  Task Force members will be drawn from relevant Department components, and will include the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Director of the FBI and the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). 

“The President issued an executive order, and I feel strongly about it,” said Attorney General Sessions.  “On my first day in office, I called in the heads of the four major law enforcement agencies to discuss this plan.  Violent crime is on the rise, and we must always remember that crimes are committed against real people.  The creation of this task force is a critical step toward confronting this crisis vigorously, effectively and immediately.”

The task force is central to the Attorney General’s commitment to combatting illegal immigration and violent crime, such as drug trafficking, gang violence and gun crimes, and to restoring public safety to all of the nation’s communities.

The task force is charged with developing strategies to reduce crime; identifying deficiencies in existing laws and policies that have made them less effective in reducing crime and proposing new legislation and policies to improve public safety and reduce crime; evaluating the availability and adequacy of crime-related data and identifying measures to improve it; and conducting any other relevant studies.  In conducting its work, the task force will consult with federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement, law enforcement organizations and victims’ and community advocacy organizations, among others, to learn about successful local efforts and how they can best be supported at the federal level. 

“For more than a hundred years the women and men of the FBI have worked to address threats to the American people,” said Director James Comey of the FBI.  “I look forward to continuing and building upon the great partnerships with our federal, state, local, and tribal counterparts on this initiative to combat violent crimes, gang activities and drug trafficking – all of which exact a high toll on our country.”

“The safety and well-being of our communities and our citizens is a vital part of our mission,” said Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the DEA.  “I look forward to our continued close work on the task force with our law enforcement partners on these crucial issues.”

“The men and women of the United States Marshals Service stand ready to work with our federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners to remove the underlying criminal element from our communities,” said Acting Director David L. Harlow of USMS. “In 2016, working with our task force partners, the USMS arrested over 106,000 violent fugitives. We look forward to finding innovative methods to further reduce violent crime across our nation.”

“ATF’s top priority is reducing violent crime,” said Acting Director Thomas Brandon of the ATF.  “Across the nation, ATF focuses its resources on arresting and prosecuting violent criminals who use firearms to terrorize communities.  ATF’s Crime Gun Intelligence Centers provide timely, actionable leads to our agents and our partner agencies so they can identify, investigate and apprehend trigger-pullers and those who illegally supply them with firearms.   ATF looks forward to working with Attorney General Sessions and our federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement counterparts to further enhance our violent crime reduction strategies through the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety.”

The owner and CEO of a Greenbelt, Maryland building contracting company was sentenced to 68 months in prison for stealing more than $1.7 million from Local 657 of the Laborers Union of North America (LIUNA) and other related offenses.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Robin Blake of the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Washington, D.C., Regional Office; and District Director Mark Wheeler of the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards Washington, D.C., District Office made the announcement.  

Gary Amoes Cooper, 57, of Kettering, Maryland, the owner and CEO of STS General Contracting, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of the District of Columbia, who also ordered Cooper to pay $1.632 million in restitution to Local 657 and to forfeit $1.734 million of criminally-derived proceeds.

Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that Cooper and his co-defendant, Christopher Andrew Kwegan, conspired with Anthony Wendel Frederick Sr., the former business manager of Local 657 of LIUNA, to convert for personal use $1.7 million in funds stolen from Local 657.   LIUNA’s Local 657, now merged into LIUNA Local 11, represents construction laborers in Washington, D.C., and five adjacent counties.  

According to the evidence at trial, from May 2013 to June 2014, Frederick directed more than $1.7 million in Local 657 funds to STS General Contracting for an unauthorized construction project and other work which STS General Contracting did not intend to perform.  Cooper and Kwegan then made a number of financial payments to Frederick with the funds stolen from Local 657, including a down payment of $225,000 on a home Frederick purchased and directed more than $600,000 to a corporation owned in part by Frederick’s wife. 

Frederick, 51, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to the same offenses and was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.632 million in restitution to Local 657 and to forfeit $1.734 million on Feb. 7.  Kwegan, 58, of Randallstown, Maryland, also previously pleaded guilty to the same offenses and was sentenced on Feb. 8.  Both Frederick and Kwegan were sentenced by Judge Mehta.

The FBI and Department of Labor investigated the case.  Trial Attorneys Vincent J. Falvo and David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case.

A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, late yesterday convicted two chief engineers of the vessel, T/V Green Sky, of falsifying documents in order to conceal illegal discharges of oily bilge waste and obstruction charges, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Beth Drake of the District of South Carolina. Herbert Julian, who served as chief engineer of the vessel from Aug. 3 to Sept. 4, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstruction of justice. Panagiotis Koutoukakis, chief engineer from Feb. 1 to Aug. 3, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts, one for APPS and another for falsifying records.

In addition, it was revealed in court documents, which were unsealed after the verdicts were rendered, that Aegean Shipping Management, S.A., a foreign company with operations in Greece that acted as the Green Sky’s operator, previously pleaded guilty to a violation of the APPS and obstruction of justice.

“This case involved egregious violations of U.S. and international laws that are key to protecting the oceans from pollution, and deliberate efforts to mislead Coast Guard officials about these criminal acts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. “Now these defendants have been held accountable under the law by a jury of their peers. The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute criminal acts that pollute the oceans.”

“With Charleston serving as one of the largest ports on the Eastern seaboard, working vessel pollution cases with the Environmental Crimes Section is an important focus for our office,” said U.S. Attorney Beth Drake, District of South Carolina. “Through criminal charges, we can deter those who would dump oily wastes into the world’s oceans and use false documents to cover it up.”

“The Green Sky case stresses the vital importance of USCG environmental protection missions with regard to pollution from ships,” said Captain Gary L. Tomasulo, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Charleston. “We are extremely proud of our team of marine safety professionals and the Coast Guard Investigative Service which were an integral part of investigating these occurrences and referring them for enforcement action.”

The Green Sky is a large, oceangoing chemical tanker flagged in Liberia. The vessel first set sail in July 2014. The operation of marine vessels, like the T/V Green Sky, generates large quantities of oil-contaminated waste water. This particular vessel had unusual internal leaks that produced greater quantities of oily waste than a normal ship of its age and construction. Oily bilge waste must be removed from the vessel lest it fill up the bottom of the Engine Room and cause damage to equipment and jeopardize the safe handling of the ship. However, the law does not permit an oceangoing vessel to discharge these oily wastes directly into the sea.

The evidence presented to the jury showed that the Green Sky was regularly pumping contaminated and oily water directly overboard. None of these discharges were disclosed as required. The oil record book of the Green Sky was falsified to cover-up illegal overboard discharges of oily wastes from February to August 2015. Methods of falsification included omitting illegal bypass operations, claiming that the oil water separator was used when it had not been, and a series of false entries regarding the levels of the bilge holding tank, which were designed to further the cover-up. While most of these discharges occurred in international waters, evidence at trial revealed that at least two of these discharges were within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States during the ship’s voyage from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Houston, Texas in May 2015.

The evidence presented during the fifteen-day trial demonstrated that the chief engineers covered up illegal overboard discharges that took place through two systems of “magic” hoses and a separate “magic” valve system designed to bypass the ship’s oil water separator. Koutoukakis and Julian falsified the oil record book to hide their illegal discharges. The vessel arrived in Charleston, South Carolina on August 26, 2015, when the false record was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard was tipped off by three whistleblowers who came forward to report the crimes and ask for protection from U.S. authorities.

By January 2016, it was determined that the former chief engineer Koutoukakis likely had information regarding the ongoing investigation into the Green Sky. Koutoukakis was later apprehended in Savannah, Georgia on a material witness warrant. Koutoukakis was subsequently indicted after further investigation revealed his substantial involvement in illegal discharges and records falsification. In addition, Julian was convicted of obstruction related to false statements that he made regarding the ship’s sounding log, which is a document that can be used to check the veracity of the oil record book. Testimony at trial revealed that Julian hid the log prior to the Green Sky’s arrival in Charleston and then lied to the Coast Guard about the vessel having a sounding log.

Prior to the initiation of the trial, on November 22, 2016, the Green Sky’s operator, Aegean Shipping Management, S.A. pleaded guilty to one APPS count for the illegal discharges and one obstruction count based on misrepresentations made by the vessel’s captain to the U.S. Coast Guard during the August 2015 boarding. The corporate vessel operator had been indicted along with the individuals on July 15, 2016. The plea materials were previously sealed to protect the integrity of the jury and the witnesses in the trial against the individual defendants. The unsealed documents revealed that the operating company agreed to pay a financial penalty of $2 million, which includes a criminal fine and a smaller community service component directed toward the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The company will also be sentenced to probation and an environmental compliance plan. Sentencing of the company and defendants Julian and Koutoukakis will take place at a date that will be set by the court. At trial, the second engineer Nikolaos Bounovas was acquitted of all charges against him. The previously convicted Captain, Genaro Anciano, testified at the trial. His sentencing has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Charleston and the Coast Guard Investigative Service. The USCG Marine Safety Lab was critical to the analysis of oil samples taken from the vessel. With the support of Coast Guard Legal District Seven, the case was prosecuted by Christopher L. Hale and Kenneth Nelson of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section and AUSA Matt Austin from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. Richard Udell, also of the Environmental Crimes Section, provided substantial assistance with regard to the corporate plea deal.

Background on MARPOL

A multi-national treaty, the MARPOL Protocol, and implementing U.S. law required the Green Sky to first process the oily bilge waste through a filtration machine, known as an oil-water separator. Before the bilge waste can go overboard, the law requires that any remaining petroleum should be reduced to a concentration of 15 parts per million (ppm) or less. Bilge waste that contains 15ppm or less of petroleum does not produce a sheen and looks like clear water when held up to the light. One of the principal ways that the MARPOL Protocol ensures that international vessels comply with the oil water separator requirement is through the mandate to accurately maintain the vessel’s oil record book. The oil record book is an official ship’s log that records various types of internal transfers and discharges of fuel, oil residue, and oily bilge wastes. Under MARPOL, when a ship comes to a U.S. port, its oil record book is subject to inspection. When the oil record book is falsified, it makes it extremely difficult for port control officials (in the United States, the U.S. Coast Guard) to adequately assess treaty compliance and the safe and environmentally sound operation of the vessel.

 

 

 

A 49-year-old Florida man was arrested in Miramar, Florida, following the return of a 12-count indictment against him by a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida, the Department of Justice announced today.

Claude Shaw aka Mac and Claude Mac, a U.S. citizen residing in Florida, was charged with two counts of mail fraud and 10-counts of wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent lottery scheme tied to Jamaica.

As alleged in the indictment, victims throughout the United States would receive telephone calls in which they were informed that they had won over a million dollars in a lottery and needed to pay fees in advance to claim their winnings. According to the indictment, the victims were instructed on how, and to whom, to send their money. The indictment alleges that the victims were instructed to send their money through wire transfers and the U.S. Postal Service to Shaw and others.

“These charges demonstrate our commitment to combating international lottery fraud, especially efforts to target potentially vulnerable individuals,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Financial schemes like these interfere with Americans’ financial security and will not be tolerated.”

The indictment alleges that Shaw discussed plans to receive victims’ money via text messages, and after receiving money from victims, Shaw would send a portion of the victims’ money to accomplices in Jamaica. As alleged in the indictment, the victims never received any lottery winnings. Five of the 10 wire fraud counts are based on money Shaw is alleged to have wired from the United States to an individual in Jamaica. If convicted of mail fraud or wire fraud, Shaw faces a statutory maximum term of 20 years in prison on each count.

“Predators tied to Jamaican lottery fraud often seek to exploit vulnerable individuals in our society,” said Inspector in Charge Antonio Gomez of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Miami, Florida Division. “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service appreciates the continued partnership with the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, bringing to justice those fraudsters who exploit their victims, including elderly individuals, using the U.S. mail.”

This indictment is part of the Department of Justice’s effort working with federal and other law enforcement to combat fraudulent lottery schemes in Jamaica preying on American citizens.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Readler commended the investigative efforts of the Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Arturo DeCastro of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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

Shaw Indictment

A North Carolina businessman was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for failing to pay over employment taxes, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Sandra Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina.  

According to court documents, Paul Harvey Boone, 54, of Hillsborough, North Carolina, owned and operated Boone Audio Inc. in Burlington, North Carolina.  For most of 2008 through 2011, Boone used company funds for personal expenses while failing to pay over the employment taxes withheld from his employees’ wages.  Boone also failed to file his individual income tax returns and pay personal income taxes for tax years 2008 through 2011.

“Paul Boone’s prison sentence serves as a reminder to employers that willfully failing to comply with employment tax obligations is a crime,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg.  “We are committed to investigating, prosecuting and seeking incarceration of employers who use their employees’ funds to line their own pockets.”

“IRS – Criminal Investigation (CI) realizes the damaging consequences caused by Boone’s failure to pay over employment taxes,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael C. Daniels of IRS-CI.  “It results in the loss of tax revenue to the U.S. government and in the loss of future social security or Medicare benefits for the employees.  Those who fail to do so will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted.”  

In addition to the term of prison imposed, Boone was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $385,610. 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Hairston commended special agents of IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Lauren Castaldi and Nathan Brooks of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anand Ramaswamy of the Middle District of North Carolina, who prosecuted the case.  

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

The Department of Justice and the Department of Education today withdrew guidance for educational institutions, issued in 2015 and 2016, that took the position that the prohibitions in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and implementing regulations against discrimination on the basis of sex require access to sex-segregated facilities on the basis of gender identity rather than biological sex.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the following statement:

“The Department of Justice has a duty to enforce the law. The prior guidance documents did not contain sufficient legal analysis or explain how the interpretation was consistent with the language of Title IX.  The Department of Education and the Department of Justice therefore have withdrawn the guidance.  Congress, state legislatures, and local governments are in a position to adopt appropriate policies or laws addressing this issue.  The Department of Justice remains committed to the proper interpretation and enforcement of Title IX and to its protections for all students, including LGBTQ students, from discrimination, bullying, and harassment.”

A Gulfport, Mississippi businessman was sentenced to 12 months in prison today for failing to file a 2009 individual income tax return, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

 

According to information provided to the court, Samuel Frazier, owned two companies in the Gulfport area: Frazier Fire Systems LLC and EZ Haul Demolition and Construction LLC. In 2011, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) special agents contacted Frazier, because he had not filed a tax return since 1997. Frazier failed to file a 2009 individual income tax return despite earning gross income of $618,253.53, an amount well above the threshold triggering the requirement to file. For tax years 2007 through 2010, Frazier caused a tax loss of $210,589.

 

In addition to the term of prison imposed, Frazier was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $210,589 to the IRS.

 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg commended special agents of IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Nathan Brooks of the Tax Division, who prosecuted this case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi for their assistance.

 

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

Preparer Allegedly Claimed False Earned Income Tax and Education Credits for His Customers

A federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has permanently barred Billy Philippe from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.  In its complaint, the government alleged that Billy Philippe of Broward County, Florida prepared fraudulent tax returns for his customers. The court found that, for purposes of entering an injunction only, Philippe engaged in tax return preparer conduct subject to penalty under the tax laws. Philippe agreed to the civil injunction order entered against him, which requires him to turn over to the United States a list of all persons for whom he prepared federal tax returns since 2012.  The court also authorized the United States to monitor Philippe’s compliance with the terms of the injunction.

The government’s complaint against Philippe, the majority owner of Advantage Tax Center Plus Inc., alleged that he prepared income tax returns for customers that fraudulently overstated the amount of the refunds due by falsely claiming refundable credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and credits for education expenses.  The complaint further alleged that Philippe frequently claimed fraudulently inflated wages or self-employment income in order to maximize the amount of EITC, a customer claimed.

According to the complaint, Philippe prepared at least 899 returns from 2011 and 2015.  The complaint alleged that audits of 44 returns prepared in 2014 and 2015 revealed that Philippe claimed credits his customers were not entitled to take and/or understated their correct tax liability by more than $300,000 in the aggregate.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reminding taxpayers that the 2017 individual income tax return filing season began on Jan. 23, and there is information available on the IRS’s website. Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.  

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

Philippe Permanent Injunction

A Washington, D.C. return preparer pleaded guilty to preparing fraudulent tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

 

According to documents filed with the court, Joann Little, 60, of Suitland, Maryland, worked as a return preparer in Washington D.C., at a tax preparation business formerly known as Instant Tax Service and more recently named Speedy Tax Service. Little prepared federal income tax returns for tax years 2009 through 2014 that sought refunds to which her clients were not entitled by including inflated charitable deductions, fictitious unreimbursed employee expenses and false businesses. Little caused a tax loss of at least $262,714.

 

The court did not set a sentencing date. Little faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg commended special agents of the Internal Revenue Service–Criminal Investigation who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Jason Scheff and Karen Kelly of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

 

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

A Georgia man pleaded guilty today to operating an odometer fraud scheme involving over 100 vehicles, the Department of Justice announced today.  

Paul Robinson, 37, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and odometer tampering.  

“We buy vehicles to help assist us in many aspects of our lives,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “No consumer makes such a significant purchase lightly and we have to be able to trust that a dealer is not selling one car and actually supplying a vastly inferior automobile paired with falsified title documents.  We are committed to prosecuting individuals who break that trust by rolling back odometers and passing off phony title.”

Robinson owned and operated Affordable Auto Body Repair, a repair shop and licensed salvage vehicle dealer located in Chesapeake, Virginia.  Robinson purchased older vehicles, many of which had been involved in accidents, from an automobile auction specializing in vehicles from insurance companies.  On over 100 of these vehicles, Robinson altered or replaced the odometer to reflect a false, lower mileage.  He then obtained fraudulent Virginia motor vehicle titles with mileage readings matching the false, lower mileage on the new odometer, and passed these falsified title documents on to the auto purchasers.  

Robinson obtained many of these fraudulent titles from a former DMV Select clerk named Steven Bazemore.  In many instances, Robinson asked Bazemore to return the documents used to procure the fraudulent titles rather than retaining the documents in the DMV file system.  This made it more difficult for the DMV to detect the fraud.  Bazemore previously pleaded guilty relating to his role in the conspiracy.  On Sept. 22, 2016, Bazemore was sentenced to one year of home confinement and ordered to pay restitution to the ultimate purchasers of the vehicles.  Robinson’s sentencing is scheduled for June 8.
    
This case was investigated by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation (NHTSA) and the Virginia DMV.  NHTSA estimates that odometer fraud in the United States results in consumer losses of more than $1 billion annually and has established a special hotline to handle odometer fraud complaints.  Individuals having information relating to odometer tampering should call (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-4761.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys John W. Burke and Jacqueline Blaesi-Freed of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Salsbury of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

More information on odometer fraud is available at: http://www.nhtsa.gov/Odometer-Fraud.  Tips on detecting and avoiding odometer fraud are available at: www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/811284.pdf.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.  

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that Pharmacia LLC (formerly known as Monsanto), Solutia Inc., ExxonMobil Oil Corp. and Cerro Flow Products have agreed, as responsible parties, to clean up six former waste disposal sites that comprise the Sauget Area 1 Superfund Site in Sauget, St. Clair County, Illinois. 

The settlement requires the companies to spend an estimated $14.8 million to conduct removal of areas of groundwater contamination source material at four former disposal areas, cap sites to prevent further movement of contaminants, continued operation and maintenance of a containment cell created to hold hazardous wastes, and installation of a monitoring well network.  EPA will oversee the work to be conducted by these four responsible parties, which will implement the cleanup remedy required by the agency’s 2013 Record of Decision for Sauget Area 1.  In addition, the companies will reimburse EPA $475,000 incurred in its past cleanup actions at the site.  The companies will also reimburse EPA for costs incurred in overseeing the work required by the settlement, except for the first $2 million.

Situated in the American Bottoms region across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, Sauget Area 1 has been heavily industrialized since the early 1900s.  Sauget Area 1 consists of three closed landfills, two former surface impoundments, two borrow pits filled with debris, and Dead Creek, all of which received industrial wastes from as early as 1931 and until 1988.  EPA and Illinois have been investigating the Sauget Area 1 Sites since the early-1980s.  In the fall of 1995, EPA completed a CERCLA Removal Action at Site G.  On January 21, 1999, EPA issued an Administrative Order on Consent to Solutia and Pharmacia requiring them to conduct an Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis for the Sauget Area 1 contaminated source areas and Dead Creek, and to conduct a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for Sauget Area 1 groundwater.  Also in 1999, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) requiring Monsanto Company and Solutia Inc., to replace culverts on Dead Creek to eliminate potential risks associated with flooding and associated adverse ecological impacts.  In 2001, EPA modified the UAO to address contamination in Dead Creek, including requirements for sediment removal above risk levels, disposal of the dredged sediments in an adjacent dedicated RCRA Subtitle C-compliant containment cell, and measures to protect Dead Creek from recontamination from adjacent landfills.  In all, pursuant to the UAO the responsible parties dredged and disposed of in the cell approximately 64,000 cubic yards of sediments.

Pursuant to these earlier orders and agreements, responsible parties have completed or paid for removal actions within Sauget Area 1, conducted investigations of remaining contamination and reimbursed nearly all of the United States’ past costs related thereto.  Taking into account the settlement being lodged today and the work previously performed at the site, over $50 million is being devoted to cleaning up the contamination at this site.

The settlement was lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. It can be viewed at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

For more information on the site, please visit:  https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0500753

Raymond A. Barnes, 46, and Christopher A. Brown, 35, the former jail superintendent and assistant jail superintendent, respectively, of the Muskogee County Jail (MCJ), were resentenced in federal court today on multiple counts of civil rights offenses related to allegations of excessive force on inmates at MCJ on or between August 2009 and May 2011.  Brown was also convicted of making material false statements to the FBI.  Barnes was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and Brown was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

On Feb. 25, 2014, a federal jury convicted both Barnes and Brown of conspiring to violate the rights of inmates housed at MCJ by assaulting inmates themselves or by directing other jailers employed by MCJ to do so.  Specifically, the defendants did or caused the following to be done: unjustifiably strike, assault, harm and physically punish inmates at MCJ who were restrained, compliant and not posing a physical threat; organize “meet and greets,” whereby jailers would scare, punish and harm incoming inmates from neighboring counties by throwing and slamming the handcuffed inmates to the ground upon their arrival at MCJ; threaten to fire MCJ employees if they reported abusive behavior directly to the sheriff or to outside law enforcement authorities; require and encourage MCJ jailers to write incident reports that falsely justified uses of force and contained misleading or inaccurate accounts of what had occurred when force was used; and perpetuate an environment within MCJ that allowed unlawful beatings and assaults against inmates to continue indefinitely and without consequence.

Both defendants were also found guilty of violating the rights of an inmate identified as J.R. when both defendants slammed and threw J.R. head-first to the ground while he was handcuffed.  Barnes was additionally convicted of violating the rights of a second inmate, G.T., for similar conduct.  Brown was acquitted of violating the rights of G.T.

In addition, Brown was convicted of one count of making material false statements to the FBI.  Brown falsely claimed that, during meet and greets, the incoming inmate was ordered out of the transport vehicle and then “gently placed” on the ground.  But in fact, Brown knew at the time of his statement to the FBI that during these meet and greets the MCJ jailers routinely threw and slammed inmates to the ground even though the inmates were restrained and posed no physical threat.

“Corrections officers who use excessive force against inmates in their custody are violating the Constitution and their sworn oaths to uphold it,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division.  “This department will vigorously enforce the civil rights laws of our nation.”

In 2015, Defendants Barnes and Brown were sentenced to twelve months and six months in prison, respectively. The Defendants appealed their convictions. The United States appealed the sentences as both procedurally and substantively unreasonable. In June 2016, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions but overturned the sentences on the grounds of procedural unreasonableness. The court held that the trial judge had not adequately explained why the sentences were so much less severe than the sentences of 70 to 87 months called for under the Sentencing Guidelines.

This case was investigated by the Muskogee Resident Agency of the Oklahoma City Division of the FBI and prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Fara Gold and Trial Attorney Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Division.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat down with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this afternoon in the Attorney General’s conference room to discuss what might be done to combat the shootings and murders in that city and bring back proactive community policing. 

The Attorney General also had a detailed and productive conversation with Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly about steps the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security will take to secure our borders to end the flood of illegal immigration, drugs and human trafficking pouring into our country and undermining our national security.

In addition, the Attorney General also enjoyed meeting with Judge Neil Gorsuch and congratulated him on his nomination.
 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today met with department heads and their staff in the Civil Rights and Civil Divisions, discussing ongoing cases and how each division can strengthen relationships with the department's law enforcement and regulatory partners and steps the department can take to combat the rise in violent crime. 

As part of his meeting with the Civil Division, he received a briefing on the status of litigation surrounding president’s executive order protecting our nation from foreign terrorists entering the United States.

Hot Springs, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Alicia Bucy, age 60, of Hot Springs and Peaches Marie Herrick, age 40, of Kaufman, Texas, were sentenced today on one count each of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. Bucy was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release and Herrick was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release. The Honorable Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearings in the United States District Court in Hot Springs.

According to court records, on October 20, 2015, members of the 18th Judicial East Drug Task Force executed a search warrant at the residence of Alicia Bucy where two prior controlled purchases of methamphetamine had been made. That residence is located in Royal, Arkansas, which is in the Western District of Arkansas. During the search, officers located a U.S. Postal Express parcel in the washing machine in the laundry room containing 170 grams of a substance which field tested positive for methamphetamine. The package label revealed that it was sent from Nacogdoches, Texas on October 15, 2015 and that it had arrived at Bucy’s residence on October 19, 2015. Through further investigation, it was learned that Peaches Herrick, who lived in Nacogdoches, had sent the parcel containing the drugs. Bucy waived her Miranda rights and gave a verbal statement to investigators stating that she had been distributing meth in the Hot Springs area for several years. She stated that she knew meth was in the mail parcel and that she had hid it in the washing machine. An examination of one of her cell phones revealed a text message which had been sent to co-conspirator, Peaches Herrick, discussing the shipment of the methamphetamine.

Bucy and Herrick were both named in a federal indictment in December, 2015. Bucy pleaded guilty in March, 2016 and Herrick pleaded guilty in February, 2016.

“We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to keep drugs out of our communities,” said Special Agent in Charge of HSI New Orleans Raymond R. Parmer, Jr. “Disrupting the flow of illegal drugs coming into our country continues to be one of our top priorities.”

Parmer is the special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office of HSI with responsibility for Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Hot Springs Police Department, and the 18th Judicial Drug Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney David Harris prosecuted the case for the United States.

 

* * * E N D * * *

 

Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov

On his first official day serving as the 84th Attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions arrived at the Justice Department and met with top department leadership right after greeting department employees in person and through a video message.

Following a visit on Capitol Hill with Luther Strange, who was appointed by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley to fill Attorney General Sessions’ vacancy in the Senate, Attorney General Sessions received his first Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act briefing from national security staff. 

The Attorney General later met with the senior officials from the Justice Department’s law enforcement components, including FBI Director James Comey, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Thomas Brandon, U.S. Marshals Service Acting Director David Harlow and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg.  They had a vigorous discussion about how to combat the rise in violent crime and prevent drug-related deaths.  They expressed their shared commitment to strengthen law enforcement and save lives. 

Attorney General Sessions also called top leadership of the National Urban League and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to build positive relationships and outline his priorities for the Department of Justice, including his commitment to maintain sound policies for civil rights and voting rights.

In addition, Attorney General had important calls with leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs and Major City Sheriffs to reaffirm his commitment to strengthening relationships with law enforcement communities.

Tonight, the Attorney General will give brief remarks at a closed press High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area awards banquet in Washington, D.C.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Justice Department in its civil antitrust lawsuit to block health insurer Anthem, Inc.’s acquisition of Cigna Corp., the Justice Department announced. 

“Today’s decision is a victory for American consumers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “This merger would have stifled competition, harming consumers by increasing health insurance prices and slowing innovation aimed at lowering the costs of healthcare.  In concluding that Anthem’s acquisition of Cigna would violate federal antitrust laws, the court has protected consumers and the competition on which they rely.  I thank the hardworking staff of the Antitrust Division and our state partners, who conducted a thorough investigation and offered a clear and compelling presentation across a two-phase trial and never wavered in their commitment to protect competition in these markets.”

Today’s decision follows a trial that ran from Nov. 21, 2016, to Jan. 3, 2017.  In July 2016, the Justice Department along with 11 states and the District of Columbia sued to stop the merger. The complaint alleged that a combined Anthem and Cigna would substantially lessen competition in the health insurance industry in dozens of markets across the country. 

The district court’s opinion is temporarily under seal to allow the parties to review for confidentiality.

The United States was joined in the lawsuit by the District of Columbia and the States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee and Virginia.

A New Orleans-area woman prepares fraudulent tax returns for her customers, and the government seeks a court order barring her from preparing tax returns for others, according to a new civil suit filed by the United States, the Justice Department announced.

 

According to the government’s civil complaint, filed in federal court in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tiga Bryant fraudulently reduced her customers’ tax liabilities by improperly claiming bogus deductions and false fuel tax credits. In particular, the complaint alleges that Bryant, who does business as “Denson’s Fast Tax Services,” claims false employee business expense deductions that improperly reduce her customers’ taxable income. In one example, the complaint alleges that Bryant falsely claimed that one of her customers incurred employee business expenses totaling more than the wages this customer earned.

 

In addition to claiming fraudulent deductions for her customers, Bryant also claims bogus fuel tax credits, according to the complaint. Fraud involving the fuel tax credit was one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016. The fuel tax credit is generally limited to off-highway business use, and consequently, not available to most taxpayers. The complaint alleges several examples in which Bryant improperly claimed a fuel tax credit for her customers who, the United States alleges, were clearly not entitled to the fuel tax credit because they did not purchase fuel for off-highway business use. In one example, Bryant reported that a customer used 2,500 gallons of fuel for off-highway business use and yet the customer did not even own a vehicle, according to the complaint.

 

The complaint alleges that the IRS audited 197 returns prepared by Bryant and determined that Bryant claimed credits and/or deductions her customers were not entitled to take on 96 percent (189) of these returns and understated their tax liabilities by more than $800,000.

 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reminding taxpayers that the 2017 individual income tax return filing season began on Jan. 23, and there is information available on the IRS’s website. Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

 

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

 

 

First Individual to Plead Guilty in Ongoing Investigation

Matsuo Electric Co. Limited and one of its executives, Satoshi Okubo, have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for electrolytic capacitors sold to customers in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.

In charges filed today in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, Matsuo and Okubo were charged in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition of electrolytic capacitors by fixing prices and rigging bids.  The charges allege that Matsuo participated in the conspiracy from at least as early as November 2001 until about January 2014 and that Okubo participated in the conspiracy from at least as early as August 2002 until about January 2014.   

In addition to pleading guilty, Matsuo has agreed to pay a criminal fine and Okubo has agreed to serve a prison term of one year and a day.  Both have agreed to cooperate with the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation.  The plea agreements are subject to court approval.

“The simultaneous acceptance of responsibility by a company and the executive who supervised its involvement in the cartel demonstrates in a concrete way their future commitment to lawful conduct and an improved business culture,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “The division continues to investigate this industry and will take the steps necessary to ensure that the executives involved in the conspiracy are held accountable, and that the companies that participated undertake changes to instill a culture of compliance and remediation.”

Electrolytic capacitors store and regulate electrical current in a variety of electronic products, including computers, televisions, car engine and airbag systems, home appliances and office equipment.

Today’s charges result from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the electrolytic capacitors industry.  The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office.  With today’s charges, six companies and 10 individuals have now been charged in the division’s ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging, or other anticompetitive conduct related to the capacitors industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html, or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.

Matsuo Information

Okubo Information

A former business manager of the Local 657 of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for stealing more than $1.7 million from Local 657.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Robin Blake of the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Washington, D.C., Regional Office and District Director Mark Wheeler of the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards Washington, D.C., District Office made the announcement.  

Anthony Wendel Frederick Sr., 50, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of the District of Columbia, who also ordered Frederick to pay $1,632,000 in restitution to Local 657 and to forfeit $1,734,000 of criminally-derived proceeds.

LIUNA’s Local 657, now merged into LIUNA Local 11, is a labor organization that represents construction laborers in Washington, D.C., and five adjacent counties.  Frederick served as the business manager for Local 657 for approximately 10 years until June 2014.

According to Frederick’s plea and co-conspirator’s trial evidence, from approximately May 2013 through June 2014, Frederick directed more than $1.7 million in Local 657 funds to STS General Contracting of Greenbelt, Maryland, without the knowledge or authorization of the Local 657 Executive Board or LIUNA International officials.  Frederick also admitted that principals of STS General Contracting made a number of financial payments to Frederick with the funds stolen from Local 657, including a down payment of $225,000 on a home Frederick purchased and directed more than $600,000 to a corporation owned in part by Frederick’s wife. 

The FBI and the Department of Labor investigated the case.  Trial Attorneys Vincent J. Falvo and David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section prosecuted the case.

A federal jury convicted Thomas Joyce for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in Contra Costa County, California, the Department of Justice announced today. 

After a week-long trial before honorable Chief Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton in Oakland, California, the jury convicted Joyce of one count of conspiring to rig bids at foreclosure auctions between about June 2008 and January 2011.  Joyce was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California on Dec. 3, 2014.  

The evidence at trial showed that Joyce conspired with others to rig bids to obtain properties sold at foreclosure auctions in Contra Costa County.  The conspirators negotiated payoffs for agreeing not to compete and then held second, private auctions known as “rounds” to determine the amounts of the payoffs for the individuals who had participated in the bid suppression.

Including Joyce’s conviction, 64 individuals have either pleaded guilty or been convicted after trial of criminal charges as a result of the department’s ongoing antitrust investigations into bid rigging at public foreclosure auctions in Northern California.  Indictments are pending against several other real estate investors who participated in the conspiracy.

This conviction is the latest development in the division’s ongoing investigation into bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in California’s San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties.  The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office.

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

The Justice Department filed a proposed consent decree today to resolve a complaint that the city of Philadelphia discriminated against an employee with a disability when it terminated the employee rather than reassign him to a vacant position for which he was qualified, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

According to the department’s complaint, the employee, who worked for the city as a sanitation worker, was terminated from his position after he had a heart attack and his doctor placed him under a 20-pound lifting restriction, which prevented him from continuing as a sanitation worker.  Although the employee made several requests for reassignment and the city had numerous vacant positions, the city failed to consider the employee for reassignment to a different position for which he was qualified.  Instead, the city terminated the employee because of his disability.    

The proposed consent decree, which is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, requires the city’s streets department to revise its policies to ensure that reassignment is considered as a reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities, train relevant employees on the ADA and report to the Justice Department on implementation of the decree.  The city will also offer to reinstate and reassign the employee to an open position for which he is qualified and will pay the employee a total of $90,000 for back pay, accrued interest and compensatory damages.  This matter was based on a referral from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Philadelphia Area Office, which completed the initial investigation of the facts. 

“Firing an employee because of a disability in these circumstances constitutes discrimination and violates the ADA,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “Just because an employee’s disability prevents them from working in one position does not disqualify them from working successfully in a different position.  We commend the city of Philadelphia for agreeing to revise its policies and offering to reinstate the former employee.”  

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.

City of Philadelphia Consent Decree

FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the investiture of 12 new immigration judges. Chief Immigration Judge MaryBeth Keller presided over the investiture during a ceremony held Feb. 3, 2017, in the ceremonial courtroom of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, in Washington, D.C.

After a thorough application process, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Victoria L. Argumedo, Steven D. Caley, Ila C. Deiss, Delia I. Gonzalez, Deborah K. Goodwin, Stephanie E. Gorman, Richard A. Jamadar, Julie Nelson, Emmett D. Soper, Jem C. Sponzo, Arwen Ann Swink, and Veronica S. Villegas to their new positions.

“On Jan. 8, 2017, we welcomed these 12 appointees to our growing immigration judge corps,” said Keller. “With this investment, EOIR has for the first time in its history exceeded 300 immigration judges. The agency recognizes that we must continue hiring immigration judges in order to address the pending caseload.”

Biographical information follows.

Victoria L. Argumedo, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Victoria L. Argumedo to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Argumedo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995 from the University of Vermont and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from the Golden Gate University School of Law. From 2012 to January 2017, she was in private practice at Argumedo Garzon Law Group, in San Francisco. From 2010 through 2012, she was in private practice at Surowitz & Argumedo, in San Francisco. From 2002 through 2010, she was in private practice at the Law Office of Victoria L. Argumedo, in San Francisco. From 2001 through 2002, she was an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Walter R. Pineda, in Redwood City, Calif. From May 2001 to September 2001, she served as a contract attorney for the Law Office of Enrique Ramirez, in San Francisco. From February 2001 to May 2001, she served as a contract attorney for Minami, Lew & Tamaki. Judge Argumedo is a member of the State Bar of California.

Steven D. Caley, Immigration Judge, Aurora Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Steven D. Caley to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Caley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977 from Hanover College and a Juris Doctor in 1980 from the New York University School of Law. From 2012 to January 2017, he served as a senior attorney for GreenLaw, in Atlanta. From 2000 through 2012, he was a partner and senior associate for Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco, in Atlanta. From 2005 through 2006, and previously from 1996 through 1999, he served part-time as a special assistant administrative law judge for the Office of State Administrative Hearings, in Atlanta. From 1998 through 2000, he served as regional director for Legal Aid Services of Oregon, in Portland, Ore. From 1990 through 1998, he served as director of litigation for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Inc., in Atlanta. From 1980 through 1990, he served in various capacities for the Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, in Dotham, Ala., including as managing attorney, senior staff attorney, and staff attorney. From 2003 through 2007, he served on the faculty of the Georgia State University College of Law as an adjunct professor. Judge Caley is a member of the Alabama State Bar, Florida Bar, State Bar of Georgia, and Oregon State Bar.

Ila C. Deiss, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Ila C. Deiss to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Deiss earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1991 from the University of California at Davis, a Master of Public Administration in 1996 from the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the City University of New York School of Law. From 2005 to January 2017, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, Department of Justice (DOJ), in San Francisco. From 2003 through 2005, she served as a staff attorney for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 2001 through 2002, she served as a senior court counsel for the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau. From April 2001 to August 2001, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Richard M. Berman, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. From 1999 through 2001, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Staff Attorney’s Office, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Deiss is a member of the Connecticut and New York state bars.

Delia I. Gonzalez, Immigration Judge, Harlingen Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Delia I. Gonzalez to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Gonzalez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993 from the University of Houston and a Juris Doctor in 2001 from the Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law. From 2006 through 2016, she served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2001 through 2006, she served as a trial attorney for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Gonzalez is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Deborah K. Goodwin, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Deborah K. Goodwin to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Goodwin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986 from Wilson College and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. From 2015 to January 2017, she served as an associate legal advisor for the District Court Litigation Division, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Washington, D.C. From 2007 through 2015, she served as an associate counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS, in San Francisco. From 2002 through 2007, she served as an assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS, in San Francisco. Judge Goodwin is a member of the Florida Bar.

Stephanie E. Gorman, Immigration Judge, Houston Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Stephanie E. Gorman to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Gorman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1996 from California State University Sacramento, a Juris Doctor in 2002 from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and a Master of Laws degree in 2005 from the University of San Diego School of Law. From 2014 to January 2017, she served as an attorney and legal instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga., for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2008 through 2014, she served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DHS. From 2009 through 2012, she also served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, Department of Justice (DOJ), in Orlando, Fla. From 2007 through 2008, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable M. James Lorenz, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, in San Diego. From March 2007 to September 2007, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Roger T. Benitez, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, in San Diego. From 2006 through 2007, she served as an assistant state attorney for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, in Sarasota, Fla. From 2003 through 2006, she served in various capacities on the faculty of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, including as visiting assistant professor of law and senior legal writing instructor and adjunct professor. From 2002 through 2004, she served as an associate attorney for the Law Office of Matthew P. Rocco, in Carlsbad, Ca. Judge Gorman is a member of the State Bar of California and the Florida Bar.

Richard A. Jamadar, Immigration Judge, Houston Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Richard A. Jamadar to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Jamadar earned a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1987 from the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law and a Juris Doctor in 1996 from the Washington University School of Law. From 2004 to January 2017, he served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Orlando, Fla. During this time, from 2011 through 2013, he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, Department of Justice, in Orlando, Fla. From 2003 through 2004, he served as a senior attorney for the Department of Children and Families, Tenth Judicial Circuit, in Bartow, Fla. From 1999 through 2002, he served as an assistant state attorney for the State Attorney’s Office, Ninth Judicial Circuit, in Orlando, Fla. From 1996 through 1998, he served as an associate attorney for Polatsek and Scalfani, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Judge Jamadar is a member of the Florida Bar.

Julie Nelson, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Julie Nelson to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Nelson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003 from Biola University and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from California Western School of Law. From December 2014 to January 2017, and previously from 2009 through May 2014, she served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Eloy, Az. From June 2014 to November 2014, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Steven P. Logan, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. From 2008 through 2009, she served as an attorney advisor for the Los Angeles Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), DOJ. From 2007 through 2008, she served as a judicial law clerk for the San Diego Immigration Court, EOIR, DOJ, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. From 2007 through 2009, she served on the faculty of Biola University as an adjunct professor. Judge Nelson is a member of State Bar of California.

Emmett D. Soper, Immigration Judge, Arlington Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Emmett D. Soper to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Soper earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 from Carleton College and a Juris Doctor in 2005 from the University of Oregon School of Law. From 2012 to January 2017, he served as an associate general counsel for the Office of the General Counsel, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), Department of Justice (DOJ), in Falls Church, Va. From 2010 through 2012, he served as an attorney advisor for the Office of Legal Policy, DOJ, in Washington, D.C. From 2006 through 2010, he served as an attorney advisor for the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, EOIR, DOJ, in Falls Church, Va. From 2005 through 2006, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Buffalo Immigration Court, EOIR, DOJ. Judge Soper is a member of the Oregon State Bar.

Jem C. Sponzo, Immigration Judge, New York City Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jem C. Sponzo to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Sponzo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003 from Hamilton College and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from the University of Connecticut School of Law. From 2007 to January 2017, she served as a trial attorney for the Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation, Department of Justice (DOJ), in Washington, D.C. From January 2015 to July 2015, she also served as a clearance counsel for the Office of Presidential Personnel, White House, Executive Office of the President of the United States. From 2006 through 2007, she served as a judicial law clerk for the New York City Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, DOJ, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Sponzo is a member of the New York State Bar.

Arwen Ann Swink, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Arwen Ann Swink to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Swink earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002 from California State University San Marcos and a Juris Doctor in 2006 from the University of California Hastings College Of Law. Prior to this post, she served as a staff attorney in the motions unit of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, beginning in 2010. From 2006 through 2010, she served as an associate attorney for the Law Office of Robert B. Jobe, in San Francisco. Judge Swink is a member of the State Bar of California.

Veronica S. Villegas, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Veronica S. Villegas to begin hearing cases in February 2017. Judge Villegas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 from California State University Fullerton and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the Loyola Law School. From 2012 to January 2017, and previously from 2004 through 2005, she was in private practice at the Law Office of Veronica S. Villegas, in West Covina, Calif. From 2005 through 2012, she was a partner at Hill, Piibe & Villegas, in West Covina, Calif. From 2003 through 2004, she served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 1999 through 2003, she served as an assistant district counsel for the former Office of the District Counsel, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Villegas is a member of the State Bar of California.

A federal judge sentenced a Long Island, New York sales representative to prison for fraudulently selling vending machine businesses, the Justice Department announced today.

 

Richard R. Goldberg, 44, of Holbrook, New York, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $546,487.77 in restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrack of the Eastern District of New York. Goldberg was found guilty after a six-week trial in 2015 of wire fraud and conspiracy. He is one of 24 defendants who have been convicted of fraud in connection with Multivend LLC d/b/a/ Vendstar, which was based in Deer Park, New York.

 

“The defendant enticed people to pay $10,000 or more for a business that he promised would be prosperous, when he knew it was likely to fail,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “That is a serious and reprehensible crime. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting consumers by prosecuting such frauds.”

 

Vendstar sold vending machine businesses in which it promised to provide vending machines, candy, locations, and everything else buyers would need to succeed. The company closed in July 2010. advertised in newspapers and on the Internet and sold the businesses to victims nationwide. But ’s sales representatives – with the knowledge and approval of Vendstar’s managers – misrepresented the business opportunity’s likely profits, the amount of money that ’s prior customers were earning, how quickly customers were likely to recover their investment, the quality of locations that were available for the vending machines, and the level of location assistance that customers would receive from locating companies recommended by Vendstar. Vendstar referred customers to locating companies that did not find profitable locations and regularly changed their names to stay ahead of constant complaints. During the last five years it was open, made more than $60 million in sales. Buyers received the vending machines, but little else, and most of them lost most or all of their investment.

 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Readler commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for its thorough investigation. The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Jasperse and Assistant Director Alan Phelps of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. During the last 10 years, approximately 170 individuals have been convicted of fraudulently selling business opportunities in cases prosecuted by the Consumer Protection Branch.

 

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

 

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership, doing business as Levy Restaurants, a national chain of sports arena restaurants.  The settlement resolves the department’s investigation of a charge filed by a work-authorized immigrant against Levy’s Barclay Center restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, alleging discrimination in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). 

The department concluded, based on its investigation that Levy discriminated against two lawful permanent residents at its Barclay Center restaurant by improperly reverifying their employment eligibility because of their immigration status.  The department also determined that Levy improperly required them to present specific types of documents to re-establish their employment eligibility and suspended the charging party when he was unable to present such a document.  The antidiscrimination provision of the INA prohibits employers from subjecting employees to unnecessary documentary demands based on the employee’s citizenship, immigration status or national origin.  

Levy cooperated with the department throughout the investigation, quickly reinstated the charging party, and restored his lost wages and leave benefits.  Under the settlement, Levy must pay a civil penalty to the United States, undergo department-provided training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring the rights of lawful U.S. workers to be free from discriminatory barriers based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division.  “We commend Levy for working with the Civil Rights Division to implement the corrective action resolving this matter.”

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, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; 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, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.

Levy Settlement Agreement

Executive Agrees to Serve 14 Months in a U.S. Prison

An executive of an automotive parts company pleaded guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation and for attempting to obstruct justice, the Department of Justice announced.

Futoshi Higashida, formerly the president of a U.S. joint venture of an automotive body sealing products supplier based in Hiroshima, Japan, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan to a two-count indictment charging him with conspiring to obstruct justice and attempting to obstruct justice.  As a part of the plea agreement, Higashida agreed to serve 14 months in prison, pay a $7,500 criminal fine and was sentenced accordingly today.

“The Antitrust Division takes just as seriously pursuing individuals in the automotive parts industry who attempt to hide the facts as it does the subversion of the competitive process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “We will continue to pursue the truth and to protect American consumers.”

On Sept. 21, 2016, a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment against Higashida and another executive, who remains under indictment.  According to the indictment, the defendants, along with their co-conspirators, conspired from at least as early as June 2008 until at least September 2012, to delete emails and electronic records and to destroy documents referring to communications with competitors, in contemplation of a federal investigation.  During the charged conspiracy, Higashida was employed by an automotive body sealing products supplier in Japan and later in Novi, Michigan, as president of that company’s U.S. joint venture with another company.  In addition, according to the indictment, on Sept. 25, 2012, intending to obstruct an official proceeding, Higashida instructed another individual to ensure that no phone numbers or call records remained on his cellular telephone and that no data remained on his computer that would reflect competitor communications.  

Today’s guilty plea is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  A total of 65 individuals and 47 companies have been charged in the Antitrust Division’s investigations into the automotive parts industry.  This case was brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Louisville Field Office, Covington Resident Agency, with the assistance of the FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Eastern District of Kentucky.  

Anyone with information about anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or contact the FBI’s Louisville Field Office at 502-263-6000.

A Lauderhill, Florida tax return preparation business, and several of its corporate officers, prepare false tax returns for their customers, according to a new civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department today. The suit, filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, asks the court to bar Aleluya Universal Accounting Services Inc. (Aleluya) and its officers Frantz Petit-Dos, Luczor Fertilien, and David Joseph from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The government also requests a court order requiring the business and these officers to disgorge the gross receipts they obtained from preparing federal tax returns that make, among other things, false claims.

 

The complaint alleges that the defendants prepare tax returns that unlawfully understate income tax liabilities and overstate refunds by fabricating and/or exaggerating deductions and tax credits their clients are not eligible to take. For example, the defendants claimed Fuel Tax Credits for customers who did not qualify for this credit, according to the complaint. In particular, Joseph falsely advised one customer that she was eligible for the Fuel Tax Credit because she was self-employed and drove herself to work, according to the complaint. Similarly, Fertilien told the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that he advised anyone with receipts for gas used in their vehicles could claim the Fuel Tax Credit, according to the complaint.

 

The government alleges in its complaint that Petit-Dos’s, Fertilien’s, and Joseph’s misconduct predates the creation of Aleluya. Prior to Joseph forming Aleluya in June 2013, Petit-Dos and Fertilien owned a tax return preparation business called Imperial Taxation that was located at the same Lauderhill location as Aleluya, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that Petit-Dos, Fertilien, and Joseph (a return preparer at Imperial Taxation) prepared false tax returns and committed other violations of the Internal Revenue Code while at Imperial Taxation. Altogether, the complaint alleges that the loss to the U. S. Treasury from the defendants’ activities may be in the millions of dollars.

 

The IRS is reminding taxpayers that the 2017 individual income tax return filing season began on Jan. 23, 2017, and there is information available on the IRS’s website. Return preparer fraud was one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

 

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

 

A former senior executive of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, was indicted for his alleged role in an over $400 million scheme to defraud.  The indictment alleges that the scheme to defraud victimized the U.S. government, the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs, and prospective 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.

John Holland, 60, of Dallas, was charged in an indictment filed on Jan. 24 in the Southern District of Florida with one count of mail fraud, one count of health care fraud and two counts of major fraud against the United States.  Holland made an initial appearance today, Feb. 1, at 2:00 p.m. EST before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres of the Southern District of Florida.  

According to the indictment, Holland 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.  The indictment alleges that from approximately 2000 through 2013, Holland engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States, and the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs, by causing the payment of bribes and kickbacks in return for the referral of patients to North Fulton Medical Center Inc. and other Tenet hospitals in the Southern States Region, including Atlanta Medical Center Inc., Spalding Regional Medical Center Inc. and Hilton Head Hospital.  From approximately 2007 through 2013, Tenet maintained and operated an affiliated billing center located in Boca Raton, Florida, that assisted in processing, for payment, Medicaid billings for these hospitals.  Holland took affirmative steps to conceal the scheme including by circumventing internal accounting controls and falsifying Tenet’s books, records and reports.  These kickbacks and bribes helped Tenet bill the Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid Programs over $400 million, and Tenet obtained more than $149 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds based on the resulting patient referrals, the indictment alleges.  

According to the allegations, to effectuate the scheme, Holland, among other things, 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 located in Miami Lakes, Florida.  During the duration of the CIA from 2007 through 2011, Tenet received over $10 billion in payments from federal health care programs – monies that Tenet would not have received had the company been excluded from participation in federal health care programs, the indictment alleges.

“These charges underscore our continued commitment to holding both individuals and corporations accountable for their fraudulent conduct,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco.  “We will follow the evidence where it takes us, including to the corporate executive ranks.”

“Medicaid patients have the right to seek healthcare without fearing that care is tainted by bribes and illegal kickbacks,” said Special Agent in Charge for FBI’s Atlanta Division LeValley.  “Not only did patients suffer because of these alleged actions, but this kind of alleged abuse threatens to drive up the cost of healthcare for everyone.  The FBI is committed to ensuring that federal laws related to the healthcare industry are enforced, and this case is an example of that commitment.”

“Health care companies and their executives must bill taxpayer-funded health programs honestly,” Special Agent in Charge Jackson of the HHS Office of Inspector General.  “Working with our law enforcement partners, our office will continue to pursue those who attempt to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, as alleged in this indictment.”

On Oct. 19, 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 the AKS 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 defendant is 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 Reponse Team are conducting the investigation.  Deputy Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer, Assistant Chiefs Robert A. Zink and Sally B. Molloy and Trial Attorney Antonio M. Pozos 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.

          ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced the United States of America, on behalf of Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, settled the lawsuit Ballard v. Mabus, CV13-00024 (D. Guam). The Plaintiff claimed that the Navy created a hostile work environment because of sexual harassment, age and race discrimination, and retaliated against him for accusing a co-worker, who had worked at the facility for many decades, of sexual harassment and another co-worker of age and race discrimination. The Navy’s internal investigation found that the allegations against the co- workers were false and that no sexual harassment occurred. The Navy also determined that Plaintiff’s substandard work performance warranted termination of his employment during the probationary period. Plaintiff worked for the Navy for a total of approximately four months.

 

           After a Summary Judgment hearing before the District Court, Plaintiff’s claim of a hostile work environment based on sexual harassment and age and race discrimination was dismissed with prejudice. Because of the short time period between Plaintiff’s allegations against his co-workers and his dismissal by the Navy, the issue of possible retaliation remained to be resolved by a trial. Recognizing that trial would require the United States to bring in witnesses who are now serving around the world, the United States entered into a settlement agreement on January 28, 2017, to resolve the one remaining retaliation claim. Settlement negotiations were assisted by Magistrate Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan, Jr., at the U.S. District Court. The settlement resolves all claims by the Plaintiff.

   

                The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mikel Schwab.

The Department of Justice has reached an agreement with the St. James Parish School District in Louisiana that upon completion will end court supervision of the district’s schools.  The consent order, approved yesterday by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, addresses all remaining issues in the school desegregation case, and when fully implemented will lead to the closing of that case.  

The consent order, negotiated with the school district and private plaintiffs, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, puts the district on a path to full unitary status within three years provided it:

• Implements a new student assignment plan that desegregates its three nearly all-black elementary schools to the extent practicable, by revising feeder patterns and creating specialized academic programs that will attract a diverse student body; 
• Revises the district’s code of conduct to ensure fairness and consistency in the handling of subjective disciplinary offenses that do not threaten safety, and provides district staff with additional tools to address student misbehavior in nondiscriminatory ways; 
• Takes reasonable steps to recruit a diverse pool of applicants for faculty and staff vacancies that arise in the course of implementing the new student assignment plan; and 
• Incorporates into its student handbook a statement prohibiting discrimination in extracurricular activities and encouraging participation by students of all races.    

The consent order declares that the district has already met its desegregation obligations in the area of transportation.  The court will retain jurisdiction over the consent order during its implementation, and the Justice Department will monitor the district’s compliance.  

“We are pleased to have worked hand-in-hand with the schools to ensure equal and fair treatment for the students of the St. James Parish School District,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division.  “We look forward to working with the district and private plaintiffs to implement the consent order and bring this case to a successful close.”

Promoting school desegregation and enforcing Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt. 

St. James Parish Consent Order

Dana J. Boente, who was appointed this evening to serve as acting Attorney General, tonight issued the following guidance to the men and women of the department:

 

On January 30, 2017, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates issued a memorandum barring Department of Justice Attorney’s from presenting arguments in defense of the President’s January 27, 2017, Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” At approximately 9:00 p.m., I was asked by the President to serve in the capacity of Acting Attorney General. After having dedicated the last thirty-three years of my life to this Department, I am humbled and incredibly honored to serve as Acting Attorney General. Based upon the Office of Legal Counsel’s analysis, which found the Executive Order both lawful on its face and properly drafted, I hereby rescind former Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the Department of Justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our President.

 

Prior to this appointment, Boente had been serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia since his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 15, 2015. Boente was appointed by the Attorney General in December 2012 to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held until September 2013. Boente began his career with the Justice Department in 1984 with the Tax Division, and in January 2001 he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Fraud Unit of the Eastern District of Virginia.

 

From 2005 to 2007, Boente served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division. Following his service with the Tax Division, he returned to the Eastern District of Virginia when he was selected as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney. He served as acting U.S. Attorney for that office from October 2008 through September 2009 and from Sept. 23, 2013 until his Senate confirmation.

 

In January 2017, the State of Nebraska joined the small but growing number of U.S. states participating in a process called “federation.” Through federation, INTERPOL Washington provides U.S. law enforcement agencies the information technology support to enable queries in both domestic and INTERPOL criminal databases with a single real-time search transaction. Currently, most state law enforcement officers run inquiries through the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) database. The NCIC catalogs information that officers enter on sex offenders, immigration violators, suspected gang members, people with outstanding warrants and individuals reported missing, for example. Police use the system to locate fugitives, identify missing people, and determine if a subject is driving a stolen car or is wanted elsewhere.

However, between 80 and 90 percent of INTERPOL data, including information on INTERPOL notices, wanted persons, stolen and lost travel documents, and stolen motor vehicles, does not meet the criteria for inclusion in NCIC databases. To capture the INTERPOL data, officers must run a separate query, lengthening the time before an officer determines whether a subject poses a specific threat. Federation solves this problem by connecting the databases, allowing law enforcement a complete view of a subject’s criminal domestic and international profile. Federation reduces the time officers spend running background checks, enhancing officer safety and efficiency.

 

Photograph courtesy of the National Criminal Information Center A police officer uses a vehicle-mounted mobile platform.

Nebraska’s adoption of the program brings the number of participating states to 13, plus Washington, D.C. Federated searches are processed through the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets). These combined searches can be conducted from both fixed and mobile platforms, including vehicle-mounted and hand-held devices. Depending upon an individual state’s existing information technology structure, there is minimal to no charge to participate in federation.

A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington is co-managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As the designated representative to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) on behalf of the Attorney General, INTERPOL Washington serves as the national point of contact for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies in the United States.

 

Following a week-long trial, a federal jury in Puerto Rico convicted four individuals for participating in bid rigging and fraud conspiracies at an auction for public school bus transportation services in Puerto Rico’s Caguas municipality, the Department of Justice announced.

Gavino Rivera Herrera, Luciano Vega Martínez, Alfonso Gonzalez Nevarez and René Garay Rodríguez were found guilty today in the U.S. District Court of the District of Puerto Rico, in San Juan, for conspiring to rig bids and allocate the market for public school bus transportation contracts in the municipality of Caguas from approximately August 2013 until May 2015.  Each individual was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and four counts of mail fraud for defrauding the municipality of Caguas to fraudulently obtain contracts for school bus transportation services.  Sentencing is set for May 30, 2017.

“These defendants enriched themselves at the expense of Puerto Rico schools and have been held accountable by a jury of their peers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “The division will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that school districts and other consumers benefit from competitive markets.”  

“These convictions should serve as a reminder that Federal law enforcement agencies intend to vigorously prosecute those who manipulate government bidding processes to enrich themselves illegally,” said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico.  “Federal law enforcement agencies will continue their ongoing efforts to investigate and prosecute these crimes, in order to promote and protect free and fair competition in the marketplace.”

“The defendants’ actions in depriving the citizens of Caguas of the right to choose what is best for the transportation of their schoolchildren, while also putting the defendants’ own financial interests above those of equally deserving Puerto Rican business owners, were particularly harmful during these difficult economic times.” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas A. Leff of the FBI’s San Juan Division.  “The FBI is grateful for its partnership with the Antitrust Division and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General for their endless dedication to protecting the rights of all businesses, large and small, to compete in a fair marketplace.”

“Today's action demonstrated that these business owners willfully and intentionally sought to enrich themselves at the expense of students and taxpayers.  That is unacceptable,” said Special Agent in Charge Yessyka Santana of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General’s Southeastern Regional Office.  “The Office of Inspector General will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue anyone who games the system for their own selfish purpose and protect these vital funds from this type of calculated plunder.”

According to evidence presented at trial, the four school bus company owners and other co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by agreeing during meetings and communications to allocate contracts for transportation routes awarded by the municipality of Caguas.  Trial evidence showed that the conspirators submitted fraudulent certifications and received award letters by certified mail in connection with their conspiracy to defraud the Municipality of Caguas.

The defendants were convicted of bid rigging and market allocation in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals.  The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.  They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and four counts of mail fraud.  Each count of mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.   

Today’s conviction arose from a federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in Puerto Rico’s school bus transportation services industry.  This investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section, the District of Puerto Rico U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI’s Puerto Rico Field Office and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.  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/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Puerto Rico Field Office at 787-754-6000.

Today a federal court in Montana unsealed an order authorizing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to serve a John Doe summons on Michael Behr of Bozeman, Montana, seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold offshore accounts established by Sovereign Management & Legal LTD (SML), a Panamanian entity. Specifically, the IRS is seeking records of U.S. taxpayers who, during the years 2005 to 2016, had been issued a “Sovereign Gold Card” debit card that could be used to access the funds in those accounts in such a manner as to evade their obligations under internal revenue laws. The IRS uses John Doe summonses to obtain information about possible violations of internal revenue laws by individuals whose identities are unknown.

 

U.S. taxpayers seeking to hide their offshore assets often utilize the services of offshore trusts and corporate service providers that open bank accounts, create corporations and other entities, and serve as nominee officers. In its petition seeking the issuance of the John Doe summons, the United States alleges that SML advertises various “packages” to allow taxpayers to hide their assets offshore. These packages include corporations owned by other entities (to include fake charitable foundations), all held in the name of nominee officers provided by SML. SML then opens bank accounts for these entities and provides debit cards in the name of the nominee to the taxpayer. By using such cards, taxpayers seek to access their offshore funds without revealing their identities. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris found that there is a reasonable basis for believing that U.S. taxpayers may be using the Sovereign Gold Card to violate federal tax laws.

 

“The Department of Justice and the IRS are committed to stopping the use of foreign bank accounts to evade U.S. tax laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “This John Doe summons is yet another example of how we are using all available tools to identify, investigate and hold accountable those who cheat our nation’s tax system by hiding money offshore, as well as those individuals and entities facilitating U.S. taxpayers engaged in this conduct. The time to come forward and come into compliance is running short, and those who continue to violate U.S. tax and reporting laws will pay a heavy price.”

 

“In seeking this John Doe summons, the IRS wants to ensure that certain pre-paid payment card users are meeting their responsibilities to properly pay their taxes,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “We are taking this step as part of our longstanding efforts against the use of secret offshore accounts. This action will help ensure that pre-paid cards aren’t being inappropriately used to repatriate hidden income and avoid taxes.”

 

This case is part of an ongoing effort to stop U.S. taxpayers from using offshore financial accounts as a way to evade federal tax laws. The Justice Department previously obtained a similar order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, authorizing issuance of eight separate John Doe summonses on bank and other entities for information related to SML and its customers in the United States. The evidence submitted in this request to issue a John Doe summons was built in part on information provided in response to the earlier summons.

 

Federal tax law requires U.S. taxpayers to pay taxes on all income earned worldwide. U.S. taxpayers must also report foreign financial accounts if the total value of the accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. A deliberate failure to report a foreign account can result in a penalty of up to 50 percent of the amount in the account at the time of the violation. U.S. taxpayers are reminded that the IRS currently has in place an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program where U.S. taxpayers can come forward and disclose their offshore accounts and income. For more details, please go to the IRS’s website: www.irs.gov/uac/2012-Offshore-Voluntary-Disclosure-Program or https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/options-available-for-u-s-taxpayers-with-undisclosed-foreign-financial-assets.

 

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

 

Two associates of the Wildboys street gang in South Carolina have pleaded guilty to attempted murder in aid of racketeering for their roles in gang-related shootings.  

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge C.J. Hyman of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Charlotte, North Carolina Field Division; Solicitor Duffie Stone of the 14th Judicial Circuit; Solicitor David Pascoe of the First Circuit; Sheriff R.A. Strickland of the Colleton County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office; Chief Wade Marvin of the Walterboro, South Carolina Police Department; Sheriff Al Cannon of the Charleston County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff L. C. Knight of the Dorchester County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office; Captain Jon Rogers of the Summerville, South Carolina Police Department; Director Jerry Adger of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services; and Chief Mark Keel of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division made the announcement.  

Joshua Manigault, aka J-Rizzle and Rizzle Back, 30, and Damien Robinson, aka Sacked Up, 20, of Green Pond, South Carolina, pleaded guilty today to attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity.  Sentencing will be set before U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel of South Carolina.

According to admissions made in connection with the pleas, Manigault and Robinson were associates in the Wildboys, a violent criminal street gang based in South Carolina, with members operating in various South Carolina cities, including Summerville and Walterboro.  Manigault and Robinson admitted that Wildboys members and associates have committed a wide range of racketeering activity, including assault with dangerous weapons, murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking.

Further, as part of their plea agreements, Manigault and Robinson admitted their involvement in a drive-by shooting in Walterboro on April 7, 2015.  Robinson drove past a residence where members of the rival Dooley Hill gang were believed to reside while Manigault and another associate of the Wildboys fired multiple shots.  One individual inside the home was hit by the gunfire and sustained serious bodily injury.

Manigault and Robinson were charged in an indictment with attempted murder in aid of racketeering and firearms offenses on Feb. 9, 2016.  

Separately, also on Feb. 9, 2016, nine members and associates of the Cowboys gang were charged in an indictment with racketeering conspiracy, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and firearms offenses.  The indictment further alleges that, for a period of time, the Cowboys were aligned with the Wildboys.  To date, multiple members and associates of the Cowboys have pleaded guilty to charges in the indictment, including racketeering conspiracy and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.

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

ATF, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, the Walterboro Police Department, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, the Summerville Police Department and the First Circuit Solicitor’s Office are investigating the cases.  The Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section is prosecuting the cases in partnership with the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.  

Caused Tax Loss of More Than $250,000

A former Queens, New York return preparer pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. 

“As we enter filing season, today’s plea should remind tax return preparers across the country that there are significant consequences for willfully preparing and filing false income tax returns,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg.  “Preparers who seek to attract business and increase their profits by stealing from the U.S. Treasury through the filing of false returns will be investigated and prosecuted.” 
   
According to documents filed with the court, from in or about 2004 through 2014, Vanya Thompson, 39, ran a tax return preparation business, which operated under a number of names, including Lyn Services, Ricardo Multi-Service and Katie’s Multi-Service.  To generate larger refunds for her clients, Thompson falsified items on their returns such as charitable deductions and business income, expenses, and losses, causing a tax loss of more than $250,000.  

Sentencing is scheduled for June 2.  Thompson faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.  Thompson also agreed to an order prohibiting her from preparing tax returns on behalf of others.  

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Brittney Campbell and Jason Scheff of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case. 

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

Merger Would Harm Seniors Relying on Medicare Advantage and Low-Income Families and Individuals Obtaining Insurance on Public Exchanges

Judge John D. Bates of the District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision today that found in favor of the Justice Department in its civil antitrust lawsuit to block health insurer Aetna Inc.’s acquisition of rival insurer Humana Inc. 

“Today’s decision is a victory for American consumers – especially seniors and working families and individuals,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder, who is currently heading the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Competition spurs health insurers to offer higher quality and more affordable health insurance to seniors who choose Medicare Advantage plans and to low-income families and individuals who purchase insurance from public exchanges.  This merger would have stifled competition and led to higher prices and lower quality health insurance.  Aetna attempted to buy a formidable rival, Humana, instead of competing independently to win customers.  Millions of consumers have benefited from competition between Aetna and Humana, and will continue to benefit because of today’s decision to block this merger.

“In concluding that Aetna’s acquisition of Humana would violate federal antitrust laws, the court has protected consumers and the competition on which they rely.  I thank the hardworking staff of the Antitrust Division and our state partners who conducted a thorough investigation and offered a compelling trial presentation with determination and a deep commitment to preserving and protecting competition. 

“The court’s decision will save customers and taxpayers up to $500 million per year.  The Justice Department and our state partners brought this case because substantial evidence showed that direct competition between Aetna and Humana led the companies to offer more generous benefits at lower prices.”

Today’s decision follows a 13-day trial in December 2016.  In July 2016, the Justice Department along with eight states and the District of Columbia sued to stop the merger.  The complaint alleged that a combined Aetna and Humana would substantially reduce competition for the sale of Medicare Advantage – a form of Medicare coverage provided by private insurers –and health insurance to individuals through the public exchanges. 

In blocking the transaction, the court ruled that the proposed merger is likely to substantially lessen competition in the sale of individual Medicare Advantage plans in 364 counties.  The court ruled that the sale of Medicare Advantage is a relevant antitrust product market, meaning that competition among Medicare Advantage providers is protected by the antitrust laws.  In addition, the court rejected Aetna and Humana’s claim that their proposal to divest 290,000 Medicare Advantage customers to Molina Healthcare, a health insurer, would prevent the competitive harm that the merger would produce.  The court further found that Aetna withdrew from the individual public exchanges in three states to evade judicial scrutiny of the proposed merger.  The court concluded that the proposed merger would have caused a substantial lessening of competition in three counties in Florida.  

The United States was joined in the lawsuit by the District of Columbia and the States of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Aetna-Humana Memorandum Opinion

Aetna-Humana Order

The owner of a St. Louis, Missouri tax return preparation business was sentenced to 27 months in prison Friday following his conviction on two counts of tax evasion, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

 

According to court records, Semere Tsehaye, 39, was the owner and operator of at least 20 Instant Tax Service (ITS) franchise locations operating in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri from 2005 to 2011. ITS was a brand name of ITS Financial LLC, a nationwide tax preparation business headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. Tsehaye owned and operated his ITS franchise locations using two entities named A&S Tax Service LLC (A&S) and ERI Enterprises LLC (ERI).

 

“As the owner and operator of numerous tax return preparation businesses, Semere Tsehaye was clearly aware of his obligation to accurately report his income and expenses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and yet ignored his responsibilities in an effort to cheat the system,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg. “Tsehaye’s sentence makes clear that those who seek to evade paying their fair share will face severe consequences for their criminal conduct.”

 

“Mr. Tsehaye’s attempt to evade tax by hiding income and filing false returns was a theft from the American public,” said Special Agent in Charge Karl Stiften of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), St. Louis Field Office. “Tax evasion of this magnitude with this degree of dishonesty and deceit deserves to be punished and Mr. Tsehaye will now pay the price for his crimes.”

 

Court records show that during the years 2010 and 2011, Tsehaye generated fraudulent financial summaries that understated the gross receipts generated by A&S and ERI and provided them to his tax return preparer. Tsehaye’s tax return preparer used these financial summaries to prepare Tsehaye’s individual income tax returns, which Tsehaye then filed with the IRS. These tax returns were false in that they underreported A&S and ERI’s gross receipts by a total of approximately $547,895 in 2010 and $1.03 million in 2011, and resulted in Tsehaye evading a total of approximately $581,264 in tax due and owing.

 

On Oct. 4, Tsehaye was convicted of two counts of tax evasion by a federal jury sitting in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to the term of prison imposed, Tsehaye was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $$298,178 in restitution to the IRS.

 

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg commended special agents of IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation, and Senior Litigation Counsel Corey Smith and Trial Attorney Mark McDonald of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri for their substantial assistance.

 

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