District Not Recorded

The Department of Justice announced that a former California licensed attorney pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, for his role in a multi-million dollar fraudulent mortgage modification scheme. 

Ronald Rodis, 51, of Irvine, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter for the Central District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. 

“At the height of the mortgage crisis, this defendant and his co-conspirators preyed on desperate homeowners with a series of lies and false promises,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “We will continue to prosecute individuals who target vulnerable victims for profit.”

“This defendant posed as an accomplished attorney who could provide quality legal services – and hope – to struggling homeowners,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker of the Central District of California. “But the promises were bogus. Rodis Law Group made few efforts to assist homeowners, who paid thousands of dollars in last-ditch attempts to keep their homes, many of which entered foreclosure.”

Rodis admitted that, between October 2008 and June 2009, he participated in a scheme with Bryan D’Antonio, Charles Wayne Farris, and others to induce homeowners to pay between $3,500 and $5,500 for the services of the Rodis Law Group (RLG).  Rodis and his co-conspirators made numerous misrepresentations regarding the RLG’s ability to negotiate loan modifications from the homeowners’ mortgage lenders. Rodis recorded radio advertisements encouraging struggling homeowners to call RLG.  In the radio ads, Rodis falsely claimed that RLG consisted of “a team of experienced attorneys” who were “highly skilled in negotiating lower interest rates and even lowering your principal balance.”  In fact, RLG was a telemarketing operation that never had a team of experienced attorneys.  During much of the scheme, Rodis was the only attorney at RLG.

When homeowners called RLG, telemarketers made further misrepresentations to convince the homeowners to hire RLG.  Telemarketers stated that RLG had been in business for 11 years when in fact it had only opened in October 2008.  They falsely stated that RLG routinely obtained positive results for homeowners, including lower monthly payments, reductions in principal balance and lower interest rates.  In fact, positive results were rarely achieved for any RLG clients.  Telemarketers also falsely reiterated that homeowners would have a team of attorneys and real estate professionals assigned to their case.      

“It is an unfortunate truth that people often take advantage of a crisis for personal gain,” said Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.  “The Rodis Law Group was among the worst type of scammers, trying to take advantage of homeowners already experiencing profund heartache in the face of potential foreclosure.  The FBI will not tolerate this kind of criminal behavior.  I truly hope that when the next financial crisis arises, members of the public take a moment to look into claims that sound too good to be true, even if those claims are made by attorneys, before would-be clients become victims.”

Rodis’s co-defendants, Bryan D’Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris, are each charged with 10 felony counts – nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.  Each of these counts carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.  In addition, D’Antonio is charged with 13 counts of criminal contempt for violating a 2001 federal court order, which permanently banned D’Antonio from participating in future telemarketing operations.  Criminal contempt of court has no statutory maximum penalty.  D’Antonio and Farris are scheduled for trial beginning Sept. 20.

This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Burke of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally of the Central District of California.

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 Central District of California, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha realizado un acuerdo con la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky (en inglés) para resolver su revisión del suministro de servicios de apoyo lingüístico a usuarios del sistema judicial con conocimientos limitados del inglés [Limited English Proficient (LEP)].  

El Departamento comenzó a trabajar con la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky después de recibir una queja que alegaba discriminación por motivos de nacionalidad de origen al amparo el Título VI de la ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, después de que un juez estatal dejara de brindar servicios de interpretación a partes LEP. El Título VI exige que los beneficiarios de asistencia financiera federal, tales como los tribunales, brinden servicios idiomáticos competentes a personas LEP en todos los procesos y trámites judiciales.

Durante la revisión realizada por el Departamento, la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky ha fortalecido su programación de acceso lingüístico. Dicha iniciativa incluye la creación e implementación de un sistema de quejas relacionadas con los servicios lingüísticos, a ser traducido a una decena de idiomas que no sean el inglés, la capacitación del personal judicial en cuanto a la importancia de proveer servicios lingüísticos adecuados y el desarrollo sistemas que mejoren la eficiencia y calidad de los servicios de interpretación y las traducciones.

Como condición de la resolución, la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky se ha comprometido a una fase de monitoreo de 12 meses de duración, durante la cual proveerá actualizaciones trimestrales al Departamento acerca de cualquier novedad asociada con la provisión de servicios lingüísticos, así como cualquier queja nueva que alegue que se dejaron de brindar servicios de apoyo lingüístico adecuados.

“Felicito a la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky por comprometerse a asegurar que todas las personas, sin importar el idioma que hablen, puedan tener acceso integral y justo a servicios y procesos judiciales,” señaló la Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Adjunta Principal Vanita Gupta, Jefa de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia.  “Nos complacerá trabajar en conjunto para continuar con esta labor esencial y garantizar el acceso igualitario a la justicia para todos.”

Estuvo a cargo del caso el Abogado Dylan Nicole de Kervor de la Sección de Coordinación y Cumplimiento Federal [Federal Coordination and Compliance (FCS)] de la División de Derechos Civiles.

La queja fue resuelta como parte de la iniciativa judicial de la FCS para garantizar que los tribunales estatales cumplan con las exigencias de acceso lingüístico del Título VI. No se le debe negar la justicia a ninguna persona LEP porque el tribunal deje de proveer servicios lingüísticos.  El equipo judicial de la FCS (en inglés) provee orientación sobre políticas y apoyo técnico a sistemas judiciales estatales e implementa acciones de aplicación de la ley en todo el país.

Para más información sobre la FCS y el Título VI, visite www.justice.gov/crt/fcs (en inglés). Para recursos adicionales relacionados con las personas LEP, visite www.lep.gov/index.htm (en inglés). 

FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the investiture of 15 immigration judges. Acting Chief Immigration Judge Michael C. McGoings presided over the investiture during a ceremony held June 17, 2016, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.

After a thorough application process, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Nathan N. Aina, John B. Carle, Barbara J. Cigarroa, John G. Crews II, John P. Ellington, Justin W. Howard, Alison R. Kane, James M. Left, Clay N. Martin, Donald C. O’Hare, Jeannette L. Park, Ana L. Partida, Georgina M. Picos, Jayme Salinardi, and Sandra J. Santos-Garcia to their new positions.

“We are pleased to welcome these 15 appointees to the immigration judge corps,” said McGoings. “Their arrival brings our immigration judge corps to 273 adjudicators, our highest level to date.”

Biographical information follows.

Nathan N. Aina, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Nathan N. Aina to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Aina earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1997, and a Master of Public Administration and a Juris Doctor in 2001, all from Brigham Young University. From 2002 to May 2016, Judge Aina served as an assistant chief counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Aina is a member of the Utah State Bar.

John B. Carle, Immigration Judge, Philadelphia Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John B. Carle to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Carle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. From 2007 to May 2016, Judge Carle served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2007, Judge Carle served as an assistant district attorney for the City of Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. From 1995 through 2000, Judge Carle served as an assistant district attorney for the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, in Buffalo, N.Y. From 1993 through 1995, Judge Carle served as an associate attorney for Magner, Love & Morris PC, in Buffalo, N.Y. In 2013, Judge Carle joined the faculty of the Villanova University School of Law where he serves as an adjunct professor. Judge Carle is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Barbara Cigarroa, Immigration Judge, Port Isabel Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Barbara Cigarroa to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Cigarroa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 from Harvard University, a Master of Social Work degree in 1993 from Washington University, and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the Washington University School of Law. From 2008 to May 2016, Judge Cigarroa served as a senior attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2003 through 2008, Judge Cigarroa served as an assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS. From 1993 through 2003, Judge Cigarroa served as a trial attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Cigarroa is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

John G. Crews II, Immigration Judge, Port Isabel Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John G. Crews II to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Crews earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree in 1981 from Boston University and a Juris Doctor in 1985 from Southern Methodist University. From 1997 to May 2016, Judge Crews served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice (DOJ). From 1987 through 1997, Judge Crews served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office, DOJ. From 1985 through 1987, Judge Crews served as a judicial law clerk for the late-Honorable Sam B. Hall Jr., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas. Judge Crews is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico.

John P. Ellington, Immigration Judge, York Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John P. Ellington to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Ellington earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1990 from Georgia State University, a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the Dickinson School of Law, and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in 2014 from the University of Pennsylvania. From 2014 to May 2016, Judge Ellington served as general counsel and from 2002 to 2014 as government trial counsel, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2002, Judge Ellington served as deputy attorney general for the Fraud Section, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, in Norristown, Pa. From 1997 through 2000, Judge Ellington served as an assistant district attorney for the Office of the Berks County District Attorney, in Reading, Pa. Since 1991, Judge Ellington has served in various capacities for the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including: from 2014 through 2018, as a military judge; from 2012 through 2014, as senior judge advocate for investigations and inspections; and from 2009 through 2012, and previously from 2003 through 2006, as a staff judge advocate. Judge Ellington is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Justin W. Howard, Immigration Judge, Kansas City Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Justin W. Howard to begin hearing cases in June 2016.  Judge Howard earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 from Kansas State University and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from American University, Washington College of Law.  From 2008 to May 2016, Judge Howard served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security.  From 2006 through 2008, Judge Howard served as an associate attorney for Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, in Kansas City.  From 2002 through 2005, Judge Howard served as an assistant state’s attorney for the Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney, in Miami.  Judge Howard is a member of the Florida, Kansas and Missouri Bars.

Alison R. Kane, Immigration Judge, Denver Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Alison R. Kane to begin hearing cases in June 2016.  Judge Kane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997 from Syracuse University and a Juris Doctor in 2003 from the Boston College Law School.  From 2010 to May 2016, Judge Kane served as an assistant chief counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security.  From January 2010 through June 2010, and previously from 2005 through 2007, Judge Kane served as an associate for Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP, in New York City and Philadelphia.  From 2003 through 2005, Judge Kane served as an attorney advisor for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program.  From 1997 through 1999, Judge Kane served in the Peace Corps, in Guinea, Africa.  Judge Kane is a member of the New York State Bar.

James M. Left, Immigration Judge, Adelanto Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed James M. Left to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Left earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988 from Pacific Lutheran University and a Juris Doctor in 1994 from the Pepperdine University School of Law. From 2013 to May 2016, and previously from 2008 through 2009, Judge Left served as a senior attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2009 through 2013, and previously from 2007 through 2008, Judge Left served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in Los Angeles. From 2004 through 2007, Judge Left served as an assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS. From 2002 through 2004, Judge Left served as an associate legal advisor for the National Security Law Division, ICE, DHS. From 1997 through 2002, Judge Left served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Left is a member of the State Bar of California.

Clay N. Martin, Immigration Judge, Pearsall Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Clay N. Martin to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Martin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from Hendrix College and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the St. Mary’s University School of Law. From 2008 through May 2016, Judge Martin served as a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2002 through 2007, Judge Martin served as an assistant chief counsel for OCC, ICE, DHS. From 1995 through 2002, Judge Martin served as chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the 18th West Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in Polk and Montgomery counties, Ark. From 1992 through 1995, Judge Martin served as an assistant district attorney for the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, in San Antonio. From 1989 through 1991, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Riddle and Brown, in Dallas. From 1988 through 1989, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Soules and Wallace, in San Antonio. From 1987 through 1988, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Hill, Heard, Oneal, Gilstrap & Goetz, in Arlington, Texas. Judge Martin is a member of the Arkansas Bar and the State Bar of Texas.

Donald C. O’Hare, Immigration Judge, Denver Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Donald C. O’Hare to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge O’Hare earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from Macalester College, a Master of Arts degree in 1987 from the University of Minnesota, a Juris Doctor in 1992 from the California Western School of Law, and a Master of Laws degree in 1994 from the University of Virginia School of Law. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge O’Hare served in several capacities, including as deputy chief counsel, assistant chief counsel, and a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 1997 through 2003, Judge O’Hare served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. From 1992 through 1993, Judge O’Hare was a staff attorney for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., in Washington, D.C. Judge O’Hare is a member of the State Bar of California.

Jeannette L. Park, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jeannette L. Park to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Park earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from the Boston College Law School. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge Park served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2003, Judge Park served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Park is a member of the State Bar of California.

Ana L. Partida, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Ana L. Partida to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Partida earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 from San Diego State University, a Master of Forensic Sciences degree in 1998 from National University, and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from the New England School of Law. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge Partida served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2002 through 2003, Judge Partida served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Partida is a member of the New Jersey State Bar.

Georgina M. Picos, Immigration Judge, Houston Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Georgina M. Picos to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Picos earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1987 from Florida International University and a Juris Doctor in 1991 from St. Thomas University School of Law. From 1994 to May 2016, Judge Picos served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 1992 through 1994, Judge Picos served as an associate attorney for the Law Offices of Magda Montiel Davis PA, in Miami. From 1991 through 1992, Judge Picos served as a judicial law clerk for the Miami Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Picos is a member of the Florida Bar.

Jayme Salinardi, Immigration Judge, Kansas City Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jayme Salinardi to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Salinardi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994 from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. From 2012 to May 2016, Judge Salinardi served as deputy chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2003 through 2012, Judge Salinardi served as assistant chief counsel and senior attorney for OCC, ICE, DHS. From 2000 through 2003, Judge Salinardi served as an immigration attorney for Fallon, Bixby, Cheng & Lee, in San Francisco. In 2011, Judge Salinardi joined the faculty of the University of Missouri School of Law where he serves as an adjunct professor of law. Judge Salinardi is a member of the State Bar of California.

Sandra J. Santos-Garcia, Immigration Judge, Adelanto Immigration Court

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Sandra J. Santos-Garcia to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Santos-Garcia earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 and a Juris Doctor in 2001, both from the University of California, Berkeley. From 2010 through 2016, Judge Santos-Garcia served as a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2001 through 2010, Judge Santos-Garcia served as assistant chief counsel for OCC, ICE, DHS. Judge Santos-Garcia is a member of the State Bars of Arizona and California.

- EOIR -

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

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce Corporation doing business as Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce International Enterprises (Wa Heng) and the firm’s co-owners, Peng Xiang “Martin” Lin and Yuexiao “Opal” Lin, to prevent the distribution of adulterated and misbranded soy products, the Department of Justice announced today.

The Department filed a complaint in the Eastern District of California on June 17, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The complaint alleged that the defendants violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by causing food that is held for sale after shipment of one or more of its components in interstate commerce to become adulterated and misbranded.  According to the complaint, the defendants have an extensive history of operating their food manufacturing facility under insanitary conditions, failing to follow current good manufacturing practice requirements and misbranding their food products.

“The American public deserves to be assured that companies and individuals preparing and distributing food subject to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act are complying with federal law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “The Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with the FDA to ensure a safe food supply.”

As detailed in the complaint, the company receives, prepares, processes, manufactures, packs, labels, holds and distributes soy products including fried tofu, firm tofu, seasoned tofu and soy drinks.  The complaint alleged that Martin Lin’s responsibilities include the firm’s daily operations, raw material purchases, facility and equipment maintenance and production schedule and that Opal Lin’s responsibilities include training employees and overseeing employee performance.

In conjunction with the filing of the complaint, the defendants agreed to settle the case and to be bound by a permanent injunction that requires Wa Heng to cease all food preparation, manufacturing and distribution.  If the defendants seek to resume preparing, manufacturing and distributing food, they must implement remedial measures set forth in the injunction, notify FDA of the measures taken, and receive written notification from FDA that they appear to be in compliance with the remedial requirements set forth in the injunction and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.    

According to the complaint, the defendants had a history of repeated violations.  A 2015 inspection by FDA documented that the defendants failed to take reasonable precautions to ensure that production procedures do not contribute to contamination from any source.  For example, as alleged in the complaint, FDA observed at least three employees spraying pressurized water from a water hose onto the production area floor, where FDA isolated Salmonella Havana, causing water to splash from the floor onto uncovered tofu and onto food contact surfaces, such as tofu presses and a filtration table.  This was a repeat observation from the FDA’s 2012 inspection.  In addition, FDA observed employees touching the bottoms of buckets and crates that had been on the floor and then touching tofu.  The hand wash sink in the production room had no hot water because the valve had been turned off and the sink was inaccessible due to crates in front of it.  This was also a repeat observation from the 2012 inspection.

According to the complaint, the most recent inspection also found that the defendants failed to maintain equipment and utensils in an acceptable fashion through appropriate cleaning and sanitizing.  FDA observed spray hose nozzles, air valves, water valves and light switches that contained heavy residue, as well as a tofu cutting knife that was placed on top of a tofu press with greenish-brown buildup and then used to slice tofu.

Further, the complaint alleged that during the 2015 inspection, FDA conducted environmental sampling of the facility and five subsamples tested positive for pathogenic Salmonella Havana.  According to the complaint, the positive samples were taken from, among other places, a floor drain near a cooking tank, a caster wheel on a cart carrying tofu and the floor between the packing and processing rooms.  As noted in the complaint, FDA isolated a nearly identical strain of Salmonella Havana during its 2011 and 2012 inspections.  

During the 2015 inspection, FDA also collected samples of the defendants’ product labeling.  The complaint alleges that the defendants’ products are misbranded because, among other things, some of the firm’s soy products fail to include a label containing an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count.

“Firms and individuals that violate federal food safety regulations pose a danger to public health,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California.  “The Department will not hesitate to hold companies and individuals accountable in order to protect the American people from adulterated food.”

The government is represented by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Kennedy of the Eastern District of California and Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement Charlotte Hinkle of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel’s Food and Drug Division.

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will train all of its law enforcement agents and prosecutors to recognize and address implicit bias as part of its regular training curricula.  The new training, based on the latest social science research and best practices in law enforcement, will begin across the department in the next few weeks.  Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates sent a memo to all law enforcement agents and prosecutors today informing them of the new Implicit Bias Training Program and its importance to a strong and fair criminal justice system.

“Our officers are more effective and our communities are more secure when law enforcement has the tools and training they need to address today’s public safety challenges,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.  “At the Department of Justice, we are committed to ensuring that our own personnel are well trained in the core principles and best practices of community policing.  Today’s announcement is an important step in our ongoing efforts to promote fairness, eliminate bias and build the stronger, safer, more just society that all Americans deserve.”

“The Department of Justice has a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that our criminal justice system is fair and impartial,” said Deputy Attorney General Yates.  “Given that the research is clear that most people experience some degree of unconscious bias, and that the effects of that bias can be countered by acknowledging its existence and utilizing response strategies, it is essential that we provide implicit bias training to all of our prosecutors and law enforcement agents.  Along with the heads of our law enforcement agencies, I’m looking forward to participating in DOJ’s very first training session tomorrow morning.”

Through the new training, over 28,000 department employees will learn how to recognize and address their own implicit bias, which are the unconscious or subtle associations that individuals make between groups of people and stereotypes about those groups.  Implicit bias can affect interactions and decisions due to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion and socio-economic status, as well as other factors.  Social science has shown that all individuals experience some form of implicit bias but that the effects of those biases can be countered through training. 

In the coming weeks, the department will begin rolling out the training to the more than 23,000 agents employed by the FBI,  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), as well as the approximately 5,800 attorneys working in the 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country.  As the project continues, the department will expand training to other personnel, including prosecutors in the department’s litigating components and agents of the Office of the Inspector General.

Since 2010, the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services has worked with state and local law enforcement to train over 2,600 law enforcement officers at both the line and supervisor level in its implicit bias program known as Fair and Impartial Policing.  For the department’s new internal training, curricula have been created to address the work of prosecutors and federal law enforcement and the different missions of the law enforcement components.  Each law enforcement component’s curriculum includes three levels of training based on how implicit bias may affect the duties for line personnel, supervisors and managers, and executive personnel.  

In order to lead by example, on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Yates will be joined by the leadership of FBI, ATF, DEA and USMS to participate in the first part of the executive training under the new curricula.  Over the coming months, training will begin with executive personnel, followed by supervisors and managers, and later line personnel, including agents and attorneys.   

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt:

"For many years, the Supreme Court has maintained that regulations with the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion constitute an undue burden on women trying to exercise their reproductive freedom, and are contrary to principles enshrined in the Constitution.  I am pleased that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed this longstanding principle in its decision today.

"When we filed a brief in this case, the Department of Justice made clear that we believe laws like the one at issue here unfairly restrict women's rights, negatively impact women's health, and undermine the state's interest in protecting the safety and welfare of its people.  In the days ahead, the Department of Justice will continue fighting against laws like this one.  And we will continue to defend the constitutional rights of women across America - including the right to reproductive freedom."

Thomas Davanzo, of Estero, Florida, and Robert Fedyna, of Naples, Florida, pleaded guilty today for their participation in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel credits and fraudulently claiming tax credits, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida.  

Davanzo and Fedyna operated several shell companies that were used to facilitate the scheme.  As part of the scheme, Davanzo and Fedyna operated entities that purported to purchase renewable fuel, on which credits had been claimed and which was ineligible for additional credits, produced by their co-conspirators at Gen-X Energy Group (Gen-X), headquartered in Pasco, Washington, and its subsidiary, Southern Resources and Commodities (SRC), located in Dublin, Georgia.  They then used a series of false transactions to transform the fuel back into feedstock needed for the production of renewable fuel, and sold it back to Gen-X or SRC, allowing credits to be claimed again.  This cycle was repeated multiple times.

In addition, both Davanzo and Fedyna laundered the proceeds of the scheme through various shell entities.  Davanzo and Fedyna established bank accounts in the names of shell entities.  Funds were cycled through these shell companies’ bank accounts to perpetuate the fraud scheme and conceal its proceeds.

Davanzo and Fedyna also directed and participated in the generation of false paperwork designed to create the façade that the renewable identification number (or RIN, a serial number used to track biodiesel credits) created and claimed by co-conspirators were legitimate.  The paperwork included false invoices from Gen-X or SRC to shell entities, which purported to show sales of renewable fuel, false invoices from shell entities to Gen-X and SRC, which purported to show the purchase of feedstock and false bills of lading, which purported to show the transportation of fuel and feedstock by tanker truck.

From March 2013 to March 2014, the co-conspirators generated at least 60 million RINs that were based on fuel that was either never produced or was merely re-processed at the Gen-X or SRC facilities.  The co-conspirators received at least $42 million from the sale of these fraudulent RINs to third parties.  In addition, Gen-X received approximately $4,360,724.50 in false tax credits for this fuel.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Environmental Protection Agency -Criminal Investigation Division, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara C. Sweeney and Megan Kistler and Trial Attorney Adam Cullman of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.

INTERPOL Washington has been highlighted in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) press release for providing investigative support with identifying the targets in Operation Project Red II. Forty-five of the fugitives have been arrested by the U.S. Marshals and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations . The fugitives with Interpol Red Notices  were wanted for crimes in 22 different countries for various crimes. Please view the entire press release at the link provided below.

 

ICE PRESS RELEASE

 

 

 

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc., has settled Clean Water Act violations involving its two large-scale breweries near Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

In a consent decree filed today in federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the company has agreed to spend approximately $7 million to improve environmental measures at its brewery operations after it allegedly discharged pollutants into the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority municipal wastewater treatment plant.  Yuengling will also pay a $2.8 million penalty.

In addition, the consent decree includes a requirement to implement an environmental management system (EMS) focused on achieving CWA compliance at the facilities. Yuengling must hire a third party consultant to develop the EMS and a third party auditor to ensure proper implementation at the facility operations.

The company allegedly violated Clean Water Act requirements for companies that discharge industrial waste to municipal publically-owned wastewater treatment facilities numerous times between 2008 and 2015.  Companies must obtain and comply with permit limits on discharges of industrial waste that goes to public treatment facilities, which in many cases require “pretreatment” of waste before it is discharged.  The case was referred to EPA by the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority (GPASA).

“It is vital that companies using municipal wastewater treatment facilities strictly follow pretreatment guidelines and permit limits for their wastewater.  It is what good neighbors expect, and it is what the law requires,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “This settlement  requires Yuengling to put into place an environmental management system designed to manage compliance with the Clean Water Act in a systemic, planned, and documented manner to establish a top-down, prevention-focused approach. The settlement also mandates independent audits of Yuengling’s compliance with the consent decree, among other requirements.”

“Yuengling is responsible for serious violations of its Clean Water Act pretreatment discharge limits, posing a potential risk to the Schuylkill River which provides drinking water to 1.5 million people,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.  “This history of violations and failure to fully respond to orders from the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority and EPA to correct the problems resulted in this enforcement action.”

In a complaint filed concurrently with the settlement, the United States alleged that Yuengling violated pretreatment permit requirements, including discharge limits for biological oxygen demand (BOD), phosphorus, zinc and pH to the GPASA treatment plant, at least 141 times from 2008 to 2015.

Pretreatment helps remove or change the composition of pollutants in wastewater.  Unpermitted or excessive industrial discharges may interfere with the operation of public wastewater treatment plants, which are generally designed to handle sewage and domestic waste, leading to the discharge of untreated or inadequately treated wastewater into local waters.

In addition to the monetary penalty, Yuengling has also agreed to take measures that will prevent future violations including:

• Designing and implementing an environmental management system for both breweries to ensure compliance with environmental laws;
• Conducting a series of environmental audits and inspections to ensure ongoing environmental compliance;
• Constructing a comprehensive pretreatment system at the Old Brewery;
• Optimizing and improving operation and maintenance of the pretreatment system at the New Brewery;
• Developing and implementing a communication and notification plan to quickly notify GPASA of any changes to the brewery facilites’ wastewater that may impact the public treatment facility;
• Hiring two certified wastewater treatment operators; and implementing a process to identify, investigate and respond to any future CWA violations quickly and efficiently.

The consent decree, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval, is available at: www.justice.gov/enrd/

More information on the settlement: www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/cwa/arch.html

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Powerstaffing Inc., a temporary staffing agency based in Edison, New Jersey.  The agreement resolves allegations that Powerstaffing’s North Bergen, New Jersey, office discriminated against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The department’s investigation found that from June 20, 2014, until at least Dec. 15, 2015, Powerstaffing had a pattern or practice of requesting specific immigration documents from non-U.S. citizens for the Form I-9 and E-Verify processes.  In contrast, Powerstaffing allowed U.S. citizens to present whichever valid documents they wanted to present to prove their work authorization.  Under the INA, all workers, including non-U.S. citizens, must be allowed to choose whichever valid documentation they would like to present from the lists of acceptable documents to prove their work authorization, such as a driver’s license and unrestricted social security card.  It is unlawful for an employer to limit employees’ choice of documentation because of their citizenship or immigration status.

Upon learning of the department’s investigation, Powerstaffing promptly re-trained its staff on proper Form I-9 and E-Verify practices.  Among other things, the settlement agreement requires Powerstaffing to pay $153,000 in civil penalties, be subject to department monitoring and review its hiring policies.

“All employers should ensure that when creating Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance plans, they fully understand the relevant rules so that they don’t discriminate against workers based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “The department applauds Powerstaffing for its prompt action to address and resolve this issue.” 

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  The law prohibits, among other things, citizenship, immigration status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices in employment eligibility verification; retaliation and intimidation.  This matter was handled by Senior Trial Attorney Liza Zamd of OSC.

To learn more about the protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php; email [email protected] or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

Applicants or employees who believe they have been 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 OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.

Powerstaffing Settlement Agreement

A woman originally from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, entered guilty pleas today in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to all 23 counts of an indictment related to an odometer tampering conspiracy, the Department of Justice announced. 

Judith Ann Aloe, 55, previously residing in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, was scheduled to stand trial in May 2014, in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.  When she failed to appear for trial on May 14, 2014, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest by Chief Judge Petrese B. Tucker.  Aloe remained at large for 21 months.  In February 2016, she was located in Baja California, Mexico, and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service at the Mexico/California border.  Today, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with odometers, make false odometer certifications, and commit securities fraud and to 11 counts each of securities fraud and making false odometer certifications. Her sentencing is on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. before Chief Judge Tucker.  

In April 2014, Aloe’s co-defendant, Kyle Novitsky, then 46, of Scott Township, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to several counts in the indictment. In October 2014, Novitsky was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,482,000 to victims.  From at least as early as 2004 through 2010, Aloe and Novitsky purchased high mileage cars and trucks, and then rolled back the odometers on the vehicles to make them appear more valuable.  Doing business under various company names, Aloe and Novitsky sold close to 250 vehicles with rolled back odometers.

“The purchase of an automobile is one of the biggest purchases consumers make, and consumers rely on accurate mileage information to assess the value and safety of a vehicle,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Not only do purchasers pay more for used cars, but odometer fraud could ultimately affect a car’s safety and the costs of future repairs to the consumer.  The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce consumer protection laws by bringing those who commit this crime to justice.” 

Aloe admitted to participating in the purchase of high-mileage cars, sport-utility vehicles and trucks from various locations of a national car rental company.  She then worked with Novitsky to roll back and alter the odometers and resold the vehicles at wholesale automobile auctions in Pennsylvania.  Aloe also caused to be altered the high mileages shown on the titles received from the car rental company to reflect false, low mileages and retitled the vehicles in Pennsylvania with false mileages.  These titles were then given to the buyers so that the mileage on the titles matched the mileage shown on a vehicle’s odometer.

This case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Linda I. Marks of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and former Consumer Protection Branch Trial Attorney Jessica Gunder, now an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Idaho, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  The case was investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation. 

More information on odometer fraud is available on the NHTSA’s website and tips on detecting and avoiding odometer fraud are available at this page.  For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin:

“I am pleased that the Supreme Court has recognized our compelling interest in ensuring diversity in higher education.

“Diverse student enrollment is a vital part of America’s educational experience.  It creates a positive forum for scholarship and discovery, offering the opportunity for young people to learn from, interact with, and work alongside individuals of different backgrounds.  It promotes a stronger workforce, allowing employers and businesses to harness the wide range of experience and expertise they need to compete and win in today’s global economy.  And it aligns with the most cherished values of our country: opportunity, inclusion, and the notion that out of many disparate backgrounds, we are joined together as one united community.  Our country is stronger, more credible, and more effective when our educational institutions include highly-qualified individuals with roots, cultures, and traditions that reflect our nation’s rich diversity.  Going forward, the Department of Justice will continue to stand up for these principles, and to work with colleges and universities to promote diversity in a way that is consistent with the law.”

 

Over the course of three days, INTERPOL Washington collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Marshals Service (USMS) in a multi-agency enforcement operation, known as Operation: Project Red II. The goal of the operation was to identify, locate, arrest, and remove criminal fugitive aliens in the United States.

The second iteration of the three-day sweep, which first took place in 2015, targeted aliens who are 1) currently at-large, 2) removable under U.S. immigration law, and 3) wanted for criminal prosecution or convicted of a criminal offense abroad. The USNCB and USMS supported ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents to remove these fugitives, many of whom were subjects of INTERPOL Red Notices, which act as provisional international arrest warrants in many countries.

For its role, the USNCB collected, organized, and disseminated the INTERPOL information crucial for ICE to identify the operation’s targets, which allowed the agents and deputies to locate criminals they otherwise might never have known existed.

A 30-year-old woman pleaded guilty for her role in a Jamaica-based lottery fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced today. 

Vania Lee Allen pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Georgia to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and false impersonation of an employee of the United States.  Allen faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.  

“Lottery fraud schemes operating from Jamaica targeting Americans typically get help from at least one co-conspirator in the United States,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Impersonating an FBI agent is just one way fraudsters convince innocent victims that the international lottery is legitimate.  It isn’t.  The Justice Department will actively pursue and charge those who participate in such criminal activity.”

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

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

“This conviction shows the extraordinary lengths fraudsters will use to rip off someone in the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Edward J. Tarver of the Southern District of Georgia.  “Such schemes will not be tolerated, and we will prosecute fraudsters whether they operate from inside or outside of the United States.” 

“The Postal Inspection Service is dedicated to investigating and combating international lottery schemes, especially since they prey on elderly Americans,” said Inspector in Charge David W. Bosch of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Division. “The Postal Inspection Service is committed to uncovering and pursuing individuals involved in international lottery fraud schemes targeted at victims in the United States.” 

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

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

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

Joseph Chait, 38, of Beverly Hills, California, the senior auction administrator of I.M. Chait Gallery, located in Beverly Hills, was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison and a $10,000 fine for conspiring to smuggle wildlife products made from rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral with a market value of at least $1 million, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York and Director Dan Ashe for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).  On March 9, Chait pleaded guilty to a two-count Information before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken for the Southern District of New York, who imposed today’s sentence.

“Conspiring in the trafficking endangered wildlife is a serious crime, and those involved in the auction industry should take note that facilitating this trade can result in prison,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “The African Elephant, the rhinoceros, and coral are all deeply threatened species that have undergone dramatic losses in recent decades as the trade in them has become highly lucrative.  We must stop this trade, and we will vigorously investigate and prosecute those engaged in it.”  

“By illegally trafficking in wildlife, including rhinoceros horns, Joseph Chait and his co-conspirators have fueled the illegal trade in endangered wildlife,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara.  “Chait’s conduct, a federal crime for which he will now spend time in prison, threatened the already precarious existence of certain endangered species of animals.”

“As this investigation by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agents demonstrates, United States citizens and businesses continue to be involved in international wildlife trafficking – facilitating and magnifying consumer demand for rhino horn, elephant ivory and other illegal products that is driving the slaughter of imperiled species in the wild,” said Director Ashe.  “The stiff sentence and fines imposed today on Joseph Chait for his crimes serves notice to those engaged in similar criminal activity that their day of reckoning in court is coming.”

According to allegations contained in the Information and statements made in court filings and proceedings:  

Chait and his co-conspirators engaged in illegal trafficking of wildlife with a market value of at least $1 million.  Chait personally falsified customs forms by stating that rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory items were made of bone, wood or plastic.  For example, during Asia Week in New York City, New York, in or about March 2011, Chait was approached by an undercover special agent with FWS about the potential sale of a carving of Guanyin, an East Asian spiritual figure made from rhinoceros horn (the Rhino Carving).  Despite knowing that it was not a genuine antique, Chait and his co-conspirators accepted the Rhino Carving for consignment, advertised the sale to foreign clients in China and put the Rhino Carving on the cover of I.M. Chait Gallery’s catalogue in connection with an auction of Asian art and antiques.  After the Rhino Carving sold at auction for $230,000 to another undercover agent, Chait offered to make a false document for the buyer to help the buyer smuggle the item out of the country.  The fake invoice falsely stated that the item cost $108.75 and was made of plastic.

Chait also sold rhinoceros ivory carvings to another customer and provided those carvings to that customer’s courier, even after learning that the customer had been arrested in China for smuggling ivory purchased from Chait’s auction house.

In addition to falsifying customs forms by stating that rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory items were made of bone, wood or plastic, Chait and his co-conspirators conducted their wildlife smuggling using a variety of methods:

• Wildlife items were shipped to or picked up by third party shippers, who then re-shipped the items out of the country without the required declaration or permits. 
• Members of the conspiracy provided packing materials to foreign wildlife buyers to assist them in hand carrying the wildlife out of the country.
• Foreign wildlife buyers were sold protected wildlife items without being assessed a state sales tax if they showed a foreign passport and itinerary for an international flight as proof the item would be leaving the country.
• Protected wildlife was smuggled into the United States without declaration or permits and then sold at auction by members of the conspiracy.

As a result of a recent Presidential Executive Order, trade in protected wildlife such as rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory has been significantly restricted in the last two years, except for those instances where sellers can prove that the item is a genuine antique that is more than 100 years old.

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

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In addition to the term of prison, Chait was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Assistant Attorney General Cruden and U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the efforts of FWS for its outstanding work in this investigation. 

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Gachiri and Elizabeth Hanft and Senior Litigation Counsel Richard A. Udell with the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice are in charge of the prosecution.

Most Defendants Charged and Largest Alleged Loss Amount in Strike Force History

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced today an unprecedented nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in 36 federal districts, resulting in criminal and civil charges against 301 individuals, including 61 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $900 million in false billings.  Twenty-three state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in today’s arrests.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is suspending payment to a number of providers using its suspension authority provided in the Affordable Care Act.  This coordinated takedown is the largest in history, both in terms of the number of defendants charged and loss amount.  

Attorney General Lynch and Secretary Burwell were joined in the announcement by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, FBI Associate Deputy Director David Bowdich, Inspector General Daniel Levinson of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), Acting Director Dermot O’Reilly of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and Deputy Administrator and Director of CMS Center for Program Integrity Shantanu Agrawal M.D.

The defendants announced today are charged with various health care fraud-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, violations of the anti-kickback statutes, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.  The charges are based on a variety of alleged fraud schemes involving various medical treatments and services, including home health care, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment (DME) and prescription drugs.  More than 60 of the defendants arrested are charged with fraud related to the Medicare prescription drug benefit program known as Part D, which is the fastest-growing component of the Medicare program overall.

“As this takedown should make clear, health care fraud is not an abstract violation or benign offense – It is a serious crime,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “The wrongdoers that we pursue in these operations seek to use public funds for private enrichment.  They target real people – many of them in need of significant medical care.  They promise effective cures and therapies, but they provide none.  Above all, they abuse basic bonds of trust – between doctor and patient; between pharmacist and doctor; between taxpayer and government – and pervert them to their own ends.  The Department of Justice is determined to continue working to ensure that the American people know that their health care system works for them – and them alone.”

“Millions of seniors depend on Medicare for essential health coverage, and our action shows that this administration remains committed to cracking down on individuals who try to defraud the program,” said Secretary Burwell.  “We are continuing to put new tools and additional resources to work, including $350 million from the Affordable Care Act, for health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts.  Thanks to the hard work of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, we are making progress in addressing and deterring fraud and delivering results to help ensure Medicare remains strong for years to come.”

According to court documents, the defendants allegedly participated in schemes to submit claims to Medicare and Medicaid for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often never provided.  In many cases, patient recruiters, Medicare beneficiaries and other co-conspirators were allegedly paid cash kickbacks in return for supplying beneficiary information to providers, so that the providers could then submit fraudulent bills to Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary or never performed.  Collectively, the doctors, nurses, licensed medical professionals, health care company owners and others charged are accused of submitting a total of approximately $900 million in fraudulent billing.

“The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a model of 21st-Century data-driven law enforcement, and it has had a remarkable impact on health care fraud across the country,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.  “As the cases announced today demonstrate, the Strike Force’s strategic approach keeps us a step ahead of emerging fraud trends, including drug diversion, and fraud involving compounded medications and hospice care.”

“These criminals target the most vulnerable in our society by taking money away from the care of the elderly, children and disabled,” said Associate Deputy Director Bowdich.  “The FBI is committed to working with our partners and the public to stop fraud and ensure that healthcare dollars are used to help the sick, and not line the pockets of criminals.”

“While it is impossible to accurately pinpoint the true cost of fraud in federal health care programs, fraud is a significant threat to the programs’ stability and endangers access to health care services for millions of Americans,” said Inspector General Levinson.  “As members of the joint Strike Force, OIG will continue to play a vital role in tracking down these criminals and seeing that justice is done.”

“DCIS, in partnership with our fellow federal investigative agencies, will continue to uncompromisingly investigate and bring to justice the people who perpetrate these criminal acts,” said Acting Director O’Reilly. “Their actions threaten to cripple our vital national health care industry, and place our citizenry at risk.  We will remain vigilant.”

“Taxpayers and Congress provided CMS with resources to adopt powerful monitoring systems that fight fraud, safeguard program dollars, and protect Medicare and Medicaid,” said Deputy Administrator and Center for Program Integrity Director Agrawal.  “The diligent use of innovative data analytic systems has contributed or led directly to many of the law enforcement cases presented here today.  CMS is committed to its collaboration with these agencies to keep federally-funded health care programs safe and strong for all Americans.”

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.  The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operates in nine locations and since its inception in March 2007 has charged over 2,900 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $8.9 billion. 

Including today’s enforcement actions, nearly 1,200 individuals have been charged in national takedown operations, which have involved more than $3.4 billion in fraudulent billings.  Today’s announcement marks the second time that districts outside of Strike Force locations participated in a national takedown, and they accounted for 82 defendants charged in this takedown.

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For the Strike Force locations, in the Southern District of Florida, a total of 100 defendants were charged with offenses relating to their participation in various fraud schemes involving approximately $220 million in false billings for home health care, mental health services and pharmacy fraud.  In one case, nine defendants have been charged with operating six different Miami-area home health companies for the purpose of submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, including for services that were not medically necessary and that were based on bribes and kickbacks.  In total, Medicare paid the six companies over $24 million as a result of the scheme.

In the Southern District of Texas, 24 individuals were charged in cases involving over $146 million in alleged fraud.  One of these defendants is a physician with the highest number of referrals for home health services in the Southern District of Texas.  This physician has been charged with participating in separate schemes to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary home health services that were often not provided.  Numerous companies that submitted claims to Medicare using the fraudulent home health referrals from the physician were paid over $38 million by Medicare.

In the Northern District of Texas, 11 people were charged in cases involving over $47 million in alleged fraud.  In one scheme, a physician allowed unlicensed individuals to perform physician services and then billed Medicare as if he performed them.  Additionally, the physician certified patients for home health care that was often medically unnecessary.  Home health companies submitted approximately $23.3 million in billings to Medicare based on the physician’s fraudulent certifications.    

In the Central District of California, 22 defendants were charged for their roles in schemes to defraud Medicare of approximately $162 million.  In one case, a doctor was charged with causing almost $12 million in losses to Medicare through his own fraudulent billing, including performing medically unnecessary vein ablation procedures on Medicare beneficiaries.  

In the Eastern District of Michigan, 19 defendants face charges for their alleged roles in fraud, kickback, money laundering and drug distribution schemes involving approximately $114 million in false claims for services that were medically unnecessary or never rendered.  Among these are owners of a physical therapy clinic who lured patients through the payment of cash kickbacks and medically unnecessary prescriptions for Schedule II medications for the purpose of stealing more than $36 million from Medicare.   

In Tampa, Orlando and elsewhere in the Middle District of Florida, 15 individuals were charged with participating in a variety of schemes including compounding pharmacy fraud and intravenous prescription drug fraud involving $17 million in fraudulent billing.  In one case, the owner of several infusion clinics allegedly defrauded the Medicare program of over $8 million through a scheme involving reimbursement claims for expensive intravenous prescription drugs that were never purchased and never administered to patients.

In the Northern District of Illinois, six individuals were charged in cases related to three different schemes involving bribery and false and fraudulent claims for home health services and disability benefits.  The charged defendants include individuals who owned or co-owned the fraudulent providers and a medical doctor.  In total, these schemes resulted in over $12 million being paid to the defendants and their companies. 

In the Eastern District of New York, 10 individuals were charged in six different cases, including five individuals who were charged for their roles in a scheme involving over $86 million in physical and occupational therapy claims to Medicare and Medicaid.  In that case, the defendants are alleged to have filled a network of Brooklyn clinics that they controlled with patients by paying bribes and kickbacks.  Once at the clinics, these patients were subjected to medically unnecessary therapy.  The defendants then laundered the proceeds of the fraud through over a dozen shell companies. 

In the Eastern District of Louisiana, three defendants were charged in connection with a health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy involving a defunct home health care provider.  This scheme centered on the payment of kickbacks through patient recruiters in exchange for patients who oftentimes never received nor qualified for home health care as billed.  Once admitted, patient medical records were routinely fabricated and altered to support false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.

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In addition to the Strike Force, today’s enforcement actions include cases brought by 26 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including the unsealing of search warrants in investigations being conducted by the Eastern District of North Carolina, Southern District of Georgia, District of Columbia, Eastern District of Texas, Southern District of West Virginia, Middle District of Louisiana, District of Minnesota, and the Northern District of Alabama.

In the Northern District of Georgia, nine defendants were charged for their roles in two health care fraud schemes involving $7 million in fraudulent billings.  Eight defendants were charged in a scheme where bribes and kickbacks were allegedly paid to a state of Georgia official in exchange for falsifying applications and licensing requirements and recommending the approval of unqualified mental health providers.

In the Middle District of Alabama, two defendants were charged for their roles in a mental health services scheme allegedly involving $246,000 in fraudulent billings.

In the Middle District of Tennessee, a doctor was charged for his role in an illegal kickback scheme under which he allegedly referred patients to a certain DME supplier in exchange for cash kickbacks.

In the Western District of Kentucky, a business entity was charged for its role in a health care fraud scheme.

In the Southern District of Ohio, two defendants were charged for their roles in a $7.5 million home healthcare fraud scheme.

In the Western and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania, three defendants were charged for their roles in drug diversion and embezzlement schemes.

In the Southern District of New York, a pharmacist was charged for his role in a scheme involving over $51 million in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billings. 

In the Districts of Maine, Alaska, Kansas, Connecticut and Vermont, five defendants were charged for their roles in Medicaid-related schemes.

In the Eastern District of Missouri, four defendants, including a doctor and pharmacist, were charged for their roles in schemes involving over $3 million in billings.

In the Southern District of California, eight individuals were charged in health care-related cases.  In one case, five individuals, including a doctor and a pharmacist, were charged in a scheme to pay bribes and kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing expensive durable medical equipment and compound pain creams that were not medically necessary.  The indictment alleges that approximately $27 million in false and fraudulent claims were submitted to insurers.

In the District of New Mexico, two defendants were charged for their roles in a Medicaid fraud scheme.

In the Northern District of Iowa, a settlement agreement was reached with a corporate entity for its role in a health care fraud scheme in a juvenile residential treatment facility.

In the District of Oregon, one defendant was charged for his role in a $1.7 million optometry services scheme.

In the District of Puerto Rico, civil demand letters were issued to six individuals for their roles in a scheme to defraud the Medicaid program.

In addition, in the states of Florida, Iowa, South Dakota, Indiana, New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Oregon, Kentucky and Alaska, 49 defendants have been charged in criminal and civil actions with defrauding the Medicaid program and 57 sites were searched, pursuant to search warrants.  These cases were investigated by each state’s respective Medicaid Fraud Control Units. 

The cases announced today are being prosecuted and investigated by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, along with Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices of the Southern District of Florida, Eastern District of Michigan, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of Texas, Central District of California, Eastern District of Louisiana, Northern District of Texas, Northern District of Illinois and the Middle District of Florida; and agents from the FBI, HHS-OIG, Drug Enforcement Administration, DCIS and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

A complaint or indictment is merely a charge, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The court documents for each case will posted online, as they become available, here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-june-22-2016-medicare-fraud-strike-force-press-conference.

The Affordable Care Act has provided new tools and resources to fight fraud in federal health care programs.  The law provides an additional $350 million for health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts, which has allowed the department to hire more prosecutors and the Strike Force to expand from two cities to nine.  The act also toughens sentencing for criminal activity, enhances provider and supplier screenings and enrollment requirements and encourages increased sharing of data across government.

In addition to providing new tools and resources to fight fraud, the Affordable Care Act clarified that for sentencing purposes, the loss is determined by the amount billed to Medicare and increased the sentencing guidelines for the billed amounts, which has provided a strong deterrent effect due to increased prison time, particularly in the most egregious cases.

Since January 2009, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, along with U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country, has recovered a total of more than $29.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $18.3 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Macy’s over allegations that the large national retailer violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens at its Glendale, California, location.

The department’s investigation was based on a charge filed by a lawful permanent resident whose hiring was delayed in October 2015.  The charging party alleged, and the investigation found, that she was not able to begin working at Macy’s even though she showed sufficient proof of her work authorization because a Macy’s hiring official incorrectly believed that lawful permanent residents were required to produce unexpired permanent resident cards.  The investigation also found that other human resource employees in Macy’s Glendale location were imposing the same unnecessary requirement on four other lawful permanent residents.  In contrast, U.S. citizens were permitted to choose whichever valid documents they wanted to present to prove their work authorization.  Under the INA, lawful permanent residents do not have to show their permanent resident cards when they start working.  Instead, like all workers, they can choose whichever documentation the would like to present, such as a driver’s license and unrestricted social security card, from the lists of acceptable documents.

Under the settlement agreement, Macy’s will, among other things, provide additional training to its employees and assess its employees’ understanding of applicable rules.  Macy’s will also pay an $8,700 civil penalty and periodically produce Form I-9 information to the department for review.

“Macy’s did the right thing by immediately resolving the charging party’s delayed hiring and by giving her full back pay,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.  “All employers should take care not to impose unlawful burdens on employees because of their citizenship or immigration status and address issues promptly when they make mistakes.”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  The law prohibits, among other things, citizenship, immigration status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices in employment eligibility verification; retaliation and intimidation.

To learn more about the protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php; email [email protected] or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

Applicants or employees who believe they have been 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 OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.

Macy's Settlement Agreement

A Forest City, Iowa, businessman pleaded guilty today in federal court to failing to pay employment taxes, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kevin W. Techau of the Northern District of Iowa.

Darrell Smith, 60, was charged in an indictment in January 2016 with multiple counts of willfully failing to collect, truthfully account for and pay federal employment taxes that were withheld from the wages of employees of Permeate Refining Inc., an ethanol-production business in Hopkinton, Iowa.

“Today’s plea reaffirms our commitment to prosecuting employers who willfully fail to comply with their employment tax obligations,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “Working with our law enforcement partners in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute those who seek to cheat the U.S. Treasury and gain an unfair advantage over their competitors.”

“Mr. Smith’s attempt to dodge his legal obligation to account for and pay employment taxes did not go unchecked, and he will now be held accountable for his criminal conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Techau.

At his guilty plea hearing, Smith admitted that he collected and willfully failed to account for and pay over to the IRS $85,267 for the second quarter of 2012. A sentencing date has not yet been set.  Smith faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison as well as a term of supervised release and monetary penalties. Smith’s co-defendant Randy Less pleaded guilty on June 14 to failing to pay employment taxes and violating the Clean Water Act.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Techau thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vavricek of the Northern District of Iowa and Trial Attorney Matthew Hoffman of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s Employment Tax Enforcement efforts may be found here.

Defendant Used Stolen Identification Information to Access “Get Transcript” Database and File False Returns

An Austell, Georgia, resident was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for his role in laundering proceeds from a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia. 

Rapheal Atebefia pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering on March 25. According to court documents, Atebefia and his co-conspirators obtained the means of identification of actual individuals, including their names and social security numbers, and used this information to access the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “Get Transcript” database.  The stolen names and the information obtained from Get Transcript were used to file false income tax returns.  Atebefia’s co-conspirators obtained prepaid debit cards from stores located in multiple states and registered the cards in the names of the stolen identities.  These debit cards were used to receive the income tax refunds requested on the false tax returns.  To conceal this fraudulent scheme, the prepaid debit cards were then used to purchase money orders.  Atebefia deposited the money orders into his bank accounts and then structured cash withdrawals of the proceeds in order to prevent the bank from filing Currency Transaction Reports.

In addition to the prison term, Atebefia was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $52,621 to the IRS.  Atebefia’s co-defendants, Anthony and Sonia Alika, are scheduled to be sentenced on July 27. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Horn commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who investigated the case and Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Charles M. Edgar Jr. of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce, who are prosecuting this case.

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

A former Credit Suisse AG banker, who has been a fugitive since 2011, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia to charges related to aiding and assisting U.S. taxpayers in evading their income taxes, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Michele Bergantino, 48, a citizen of Italy and a resident of Switzerland, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee to conspiring to defraud the United States by assisting U.S. taxpayers to conceal foreign accounts and evade U.S. tax during his employment as a banker working for Credit Suisse AG on its North American desk.

“Mr. Bergantino is now the third fugitive to come to the United States and plead guilty to charges in this case,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “To those who have actively assisted U.S. taxpayers in using offshore accounts to evade taxes, the message is clear:  staying outside the United States will provide little comfort.  We will investigate and charge you, and will work relentlessly to hold you to account for your actions.”

“Hiding assets and creating secret accounts in an attempt to evade income taxes is a losing game,” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “Today’s plea shows that we will continue to prosecute bankers and U.S. citizens who engage in this criminal activity. I want to thank our law enforcement partners and prosecutors for their work on this important case.”

Bergantino admitted that from 2002 to 2009, while working as a relationship manager for Credit Suisse in Switzerland, he participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to aid and assist U.S. taxpayers in evading their income taxes by concealing assets and income in secret Swiss bank accounts.  Bergantino oversaw a portfolio of accounts, largely owned by U.S. taxpayers residing on the West Coast, which grew to approximately $700 million of assets under management.  Bergantino admitted that the tax loss associated with his criminal conduct was more than $1.5 million but less than or equal to $3.5 million.  

During his time as a relationship manager, Bergantino assisted many U.S. clients in utilizing their Credit Suisse accounts to evade their U.S. income taxes and to facilitate concealment of the U.S clients’ undeclared financial accounts from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Among the steps taken by Bergantino to assist clients in hiding their Swiss accounts were the following:  assuring them that Swiss bank secrecy laws would prevent Credit Suisse from disclosing their undeclared accounts to U.S. law enforcement; discussing business with clients only when they traveled to Zurich to meet him; structuring withdrawals from their undeclared accounts by sending multiple checks, each in amounts below $10,000, to clients in the United States; facilitating the withdrawal of large sums of cash by U.S. customers from their Credit Suisse accounts at Credit Suisse offices in the Bahamas, in Switzerland, particularly the Credit Suisse branch at the Zurich airport and at a financial institution in the United Kingdom; holding clients’ mail from delivery to the United States; issuing withdrawal checks from Credit Suisse’s correspondent bank in the United States; and taking actions to remove evidence of a U.S. client’s control over an account because the U.S. client intended to file a false and fraudulent income tax return.  Moreover, Bergantino understood that a number of his U.S. clients concealed their ownership and control of foreign financial accounts by holding those accounts in the names of nominee tax haven entities, or structures, which were frequently created in the form of foreign partnerships, trusts, corporations or foundations. 

“Today’s plea of Michele Bergantino is another example of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s (CI) dedication to bringing individuals to justice who engage in helping U.S. taxpayers evade their tax obligations,” said IRS-CI Chief Richard Weber. “We will continue our global efforts to vigorously pursue both U.S. taxpayers who avoid paying their fair share and the unscrupulous professionals who facilitate their actions. For those hiding cash or assets offshore, the time to come clean is now.”

Bergantino also admitted traveling to the United States approximately one to two times a year to meet with clients, taking careful steps to conceal the purpose of his visits from U.S. law enforcement.  He used private couriers to send clients’ account statements to the U.S. hotels where he stayed, so that he would not be caught traveling with clients’ statements in his possession.  In addition, Bergantino obtained “travel” account statements for each client he intended to visit which were devoid of Credit Suisse’s logo and account or customer identification information and used business cards that Credit Suisse provided that contained only his name and office number and did not carry the Credit Suisse name or logo.  On entering the United States, Bergantino provided misleading information regarding the nature and purpose of his visit to U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities.

In addition to assisting customers in evading their U.S. taxes, Bergantino also provided illegal advice to U.S. customers regarding investments in U.S. securities.  Neither Bergantino nor Credit Suisse were registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and both U.S. law and Credit Suisse policy prohibited Bergantino and other Credit Suisse employees from providing investment advice in the United States.  Nevertheless, Credit Suisse management pressured its employees, including Bergantino, to make sales in the United States.

Two of Bergantino’s co-defendants, Andreas Bachmann and Josef Dörig, pleaded guilty to the superseding indictment in 2014 and were sentenced on March 27, 2015.  Credit Suisse pleaded guilty in May 2014 for conspiring to aid and assist taxpayers in filing false returns and was sentenced in November 2014 to pay $2.6 billion in fines and restitution.

Bergantino faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison.  He also faces monetary penalties and restitution.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Boente commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and Senior Litigation Counsel Mark F. Daly and Trial Attorney Robert J. Boudreau of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle of the Eastern District of Virginia, who are prosecuting this case.

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

Thomas Harper, a former officer and owner of MCC Construction Company (MCC), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to obstruct justice before the Small Business Administration (SBA).  Harper also agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $165,711, the Department of Justice announced today.

The plea was announced by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division; U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia; Assistant Director in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson of the Small Business Administration (SBA); Inspector General Carol Fortine Ochoa of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA); Special Agent in Charge Brian J. Reihms of the Central Field Office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit (MPFU).

“Today's guilty plea ensures that the defendant does not profit from his crimes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Hesse. “The Antitrust Division will continue to work with our colleagues at the US Attorney's Office and in law enforcement to expose and punish schemes like this that defraud taxpayers and legitimate small business owners.”

“This prosecution and the broader investigation that led to these charges demonstrate the resolve of law enforcement to protect the integrity of federal contracting rules meant to assist small, disadvantaged businesses,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “We are committed to ensuring that the benefits of this important government program go only to those companies that truly are socially and economically disadvantaged and deserving of the work.”

“The FBI will aggressively investigate those who seek to profit by fraudulently competing for government contracts intended for small businesses,” said Assistant Director in Charge Abbate.  “I want to thank the dedicated FBI special agents and analysts, as well as our partner agencies, for their hard work in protecting fair federal contracting opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged businesses in our community.”

“Fraudulently passing work through eligible small businesses to a large business does not provide taxpayers the best value and certainly does not support the role of small businesses as engines of economic development and job creation,” said SBA Inspector General Gustafson.  “In fact, it subverts the purpose of SBA’s preferential contracting programs and harms the small businesses the programs are designed to assist.  I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their leadership and dedication to serving justice.”

“This fraudulent scheme deceived taxpayers and deprived legitimate small businesses of lucrative contracts,” said GSA Inspector General Ochoa. “We are committed to rooting out such exploitative conduct.”

“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to working with our partner agencies to combat fraud impacting the Department of Defense's vital programs and operations and maintain the integrity of the procurement system,” said Special Agent in Charge Reihms.

“There is an absolute need and purpose to assist small and disadvantaged businesses in the contracting process,” said Director Robey.  “Special Agents from Army CID will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to make every contribution possible to bring persons to justice who violate that purpose.”

Harper, 46, of Colchester, Connecticut, was charged in a criminal information on June 6, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with one count of conspiring to obstruct proceedings before a department or agency.  He waived the requirement of being charged by way of federal indictment, agreed to the filing of the information, and accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct. The charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties. According to the government’s calculations, Harper could face a potential range of 10 to 16 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.  The Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson scheduled a status hearing in the case for Sept. 20, 2016.

According to court documents, MCC and others conspired with two companies that were eligible to receive federal government contracts set asides for small, disadvantaged businesses with the understanding that MCC would, illegally, perform all of the work.  In so doing, MCC was able to win 27 government contracts worth over $70 million from 2008 to 2011.  The scope and duration of the scheme resulted in a significant number of opportunities lost to legitimate small and disadvantaged businesses.

Court documents state that in one of these contracts, the GSA contracting officer filed a protest with the SBA, claiming that one of the companies was other than a small business because of its relationship with MCC.  The SBA opened a proceeding to determine whether MCC’s bid on behalf of one of the companies violated SBA rules and regulations.  Harper and others took steps to corruptly influence, impede, and obstruct the SBA size determination protest by willfully and knowingly making false statements to the SBA about the extent and nature of the relationship between MCC and one of the companies.

Court documents also state that MCC violated the provisions of the SBA 8(a) program.  The SBA 8(a) development program is designed to award contracts to businesses that are owned by “one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.”  To qualify for the 8(a) program, a business must be at least 51 percent owned and controlled by a U.S. citizen (or citizens) of good character who meet the SBA’s definition of socially and economically disadvantaged.  The firm must also be a small business (as defined by the SBA) and show a reasonable potential for success.  Participants in the 8(a) program are subject to regulatory and contractual limits.  Also, under the program, the disadvantaged business is required to perform a certain percentage of the work.  For the types of contracts under investigation here, the SBA 8(a)-certified companies were required to perform 15 percent or more of the work with its own employees.

Earlier this year, MCC pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud on the United States by illegally obtaining government contracts that were intended for small, disadvantaged businesses and agreed to pay $1,769,924 in criminal penalties and forfeiture.

The investigation is being conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Inspector General for the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Inspector General of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the Central Field Office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit (MPFU).

 The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Graves and John Marston of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Assistant Chief Craig Y. Lee and Trial Attorneys Kevin B. Hart and Justin P. Murphy of the Antitrust Division.

          ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that EILEEN JOANNE CRUZ QUITUGUA, age 31, was sentenced today by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood of the District Court of Guam to serve 30 months in federal prison, and five years of supervised release, and to pay $159,735.76 in restitution and a $400 special assessment fee.  Defendant QUITUGUA pled guilty on December 3, 2015, to four counts of bank fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344.

          In her plea agreement, QUITUGUA admitted that from October 2011 to January 2014, she embezzled $159,735.76  from her employer Allied Pacific Environmental Consulting (APEC).  APEC hired her as its bookkeeper and she was responsible for preparing checks drawn on the company’s checking accounts maintained at First Hawaiian Bank.  QUITUGUA forged the signatures of the company owner and other authorized personnel on 221 company checks that totaled $159,735.76.  She wrote payroll checks for herself and checks ostensibly for petty cash, and used the stolen funds for her personal benefit.

          U.S. Attorney Limtiaco stated “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and prosecuting those who victimize and perpetrate fraud against members of our community, including businesses and financial institutions.”

          This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marivic David.

A federal court in Tampa, Florida, has permanently barred a Bradenton, Florida, man from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

In April, the United States filed a civil complaint against Guy Riston Paul, individually and doing business as G7 Financial Enterprises & More, G7 Accounting and Tax Services and Voltaire Multi-Services.  Paul, who is currently serving a three-year prison term for engaging in the preparation of false tax returns and for failing to report income he earned from his tax preparation business, consented to entry of the injunction, but he did not admit the allegations in the United States’ complaint. 

According to the civil complaint, Paul prepared federal income tax returns for customers that overstated his customers’ refunds by taking the identities of dependents from customers who were not U.S. citizens and claiming them on the tax returns of his U.S. citizen customers.  Paul used this scheme to claim improper Earned Income Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits, the complaint alleges.  Paul also allegedly claimed other false credits, such as the education tax credit, on his customers’ returns. 

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

UBS AG has complied with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) summons for bank records held in its Singapore office, the Justice Department announced today.  Because UBS has now produced all Singapore-based records responsive to the request and the IRS determined that UBS complied with the summons, the Justice Department has voluntarily dismissed its summons enforcement action against the bank.

The IRS served an administrative summons on UBS for records pertaining to accounts held by Ching-Ye “Henry” Hsiaw.  According to the petition, the IRS needed the records in order to determine Hsiaw’s federal income tax liabilities for the years 2006 through 2011.  Hsiaw transferred funds from a Switzerland-based account with UBS to the UBS Singapore branch in 2002, according to the declaration of a revenue agent filed at the same time as the petition.  UBS refused to produce the records, and the United States filed its petition to enforce the summons.

“The Department of Justice and the IRS are committed to making sure that offshore tax evasion is detected and dealt with appropriately,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Tax Division.  “One critical component of that effort is making sure that the IRS has all of the information it needs to audit taxpayers with offshore assets.  In this case, we filed a petition to enforce a summons for offshore documents, but that’s only one of the tools we have available for gathering information.  Taxpayers with offshore assets who underreported their income should come forward before we come looking for them.”

The Tax Division aggressively pursues offshore tax evasion.  More information is available online about the Division’s Offshore Compliance Initiative and its Swiss Bank Program.  

The national grocery store chain Trader Joe’s Company has agreed to reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gases from refrigeration equipment at 453 of its stores under a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.  Under the settlement, Trader Joe’s will spend an estimated $2 million over the next three years to reduce coolant leaks from refrigerators and other equipment and improve company-wide compliance.  The company will also pay a $500,000 civil penalty.

The United States alleged that Trader Joe’s violated the Clean Air Act by failing to promptly repair leaks of R-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) that is an ozone-depleting substance and potent greenhouse gas used as a coolant in refrigerators. The company also failed to keep adequate servicing records of its refrigeration equipment and failed to provide information about its compliance record.

“By reducing the amount of ozone depleting refrigerants and potent greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere, this settlement will assist our efforts to control these two major global environmental problems,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “The consent decree will also help assure Trader Joe’s future compliance with the Clean Air Act, by requiring heightened auditing, leak monitoring, centralized computer recordkeeping, and searchable electronic reporting to EPA.”

Trader Joe’s will now implement a corporate refrigerant compliance management system to comply with federal stratospheric ozone regulations and to detect and repair leaks through a new quarterly leak monitoring program.  In addition, Trader Joe’s will achieve and maintain an annual corporate-wide average leak rate of 12.1 percent through 2019, well below the grocery store sector average of 25 percent.  The company must also use non-ozone depleting refrigerants at all new stores and major remodels and at least 15 of these stores must use advanced refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide which have significantly less global warming potential compared to typical refrigerants.

“Taking action to combat climate change is a priority for the Obama Administration and this settlement will result in substantial cuts to one of the most potent greenhouse gases,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.  “The company-wide upgrades Trader Joe’s will make are not only good for the environment, they set a high bar for the grocery industry for detecting and fixing coolant leaks.”

“Some of the refrigerants now in use by Trader Joe’s are up to 4,700 times more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Acting Regional Administrator Alexis Strauss for EPA’s Pacific Southwest.  “Today’s settlement will affect all of Trader Joe’s current and new stores to prevent the release of approximately 31,000 metric tons of carbon-equivalent greenhouse gases.” 

The total estimated greenhouse gas emissions reductions from this settlement are equal to the amount from over 6,500 passenger vehicles driven in one year, the CO2 emissions from 33 million pounds of coal burned, or the carbon sequestered by 25,000 acres of forests in one year.

EPA regulations issued under the Clean Air Act require that owners or operators of commercial refrigeration equipment that contain over 50 pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerants repair any leaks within 30 days.  Damage to the ozone layer results in dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet solar radiation, increasing skin cancers and cataracts.  R-22 is also a potent greenhouse gas with 1,800 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide.  Approximately one-quarter of Trader Joe’s equipment units use hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants that are non-ozone-depleting, but have a high global warming potential.  An added benefit of repairing refrigerant leaks is improved energy efficiency of the system which can save electricity.

The settlement is the third in a series of national grocery store refrigerant cases, including cases previously filed against Safeway Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.  Today’s settlement also supports the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan by reducing HFC emissions, as well as EPA’s proposal under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act that aims to update requirements and improve refrigerant management practices for refrigerants that are greenhouse gases, but not ozone-depleting, such as HFCs.  This is the first EPA settlement with requirements to repair leaks of HFCs in order to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Trader Joe’s, headquartered in Monrovia, California, is a privately held chain of specialty grocery stores in the U.S., with 461 stores located in 43 states and Washington, D.C. and 2014 revenues of $9.38 billion.

The settlement was lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.  It will be available for viewing at https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

For more information on the Presidents Climate Action Plan, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf

The Department of Justice announced today that two Alabama pharmacists have been sentenced to 12 and 10 months in prison for their roles in the distribution of adulterated drugs, which were compounded at the now-defunct compounding pharmacy Advanced Specialty Pharmacy doing business as Meds IV.

David Allen, 60, of McCalla, Alabama, was the former pharmacist-in-charge of Meds IV, and William Timothy Rogers, 48, of Hoover, Alabama, was the former president of Meds IV.  Both men pleaded guilty in March 2016 to two misdemeanor violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).  Allen and Rogers were sentenced to 12 months and 10 months in prison, respectively, by U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins for the Northern District of Alabama. Judge Hopkins also sentenced both defendants to one year of supervised release following their imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

“Compounding pharmacies are entrusted with protecting the public’s health from any harm their drugs may impose and must comply with the law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “These cases demonstrate that the Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect consumers from drugs compounded under insanitary conditions.”

“Meds IV provided intravenous nutrition to patients, without taking legally required precautions in the preparation of its product,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance for the Northern District of Alabama. “As a result, a number of patients developed serious infections.  We are committed to prosecuting this type of practice to the fullest extent of the law provides for and protecting the safety of our citizens.”

“Producing unsafe and contaminated drugs poses a serious threat to the U.S. public health and cannot be tolerated,” said Director George Karavetsos of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations.  “The FDA remains fully committed to aggressively pursuing those who place unsuspecting American consumers at risk by distributing adulterated drugs.”

As alleged in the information, Meds IV compounded various drugs for human use, including an intravenous drug known as Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN).  TPN is liquid nutrition administered intravenously to patients who cannot or should not receive their nutrition through eating.  The information alleged that beginning in or around February 2011, Meds IV compounded its own amino acid solution, which it then mixed with other ingredients to form TPN. 

As charged in the information, amino acid used in compounding the TPN was adulterated in that it was contaminated with Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) and was prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions.  S. marcescens is a bacteria that can cause bloodstream infections if introduced into the bloodstream through contaminated medications.  These infections can cause serious medical complications, including death, because S. marcescens is resistant to many antibiotics.

According to the charging document, the amino acid was prepared by Meds IV outside a laminar airflow workbench and was kept unrefrigerated, in a room that was not sterile, in a large pot sitting on the floor, sometimes overnight, before it was sterilized and used. 

As alleged in the information, between March 5 and 15, 2011, nine patients at various Birmingham-area hospitals who developed bloodstream infections caused by S. marcescens died, and several other hospital patients developed S. marcescens bloodstream infections but survived.  According to the charges, all of these patients had been given TPN that was compounded and distributed by Meds IV.  As alleged in the information, while a number of the patients who died had underlying conditions which may have contributed to their deaths, medical records of some patients suggest that the S. marcescens bloodstream infections were also a significant factor.

According to the information, Meds IV was notified on March 14, 2011, by a hospital in the Birmingham area, that four patients receiving TPN had tested positive for S. marcescens.  The information alleged that the TPN was compounded and distributed by Meds IV and that this notification was the first time Meds IV was informed of a link between its TPN and patients testing positive for S. marcescens.  The information alleged that on or around March 16, 2011, Meds IV began notifying some customers that compounding of TPN was suspended until further notice.

As noted in the information, during an inspection at Meds IV starting on March 22, 2011, investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found S. marcescens that was indistinguishable from the outbreak strain on a tap-water faucet, in an open container of amino acid powder, and on the surface of mixing equipment that had been used to make TPN.  According to the charging document, the FDA and CDC investigators linked the S. marcescens to TPN that had been compounded by Meds IV.

As alleged in the information, Allen supervised all compounding at Meds IV, was specifically responsible for reviewing and approving TPN formulations and was also responsible for filling the individual prescriptions Meds IV received for patient-specific TPN products.  The information alleged that Rogers was ultimately responsible for overseeing all of the day-to-day operations of Meds IV.  Both defendants pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, representing the two lots of amino acid which were determined to be adulterated in violation of the FDCA. 

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Heide L. Herrmann of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Cornelius of the Northern District of Alabama.  They were assisted by Associate Chief Counsel Shannon M. Singleton of the Food and Drug Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services.  The case was investigated by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. 

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal.

A San Antonio, Texas, artist was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio to 12 months in prison by U.S. Magistrate Judge John W. Primomo, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Carlos Cortes pleaded guilty to one count of failure to file a 2009 tax return on April 21.  According to court documents, Cortes is an artist who works in the medium of “Faux Bois,” an artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media.  His work has been commissioned by the city of San Antonio along with several San Antonio businesses. 

According to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, Cortes did not file individual income tax returns for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 despite earning gross income well in excess of the filing requirements.  Cortes admitted that he had gross income of $62,043 in 2006, $66,138 for 2007, $457,192 for 2008 and $781,847 for 2009.

Judge Primomo ordered Cortes remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service to begin serving his sentence immediately.  In addition to the prison term, Cortes was ordered to pay $404,433 in restitution and to serve one year of supervised release.  He was also fined $6,000.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and Trial Attorney Robert Kemins of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

A federal grand jury sitting in Scranton, Pennsylvania, returned a superseding indictment today, charging a Forty Fort, Pennsylvania periodontist with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws and two counts of filing false tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to the allegations in the superseding indictment, Dr. Charles Musto filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 that underreported gross receipts of his periodontal practice.  During these years, Musto, who also owned rental real estate in the area, deposited gross receipts of his periodontal practice into multiple personal bank accounts, but only provided his accountant with the gross receipts that were deposited into the business bank account.  Musto also caused his personal expenditures to be falsely classified as business expenses in the books and records of the periodontal practice and the rental real estate business. 

If convicted, Musto faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count.  He also faces substantial monetary penalties and a term of supervised release.

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

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Shawn T. Noud and William Guappone 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 federal jury sitting in Oakland, California, found a local business owner guilty of three counts of tax evasion after an eight-day trial, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch of the Northern District of California. 

Richard T. Grant, 64, of Point Richmond, California, was a 50 percent owner of Grant Engineering and Manufacturing, a business that produces plastic injection molds.  The evidence presented at trial showed that for the tax years 2005 to 2009, Grant earned substantial income from the business.  Grant paid a certified public accountant to prepare tax returns for the business, but he did not file these returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Grant also failed to file tax returns for himself during this period.

“Mr. Grant ignored his tax return filing obligations and when faced with IRS efforts to collect tax due, took deliberate steps to conceal income and evade paying his fair share,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “The verdict in this case serves as a clear reminder that there is a heavy price to pay for tax crimes and the department is committed to holding those engaged in such criminal conduct accountable.”

“Mr. Grant cheated on his taxes and then tried to hide that fact from the IRS,” said U.S. Attorney Stretch.  “As a consequence, he now faces the real possibility of spending years in prison.  This office and our colleagues in the Department of Justice will pursue tax cheats wherever and whenever they intentionally short the public fisc.”

The evidence introduced at trial established that in 2005, close in time to the initiation of IRS’s collection efforts for his past due taxes, Grant significantly curbed the use of his two checking accounts and began moving his partnership distributions from Grant Engineering to a warehouse bank in Arkansas.  A warehouse bank commingles or pools clients’ funds for the purpose of concealing a particular client’s ownership of the funds.  Between April 2005 and October 2006, Grant funded multiple prepaid debit cards and wrote hundreds of checks out of the account toward his mortgage and other personal expenses.  When the warehouse bank was shut down as a result of a federal criminal investigation, Grant began converting his partnership distributions to cashier’s checks and cash at a local bank, avoiding depositing the vast majority of the funds into any bank account which he controlled.  He also used cash to purchase hundreds of U.S. Postal money orders to pay bills and expenses, including utilities, taxes and expenses for his classic aircraft.   

A sentencing hearing is scheduled on Sept. 28. Grant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count, as well as a term of supervised release and monetary penalties.  

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Stretch commended special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation who investigated the case and Trial Attorney Matt Kluge of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Sampson of the Northern District of California, who prosecuted the case.

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

The Justice Department today announced the closure of its case concerning the provision of language assistance to individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the state court system following the successful implementation of reforms by the Colorado Judicial Department.

The Justice Department and the Colorado Judicial Department successfully resolved an investigation of an administrative complaint filed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in federally funded programs or activities.

“The Justice Department will continue to work tirelessly to ensure equal access to justice for all people, regardless of their language ability,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “We commend State Court Administrator Gerald Marroney and his staff for their dedicated, collaborative efforts to transform the delivery of language access services for the benefit of all.”

The complaint alleged that courts in Colorado were requiring LEP civil parties to bring their own interpreters to court.  In 2011, former Chief Justice Michael L. Bender and State Court Administrator Gerald Marroney signed a memorandum of agreement with the department.  At the same time, Chief Justice Bender amended Chief Justice Directive 06-03 to mandate that, effective immediately, qualified interpreters and other approved language assistance would be provided at no charge for LEP individuals in all court proceedings, services and programs.  Following further negotiations, the court’s Office of Language Access issued a comprehensive strategic plan in 2012 that defined 35 needed improvements to court policies, standards, infrastructure and training in order to support the court system’s ability to deliver timely and appropriate language assistance statewide.

Earlier this year, the Colorado Judicial Department completed the work required by the plan.  It also successfully complied with the monitoring requirements set forth in the memorandum of agreement, including further amending the Chief Justice Directive.  Today, after the court system completed the conditions for termination of the agreement, the department officially closed the case.

The department and the Colorado Judicial Department have worked cooperatively to improve communications between LEP court users and court personnel.  In addition to adopting the comprehensive language access policy contained in the Chief Justice Directive, the judiciary’s accomplishments include:

• Revised standards for testing, classifying and disciplining court interpreters, and devised standards to promote hiring of bilingual customer service staff and determine their proficiency in other languages;
• Created a centralized state telephone interpreter center staffed by certified court interpreters trained to provide remote interpreter assistance in limited circumstances and to assist personnel statewide in providing counter assistance for LEP customers;
• Convened an advisory committee including judges, administrators, interpreters and attorneys that provide recommendations on policies, procedures and implementation issues;
• Improved software to assign interpreters to proceedings;
• Translated hundreds of state and local court forms and signs into Spanish, and this year began translations into six other languages regularly encountered;
• Designed and delivered trainings and reference materials for judges, staff and interpreters and acquired access to on-line staff training modules;
• Designed and distributed signs in different formats and languages advising court visitors of the availability of language services at no cost;
• Began to integrate into pleadings and case management orders notice of the availability of interpreter assistance;
• And, improved the system for discipline of contract interpreters for violation of professional standards and created a language access complaint system.

The case was handled by Senior Attorney Paul M. Uyehara of the Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance (FCS) Section.

The complaint was resolved as part of the FCS initiative to ensure that state courts comply with the language access requirements of Title VI.  To ensure that no LEP individual is denied justice due to a court’s failure to provide language services, the FCS courts team provides policy guidance and technical assistance to state court systems and undertakes enforcement actions across the country.

For further information about FCS and Title VI, please visit https://www.justice.gov/crt/fcs.  For additional LEP-related resources, please visit http://www.lep.gov/index.htm.

Colorado Judicial Department Closing Letter

Colorado Courts Release Vietnamese Translation

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy el cierre de su caso relacionado con la provisión de asistencia lingüística a personas con conocimientos limitados del inglés [Limited English Proficiency (LEP)] en el sistema judicial del estado, después de la exitosa implementación de reformas por parte del Poder Judicial de Colorado.

El Departamento de Justicia y el Poder Judicial de Colorado resolvieron con éxito una investigación de una demanda administrativa entablada bajo el Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, que prohíbe la discriminación basada en raza, color u origen nacional en programas o actividades con financiamiento federal. 

“El Departamento de Justicia seguirá trabajando sin descanso para garantizar la igualdad en el acceso a la justicia para todas las personas, independientemente de su capacidad lingüística,” declaró la Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Adjunta Principal Vanita Gupta, Directora de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia.  “Felicitamos al Administrador de Tribunales Estatales Gerald Marroney y su equipo por su dedicación y colaboración para transformar el suministro de servicios de acceso idiomático para el beneficio de todos”. 

La demanda alegaba que los tribunales de Colorado exigían que partes civiles LEP llevaran sus propios intérpretes al tribunal.  En 2011, el ex-Juez Principal Michael L. Bender y el Administrador de Tribunales Estatales Gerald Marroney firmaron un memorando de acuerdo (en inglés) con el departamento.  En dicho momento, el Juez Principal Bender enmendó la Directiva 06-03 del Juez Principal de modo que, con vigencia inmediata, se ordenara la provisión de intérpretes calificados y otros tipos de asistencia lingüística aprobados, sin cargo para personas LEP en todos los procesos, servicios y programas judiciales.   Después de negociaciones adicionales, la Oficina de Acceso Idiomático del tribunal emitió un plan estratégico (en inglés) integral en 2012 que definió 35 mejoras necesarias en las políticas, normas, infraestructura y capacitación de los tribunales, como apoyo a la capacidad del sistema judicial de proveer asistencia lingüística oportuna y adecuada en todo el estado. 

Anteriormente este año, el Poder Judicial de Colorado completó el trabajo requerido por el plan.  También cumplió con éxito las exigencias de monitoreo establecidas en el memorando de acuerdo, incluida la enmienda adicional de la Directiva del Juez Principal (en inglés). Hoy, después de que el sistema judicial completó las condiciones para finalizar el acuerdo, el departamento cerró el caso oficialmente.

El departamento y el Poder Judicial de Colorado han trabajado en conjunto para mejorar las comunicaciones entre usuarios LEP de los tribunales y el personal de los tribunales.  Además de adoptar la política integral de acceso idiomático incluida en la Directiva del Juez Principal, los logros del Poder Judicial incluyen:

• Revisión de las normas para someter a prueba, clasificar y sancionar a los intérpretes judiciales, y normas establecidas para promover la contratación de personal de servicio al cliente bilingüe y determinar sus conocimientos de otros idiomas;

• Creación de un centro telefónico estatal centralizado de intérpretes compuesto por intérpretes judiciales certificados, para brindar asistencia de interpretación remota en circunstancias limitadas para asistir a personal de todo el estado en la provisión de asistencia a clientes LEP;

• Creó un comité asesor que incluye a jueces, administradores, intérpretes y abogados que proveen recomendaciones sobre políticas, procedimientos y asuntos relacionados con la implementación;

• Optimización del software utilizado para asignar intérpretes a procesos;

• Tradujo al español cientos de formularios y carteles de tribunales locales y estatales, y este año comenzó las traducciones a otros seis idiomas de uso habitual;

• Diseñó y realizó sesiones de capacitación y diseñó materiales de referencia para jueces, personal e intérpretes y adquirió acceso a módulos de capacitación de personal en Internet;

• Diseñó y distribuyó carteles en diferentes formatos e idiomas, que avisan a visitantes al tribunal de la disponibilidad de servicios lingüísticos sin cargo;

• Comenzó a incluir en alegatos y órdenes de gestión de casos un aviso de la disponibilidad de la asistencia de intérpretes;

• Y, mejoró el sistema de sanción de intérpretes contratados debido a la violación de normas profesionales, y creó un sistema de quejas relacionadas con el acceso idiomático.

Estuvo a cargo del caso el Abogado Principal Paul M. Uyehara de la Sección de Coordinación y Cumplimiento Federal [Federal Coordination and Compliance (FCS)] de la División de Derechos Civiles.

La demanda fue resuelta como parte de la iniciativa de la FCS para asegurar que los tribunales estatales cumplan con las exigencias de acceso idiomático del Título VI.  Para asegurar que no se le niegue justicia a ninguna persona LEP por la falta de servicios lingüísticos del tribunal, el equipo judicial de la FCS (en inglés) ofrece orientación sobre políticas y asistencia técnica a sistemas judiciales estatales y realiza acciones de coacción en todo el país.

Para obtener información adicional sobre la FCS y el Título VI, por favor visite https://www.justice.gov/crt/fcs.  Para acceder a recursos adicionales relacionados con LEP, visite http://www.lep.gov/index.htm.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, released the following statement on Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s decision to close the investigation into the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner:

“During ‘Freedom Summer’ in 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were brutally murdered while working as part of a massive campaign to register African-American voters in Mississippi.  Their gruesome deaths shook the nation.  The ensuing federal civil rights prosecution, which sought to bring their families a measure of justice, was a proud moment for the Justice Department.  In 1967, federal prosecutors from the Civil Rights Division convicted eight defendants for violating the federal criminal civil rights conspiracy statute.

“The Justice Department has investigated this case three times over 50 years and has helped convict nine individuals for their roles in this heinous crime.  In 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was convicted by a state jury of three counts of manslaughter based on new information that state and federal prosecutors discovered and pursued in 2000.  With the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act in 2008, the department reopened our investigation into the incident again in 2010.  The department’s focus during this third investigation honed in on determining whether sufficient admissible evidence existed to support further state prosecution against any surviving person for involvement in the murders.

“Mississippi Attorney General Hood has determined that despite one of the most intensely investigated and documented underlying investigations of any racially-motivated murder during the 1960s, followed by the exhaustive efforts of more recent reinvestigations, the passage of time has simply rendered additional prosecutions impossible.  While legal and factual impediments sometimes prevent us from bringing cases we wish that we could, the Civil Rights Division remains dedicated to pursuing racially-motivated crimes wherever the facts allow.

“Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner gave their lives while struggling to advance the cause of civil rights for all.  Though the reinvestigation into their heinous deaths has formally closed, we must all honor their legacy by forging ahead and continuing the fight to ensure that the founding promise of America is true for all of its inhabitants.”

Caused 14 False Tax Returns to be Filed in Just Six Months Claiming $7,753,940 in Refunds

A College Park, Maryland, man was sentenced to 97 months in prison today following his conviction in November 2015 by a federal jury on one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and six counts of filing false income tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C. Field Office.

According to the evidence presented at trial, between March and June 2009, Charles W. Parker Jr., 49, recruited clients for co-conspirator Penny Jones, 65, formerly of Rigby, Idaho.  Jones, a tax return preparer in Idaho, prepared tax returns falsely reporting the amount of taxes withheld and purportedly paid to the IRS.  Parker collected financial information from clients and provided it to Jones for the preparation of the false tax returns.  Parker paid Jones to prepare false tax returns for Parker and others.  Parker mailed the false tax returns to the IRS for the years 2005 to 2008, claiming large tax refunds to which the clients were not entitled.  Parker caused the filing of 14 false tax returns in just a six month period that fraudulently claimed $7,753,940 in tax refunds.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus for the District of Maryland ordered Parker to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $2,007,568.  In 2013, Jones was sentenced to 144 months in prison for her role in the scheme.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Rosenstein thanked special agents of IRS-CI, who investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Jo Bressack of the District of Maryland and Trial Attorney Erin Pulice of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

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

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached agreements with 121 podiatry residency programs and the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) to resolve claims that they discriminated against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The department’s investigations found that between 2013 and 2015, the programs and AACPM created and published discriminatory postings for podiatry residents through AACPM’s online podiatry residency application and matching service.  Specifically, the department determined that hundreds of job postings limited podiatry residency positions to U.S. citizens even though there was no legal authorization for the citizenship requirement.  Several work-authorized non-U.S. citizens stated that they were discouraged or deterred from applying to residency programs because of the citizenship requirements, and the department concluded that two lawful permanent residents were denied consideration for positions because of unlawful citizenship requirements.

Under the settlement agreements, the programs are required to remove citizenship requirements from podiatry residency postings except where required by law, train staff involved in the advertising and hiring of podiatric residents and ensure that future residency postings are reviewed by staff trained in equal employment opportunity laws or by legal counsel.  Some of the settlements also require the programs to pay a civil penalty, amounting to total civil penalties from the programs of $141,500.

The settlement with AACPM requires it to pay $65,000 in civil penalties, train its staff on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA and ensure that all participating programs receive such training before they may use AACPM’s online system to advertise residency positions.  The settlement also requires AACPM to refund the fees that the charging party paid to use AACPM’s residency application and matching system.

“Immigrants authorized to work in our country should never face unlawful discriminatory barriers to employment,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “Across the industry, these settlements will ensure that qualified medical students have equal opportunities to join podiatric residency programs and provide healthcare services to our communities.”

The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating in hiring, firing and recruiting or referring for a fee based on a person’s citizenship, immigration status or national origin.  Employers may not limit job opportunities to U.S. citizens unless employers have a legal basis to do so, such as a law, regulation or government contract that imposes citizenship requirements on the position.  Similarly, recruiters and referrers for a fee may not impose barriers to obtaining employment based on an individual’s citizenship, immigration status or national origin.  This means, for instance, that unless a legal exception applies, they may not advertise jobs as available only to U.S. citizens because doing so excludes other work-authorized individuals, such as U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (often referred to as green card holders), asylees and refugees.

The department began its investigations of the programs and AACPM in 2015 after receiving a charge against AACPM from a podiatry medical student with lawful permanent residence.  The charge alleged that AACPM published a series of podiatry residency job announcements that unlawfully restricted positions to U.S. citizens through AACPM’s online application service.  The charge further claimed that AACPM used its online service to collect citizenship status information from residency applicants and share that information with residency programs.

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee; document abuse; retaliation and intimidation.

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php, email [email protected] or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral; or different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin should contact the worker hotline above for assistance.

Podiatry Settlement - AACPM

Podiatry Settlement Category 1

Podiatry Settlement Category 2

Podiatry Settlement - Genesys Regional Medical Center

Podiatry Settlement - Northwest Medical Center

The Justice Department issued a letter of findings today concluding that the Nevada Department of Corrections’ (NDOC) policies and practices for housing and employing inmates with disabilities violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Following a comprehensive ADA compliance review, the department found that NDOC’s discriminatory practices have resulted in the illegal segregation and stigmatization of inmates with HIV and the incarceration of inmates with disabilities for longer periods, in more restrictive settings, than inmates without disabilities.

The department’s letter makes three principal findings.  First, NDOC segregates inmates with HIV through a policy prohibiting the housing of inmates with HIV in the same cells as inmates who do not have HIV.  Second, NDOC denies inmates with HIV equal employment opportunities.  Third, NDOC denies inmates with various disabilities, including those with mobility disabilities, HIV or certain other medical or mental health conditions, equal opportunities to benefit from the programs offered at two of NDOC’s lowest-custody facilities –its conservation camps and transitional-housing facilities.

The department found that these discriminatory practices have the following effects:

• NDOC’s segregation of inmates with HIV stigmatizes them while indiscriminately disclosing their confidential HIV status to NDOC employees and inmates.  This segregation policy is without any legitimate health justification, as leading public health and correctional authorities, including the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, oppose the routine segregation of inmates with HIV as medically unnecessary. 
• Inmates who work in NDOC prisons, and those who are housed in conservation camps or transitional-housing facilities, can earn “work credits” to reduce the lengths of their sentences.  By denying inmates with HIV equal employment opportunities, and by denying inmates with disabilities equal opportunities to benefit from the services, programs and activities available to inmates at conservation camps and transitional-housing facilities, NDOC deprives inmates with disabilities of equal opportunities to engage in productive activities and to accelerate their NDOC release dates. 
• By denying inmates with disabilities equal opportunities to obtain placement at its lower-custody and lower-security facilities, NDOC confines them in more restrictive settings than they otherwise would be housed. 

“The ADA’s promises of non-discriminatory treatment and equal opportunity apply to all people with disabilities, including inmates at correctional facilities,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “No inmate should have to stay in segregated housing because of a HIV diagnosis or serve a longer sentence because of a disability.  Real and lasting reform in Nevada will require not only systemic changes to its policies, practices and procedures, but also a commitment to address unfounded stereotypes, fears and assumptions about individuals with disabilities.”

The department commends Nevada for its cooperation with this ADA compliance review and will continue to work closely with NDOC and Nevada’s Office of the Attorney General to resolve the department’s findings expeditiously and under mutually-agreeable terms.

To read the full findings letter, please visit www.ada.gov.  For more information about the ADA, call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.

Nevada Department of Corrections 

The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued the following statement regarding the FBI's release of the transcript related to the Orlando shooting:

“The purpose of releasing the partial transcript of the shooter's interaction with 911 operators was to provide transparency, while remaining sensitive to the interests of the surviving victims, their families, and the integrity of the ongoing investigation.  We also did not want to provide the killer or terrorist organizations with a publicity platform for hateful propaganda.  Unfortunately, the unreleased portions of the transcript that named the terrorist organizations and leaders have caused an unnecessary distraction from the hard work that the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been doing to investigate this heinous crime.  As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances.”

Transcript of Orlando Police Department 911 Calls, June 12, 2016

2:35 a.m.: Shooter contacted a 911 operator from inside Pulse.  The call lasted approximately 50 seconds, the details of which are set out below:

(OD)   Orlando Police Dispatcher

(OM)   Omar Mateen

OD:     Emergency 911, this is being recorded.

OM:     In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficent [Arabic]

OD:     What?

OM:     Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [Arabic]. I wanna let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.

OD:     What’s your name?

OM:     My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State.

OD:     Ok, What’s your name?

OM:     I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State.

OD:     Alright, where are you at?

OM:     In Orlando.

OD:     Where in Orlando?

[End of call.]

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch will travel to Orlando on TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016, to meet with victims, first responders and other members of the community impacted by the terrorist attack in Orlando.  The Attorney General will also receive an operational briefing at the investigation command center and hold a media availability with U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida.        

WHO:            

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch

U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida

WHEN:         

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016

2:15 p.m. EDT

WHERE:

U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Florida – Orlando Office  

400 W. Washington Street

Suite 3100

Orlando, FL 32801

OPEN PRESS (Media Gather Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT; Final Access: 2:00 p.m. EDT)

NOTE: All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) as well as valid media credentials.  Members of the media must RSVP to [email protected] by MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.  Space is limited and not guaranteed.  Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to [email protected]. 

                U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), was invited by ISA Guam to the Lighting of the Latte of Freedom in Anigua, held June 16, 2016, in memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting and in support of the LGBT community.  U.S. Attorney Limtiaco was also invited to give remarks at the candlelight vigil held later that night at Club Icon in Tumon.  ISA Guam is an organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) equality, specifically Guam’s LGBT community and supporters.

                The theme for this year’s the Department of Justice (DOJ) LGBT Pride Month Program was “The Struggle for Equality Continues.”  Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch at the Annual Justice Department LGBT Pride Month Observance Program, stated, “Every year during Pride Month we take a moment to commemorate the accomplishments of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals who have spurred this country to make strides toward the stronger, more equal and more perfect Union that all Americans deserve.  We talk about the road we’ve taken, the challenges we’ve faced and the obstacles we’ve overcome.  And we look ahead to the journey that still stretches out before us.”

 

Photo of the Lighting of the Latte of Freedom Photo taken at the Candlelight Vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting Photo taken at the Candlelight Vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting

 

A federal court in Orlando, Florida, has permanently barred a Florida man from preparing tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax return preparation business, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division announced today.

The court also entered a $1 million judgment against Demetrius Scott of Orlando on the United States’ claim for disgorgement of the proceeds that he received for the preparation of tax returns.  The civil injunction and disgorgement judgment were signed by Judge Anne C. Conway of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Scott agreed to entry of the injunction and disgorgement judgment, but did not agree to any of the facts alleged in the United States’ civil complaint.

In September 2014, the United States filed a civil injunction complaint against Scott alleging that he and his employees prepared fraudulent tax returns for customers.  Scott was allegedly a former franchisee of LBS Tax Services and operated a tax preparation company called Neighborhood Tax Pros and Tax Giant with locations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.  The complaint alleged that return preparers in Scott’s business targeted primarily low-income customers with deceptive and misleading advertisements; prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns to fraudulently increase their customers’ refunds; and profited through unconscionable, exorbitant and often undisclosed fees—all at the expense of their customers and the U.S. Treasury.  According to the complaint, Scott and his employees prepared federal tax returns on which they falsely claim the earned-income credit and bogus education credits, report improper filing statuses, claim income and expenses related to non-existent businesses and fabricate job-related expenses, while charging their customers deceptive and unconscionable fees. 

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer.  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.

Company to pay $5 Million Criminal Fine

GEO Specialty Chemicals Inc., an Ohio company, has pleaded guilty for its role in a conspiracy to eliminate competition involving contracts to supply liquid aluminum sulfate to municipalities and pulp and paper manufacturers in the United States, the Department of Justice announced today.

GEO’s Water Treatment Chemicals Division, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a manufacturer and supplier of water treatment chemicals, including liquid aluminum sulfate.  The company has admitted to conspiring to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers involving contracts for liquid aluminum sulfate, a coagulant used by municipalities to treat drinking and waste water, and by pulp and paper manufacturers in their manufacturing processes.  GEO has been sentenced to pay a fine of $5 million.  GEO is the first corporate defendant, and fourth defendant overall, to be charged with participation in this decade-and-a-half-long conspiracy.  One individual previously pleaded guilty and two others have been indicted in connection with the conspiracy.

“GEO and its co-conspirators deprived municipalities and paper manufacturers of the competitive prices they rightly expected from their suppliers of liquid aluminum sulfate,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “This prosecution continues our efforts to hold criminally responsible those who collude to cheat their customers.”

“The FBI is committed to protecting the American consumer’s right to expect the benefits of free and open competition. However, GEO Specialty Chemicals and their co-conspirators colluded to circumvent competitive bidding and independent pricing for liquid aluminum sulfate contracts, and conspired to raise prices by submitting artificially inflated bids to their customers,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher of the FBI’s Newark Division.  “They also allocated customers in furtherance of their collusive scheme. By agreeing to violate both the spirit and the letter of the competitive process, GEO and others defrauded municipalities as well as pulp and paper companies out of millions of dollars.”

According to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, from 1997 until 2011, GEO and its co-conspirators engaged in their collusive agreement by meeting to discuss each other’s liquid aluminum sulfate business, submitting intentionally losing bids to favor the intended winner of the business, withdrawing inadvertently winning bids, and discussing with each other prices to be quoted or bid to municipalities and pulp and paper manufacturers.

The investigation into price fixing, bid rigging, and customer allocation in the liquid aluminum sulfate industry is being conducted by the New York Office of the Antitrust Division and the FBI’s New Jersey Office.  Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging, or customer allocation in the sale and marking of liquid aluminum sulfate should contact the New York Office of the Antitrust Division at 212-335-8000, call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.

Press Secretary Dena Iverson released the following statement regarding proposed amendment 4720 to the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Bill by Senator Dianne Feinstein.

“The Justice Department supports Senator Feinstein's amendment to help keep guns out of the hands of individuals believed to be engaged in terrorism.  The amendment gives the Justice Department an important additional tool to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists by licensed firearms dealers while ensuring protection of the department's operational and investigative sensitivities.  We also continue to support universal background checks as a necessary tool to prevent suspected terrorists from lawfully obtaining firearms."

Conspired to File Fraudulent Income Tax Returns Claiming Over $1.5 Million in Tax Refunds Using Stolen Names and Social Security Numbers

A Pembroke Pines, Florida couple was sentenced to prison for their role in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Kelly Jackson of the Internal Revenue Service–Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

On June 16, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom for the Southern District of Florida sentenced Rhonda Perry Gittens, 35, to serve 75 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Gittens’ boyfriend and co-conspirator, Walther Wilson Godfrey, 37, was previously sentenced on April 15 to serve 75 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Judge Bloom also ordered Godfrey and Gittens to pay $792,442 in restitution to the IRS.  Godfrey and Gittens pleaded guilty in January to one count of a multi-object conspiracy to defraud the United States, commit wire fraud and commit aggravated identity theft, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud.   

“The sentences imposed by Judge Bloom reflect the serious harm caused by the defendants’ scheme to enrich themselves at the expense of the U.S. Treasury and their identity theft victims,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “The defendants attempted to hide behind a veneer of corporate and nominee identities that ultimately provided no bar to the investigative efforts of our law enforcement partners.  Return preparers who seek to profit through false tax returns face harsh punishment and the result in this case should deter other individuals from engaging in similar schemes.”

“This sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who seeks to commit tax fraud or identity theft that federal law enforcement resources will be marshalled against them to discover their crimes and bring them to justice," said U.S. Attorney Ferrer.  "We will continue to work tirelessly with all our law enforcement partners to prosecute those crimes.”

“IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) will continue to investigate those who attempt to defraud our nation’s tax system, and we will continue to fight for the innocent victims whose identities are being used in these stolen identity tax refund fraud schemes,” stated Special Agent in Charge Jackson of IRS-CI.  “We are pleased with these sentences, as the defendants are being held accountable for attempting to steal more than $1.5 million from the IRS, possessing device-making equipment for driver’s licenses and credit cards, and recruiting another individual to participate in the crime.”

According to court documents and evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, between July 2009 and August 2014, Godfrey, Gittens and others conspired to defraud the United States by filing false federal income tax returns using stolen identities.  Gittens owned and operated 2G, Inc., a tax return preparation business, and G&G Check Cashing Inc., a check cashing business, both of which were located in Pembroke Pines.  Godfrey and Gittens obtained the personal identification information of actual individuals, some deceased, including names, social security numbers, addresses and dates of birth, without the individuals’ authorization, to prepare and file false income tax refund claims for the years 2009 through 2011.  Godfrey and Gittens recruited a co-conspirator, Marc Brown, to put Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) in his name through which fraudulent income tax returns would be filed.  In addition, Godfrey and Gittens directed Brown to set up companies and bank accounts in his name to negotiate the fraudulently obtained income tax refund checks.  Godfrey and Gittens filed more than 700 fraudulent tax returns requesting more than $1.5 million in income tax refunds.  In addition, Godfrey and Gittens possessed device-making equipment including an identification card printer, a credit card embosser, hologram stickers for driver’s licenses and credit cards and blank credit cards.   

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Ferrer commended special agents of IRS-CI, who investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Karadbil of the Southern District of Florida and Assistant Chief Greg Tortella of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

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

The Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced the appointment of Rebecca J. Ferrell, Ph.D. and Sgt. Troy Lawrence to the National Commission on Forensic Science. 

The commission, created in 2013, develops forward-looking policy recommendations for the Attorney General to enhance the practice and improve the reliability of forensic science.

The commission is co-chaired by Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Dr. Willie E. May.  Deputy Assistant Administrator Nelson Santos of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of Forensic Sciences and Special Assistant to the NIST Director for Forensic Science John M. Butler serve as vice-chairs.

“The commission has been diligently developing important recommendations to strengthen forensic science in this country.  These two new members will ensure that the commission continues to benefit from a wide range of perspectives, including those from the scientific community and from state and local law enforcement,” said Deputy Attorney General Yates.  “Dr. Ferrell and Sgt. Lawrence are eminently qualified to continue the good work of the commission.”

“Since its inception, the Commission has benefitted from the contributions of some of America's most prominent scientists and forensic practitioners,” said Under Secretary May. “I have no doubt that our newest commissioners will continue this proud tradition as we work together to strengthen the science that underpins the forensic evidence used in the U.S. judicial system.”

Dr. Ferrell is the Program Director for the Biological Anthropology Program at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia.  She is replacing outgoing Commissioner Mark Weiss who recently retired from the National Science Foundation.  Sgt. Lawrence is the Director of the Digital Forensic Lab for the Fort Worth Police Department.  He is replacing Bill Crane, who will be relocating to a new position overseas.

The commission includes federal, state and local forensic science service providers; research scientists and academics; law enforcement officials; prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges; and other stakeholders from across the country.  This breadth of experience and expertise reflects the many different entities that contribute to forensic science practice in the United States and will ensure that these broad perspectives are represented on the commission and in its work.

The commission was established in 2013 and re-chartered for another two-year period in April 2015.  The new members announced today are replacing individuals whose tenures with the commission recently ended. 

The commission’s next meeting will be held from June 20 to 21, at the Office of Justice Programs, 3rd Floor Main Conference Room, 810 7th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20531.  More information about the commission can be found at http://www.justice.gov/ncfs.

 

An Alabama real estate investor pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in southern Alabama, the Department of Justice announced today.

Adrian J. Beach admitted that he conspired with others to, among other things, defraud financial institutions, homeowners and others with a legal interest in rigged foreclosure properties, out of proceeds from foreclosure auctions.  Beach is charged with participating in the conspiracy from January 2004 through March 2010.  Financial institutions and homeowners suffered monetary losses as a result of the conspiracy. 

“Adrian Beach schemed to rig home foreclosure auctions for his own benefit,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Real estate investors should know that the division and its colleagues in law enforcement will hold them accountable for conspiring to defraud banks and homeowners by depriving them of competitive auctions.” 

“Honesty and integrity in business practices are a hallmark of the American way and those who engage in illegal activities to obtain a business advantage which lines their pockets with ill-gotten gain will be held accountable by the FBI for their action,” said FBI Mobile Division Special Agent in Charge Robert F. Lasky.

Beach is the fourteenth defendant prosecuted in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation of bid rigging and other fraudulent conduct in the Alabama real estate foreclosure industry. 

The investigation into fraud and bid rigging in the Alabama real estate foreclosure industry is being conducted by the Washington Criminal II Section of the Antitrust Division, and the FBI’s Mobile Field Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.  Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Washington Criminal II Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-598-4000, call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at    1-888-647-3258, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.

These charges have been filed in connection with the president’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  The president established the task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud.  Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations.  Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants.  For more information about the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.  Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Washington Criminal II Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-598-4000, call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

More Than 100 Charged in Wide-Spread Auto Parts Investigation

A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio returned two indictments charging Japanese automotive parts companies, their U.S. subsidiaries, and a total of five executives for their alleged participation in international conspiracies to eliminate competition in the sale of automotive parts sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Justice Department announced today.

One of the indictments, filed today in Cincinnati, charges Tokai Kogyo Co. Ltd., its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Green Tokai Co. Ltd., and Akitada Tazumi with conspiring to rig bids for and fix the prices of automotive body sealing products sold to Honda Motor Company Ltd. and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates for installation in vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States and elsewhere.  Automotive body sealing products consist of body-side opening seals, door-side weather-stripping, glass-run channels, trunk lids and other smaller seals, which are installed into automobiles to keep the interior dry from rain and free from wind and exterior noises. 

In a separate indictment, also filed in Cincinnati, Maruyasu Industries Co. Ltd., its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Curtis-Maruyasu America Inc. (CMA), Tadao Hirade, Satoru Murai, Kazunori Kobayashi and Yoshihiro Shigematsu were charged with conspiring to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids for automotive steel tubes sold in the United States and elsewhere.  Automotive steel tubes are used in fuel distribution, braking, and other automotive systems and are sometimes divided into two categories – chassis tubes and engine parts.  As their names suggest, chassis tubes, such as brake and fuel tubes, tend to be located in the body of a vehicle while engine parts, such as fuel injection rails, oil level tubes, and oil strainer tubes, are associated with the function of a vehicle’s engine.

“These defendants, as is their right, have chosen to put the government to its burden of proof, and we accept that challenge without hesitation,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “We will not be deterred from holding those involved – both corporations and individuals – accountable for their actions, and we welcome the opportunity to prove our cases to a jury.”

“The FBI is committed to aggressively investigating individuals who engage in criminal conduct that corrupts the global marketplace,” said Special Agent in Charge Howard Marshal of the FBI’s Louisville Division.  “We will continue our work with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division to uncover schemes aimed at creating an unfair competitive advantage by way of price fixing, bid rigging or other illegal means.”

“The Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General is dedicated to working in conjunction with the DOJ Antitrust Division in protecting the U.S. economy from the type of criminal activity revealed in this case,” said Special Agent in Charge Duane Townsend of the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General.  “The charges today represent our diligent cooperative efforts to identify such activity and seek prosecution, whether committed by domestic or international sources, and to deter future attempts to damage our economy through criminal enterprise.”

According to the indictment charging Tokai Kogyo, Green Tokai, and Tazumi, the defendants, along with their co-conspirators, participated in meetings and conversations to discuss the allocation of sales of automotive body sealing products, and the bids and price quotations that they would submit to Honda.  The indictment charges that the conspirators agreed on, and exchanged information about, bids, price quotations, and price adjustments to be submitted to Honda, and agreed to allocate sales of automotive body sealing products sold to Honda.  The conspirators concealed their conduct by using code in e-mails and instructing e-mail recipients to delete e-mails referencing coordination with competitors, according to the charge. 

Tokai Kogyo, Green Tokai, and Tazumi allegedly participated in the automotive body sealing products conspiracy from at least as early as March 2008 until at least August 2011.  During this period, Tazumi served as Assistant General Manager at Tokai Kogyo, an Obu, Japan-based company that manufactured and sold automotive body sealing products. 

According to the indictment charging Maruyasu Industries, CMA, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu, the defendants, along with their co-conspirators, participated in and directed subordinate employees to participate in meetings conversations, and communications in which they agreed to customer allocations as well as bids, prices and price adjustments to be submitted to customers in the United States and elsewhere.  The indictment also alleges that the defendants and their conspirators employed measures to conceal their conduct, including meeting surreptitiously and adopting means and methods of communication designed to avoid detection.

Maruyasu Industries, CMA, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu allegedly participated in the automotive steel tubes conspiracy from at least as early as December 2003 until at least as late as July 9, 2011.  During this period, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu served as sales executives at Maruyasu Industries, headquartered in Aichi Prefecture in Japan.  Additionally, Kobayashi and Shigematsu each served as sales coordinators at Kentucky-based CMA for several years during the conspiracy.

The charges contained in these indictments are allegations and not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The companies charged today are the first companies to be indicted in the 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 64 individuals and 44 companies have been charged and have agreed to pay more than $2.7 billion in criminal fines.  These indictments were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office, the FBI’s Louisville Field Office, Covington Resident Agency, and the Department of Commerce’s Denver Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI’s International Corruption Unit, the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Ohio.  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 the FBI’s Louisville Field Office at 502-263-6000.

Tokai Kogyo et al. Indictment

Maruyasu Indictment

A Michigan man pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. 

Royal Alexander Jr., 51, who owned and operated Royal Publishing Inc., in Flint, Michigan, admitted that from 2010 through 2015, he willfully aided in the preparation and filing of 40 false individual income tax returns.  According to the information, these returns were false in that they included inflated or entirely fictitious Schedules C; claimed a false dependent; claimed a false IRA deduction; falsely claimed Head of Household status for a client; and/or claimed a false education credit, all to produce larger refunds.

Alexander’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20.  He faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and agreed in his plea to pay $98,605 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Alexander also faces financial penalties and a term of supervised release. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey A. McLellan and Abigail B. Chingos of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting this case.

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

A Brooklyn, New York, tax return preparer was sentenced to 36 months in prison today following her guilty plea on Sept. 21, 2015, to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

“The Tax Division remains committed to pursuing and prosecuting tax return preparers who knowingly prepare false tax returns for their clients,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.  “Fraudulent preparers undermine the integrity of our tax system.  Today’s sentence serves as a reminder to all tax return preparers that if you engage in such criminal conduct it will result in prosecution and incarceration.”

Awilda Rosario, 40, owned and operated a tax preparation business in Brooklyn called Edujas Multiservices Corporation.  Rosario prepared false individual income tax returns for clients for tax years 2008 through 2013.  She attached false schedules that reported business losses the taxpayers did not incur and attached schedules that reported inflated or fictitious deductions.  She also attached forms claiming fictitious education and fuel tax credits that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive.

After the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked the Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN) for Edujas Multiservices Corporation, Rosario obtained at least two different EFINs and continued to prepare and submit false tax returns for her clients that listed a different paid tax return preparer and tax preparer firm.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York ordered Rosario to serve one year of supervised release and pay $607,904 in restitution to the IRS.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant Chief Jorge Almonte and Trial Attorney Shawn T. Noud of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

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

The Department of Justice announced today that since it reopened in 2011, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) has paid over $1.52 billion to first responders, recovery workers, and residents who suffered physical harm or were killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of Sept. 11, 2001 or the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath of those crashes.  The VCF is now ready to enter its next phase and today posted for public comment updated regulations that will govern the program for the next several years.  

The $1.52 billion includes all payments made to date – either partial or in full – on Group A claims, defined as claims for which a loss determination was issued on or before Dec. 17, 2015.  Since reauthorization of the VCF in December 2015, the Special Master has authorized the final payment on 8,930 Group A claims.  This means that the VCF has less than 200 Group A claims left to be authorized for full payment.  All of the remaining claims have issues preventing payment; however, the VCF is working with claimants and their representatives to resolve the open issues as quickly as possible.  The Special Master will authorize payment on remaining Group A claims by the end of the month. 

In addition to the priority placed on paying Group A claims as quickly as possible, the Special Master has also issued updated regulations as an Interim Final Rule, with a 30-day post-publication comment period, as well as created an updated claim form. 

“It has taken a tremendous amount of work to update the regulations to reflect the reauthorization law and to redesign the claim form to make it easier to use, while at the same time continuing to implement the other changes required by the reauthorization,” said VCF Special Master Sheila Birnbaum.  “I encourage claimants to review the new sample claim form and begin gathering the relevant information and documents so they are prepared to submit their claim when the form becomes available online and in hard copy at the end of July.  I realize no amount of money can alleviate the losses suffered on Sept. 11, 2001, but the 9-11 community is one of great resilience, and the men and women who are working so hard to process VCF claims are proud and privileged to work with all of you.”

The Interim Final Rule is effective as of today and has been posted on the VCF website for public inspection and review.  The rule has also been formally published in the Federal Register and the 30-day comment period has begun.  Information on how to submit comments can be found in the document.  By publishing the regulations as an Interim Final Rule, the VCF can begin issuing Group B compensation decisions as soon as Group B funding becomes available, while still allowing Special Master Birnbaum to carefully consider any comments received post-publication and make any necessary changes before issuing a Final Rule. 

Additionally, the updated claim form has been finalized.  A sample version of the revised form can be found on the VCF website.  The sample form cannot be submitted as a claim at this time, but provides claimants with a guide to understand the type of information and documents that will be needed once the VCF begins accepting new claims.  For more information about the timing for submitting new claims, please see the Special Master’s May 24 message. 

The VCF continues to review Group B claims and contact claimants to request missing information when needed.  The VCF has rendered more than 2,500 eligibility decisions since the beginning of January and completed loss calculations for more than 1,000 claims.  The VCF continues to send “Group B Complete” letters to claimants to inform them that their claim has been reviewed and any eligible loss has been calculated.   The Special Master expects to begin issuing the first Group B loss determinations at the end of June, with the expectation that the first full payments will be authorized in mid-August.  This is contingent on finalizing the accounting for Group A payments and the subsequent availability of Group B funding.

Claimants are encouraged to call the VCF Helpline at 1-855-885-1555 with any questions they may have.  For the hearing impaired, please call 1-855-885-1558 (TDD).  If you are calling from outside the United States, please call 1-202-514-1100.

 

Joint Summary of Outcomes

Today, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Ministry of Public Security Guo Shengkun co-chaired the second U.S.-China Cybercrime and Related Issues High Level Joint Dialogue with representatives of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.  The dialogue aims to implement the consensus reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama in September 2015 during President Xi’s visit to the United States, and to enhance pragmatic bilateral cooperation with regard to cybercrime, network protection and other related issues.

Since the first dialogue, both sides have worked to implement the consensus reached between the two countries’ presidents and the outcomes of the first dialogue.  Both sides continue to develop cooperation on combating cybercrime and network protection investigations and information exchanges, aiming to conduct routine exchanges and improve cyber security cooperation.

The outcomes of the second dialogue are listed as below:

1. Tabletop Exercise.  Both sides value the cyber tabletop exercise held in April 2016, and regard the exercise as informative and effective.  Both sides decided to hold a second tabletop exercise concerning cybercrime and network protection prior to the next dialogue.
2. Hotline Mechanism.  Both sides decided to implement the “U.S.-China Cybercrime and Related Issues Hotline Mechanism Work Plan,” and have reached consensus on the scope, objective and procedures of the hotline.  China and the United States decided to test the hotline mechanism before September 2016.
3. Network Protection.  Both sides decided to continue to strengthen cooperation in network protection.  Both sides decided to hold a network security and protection working-level expert seminar in August 2016 in China.  The experts decided to meet regularly in the future and report to the ministerial level at the High-Level dialogue in the future.
4. Information Sharing, Case Cooperation and Resources.  Both sides decided to: enhance case investigations and information exchange related to cybercrime and other malicious cyber activities; exchange information and develop cooperation in cybercrime investigations and cyber incidents of mutual concern; hold a workshop to discuss how to enhance information exchanges and handling related to Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLAA); and share cyber threat information on a regular basis, including increasing information sharing of malicious software samples and related analysis reports.  Both sides acknowledge the importance of the increase of manpower and resources to tackle cybercrime threats and decided to further strengthen communication mechanisms as well as respective central authorities under the MLAA.  Both sides discussed the 24/7 High Tech Network of international points of contact for the purpose of assisting in investigations involving electronic evidence that require urgent assistance from foreign law enforcement. 
5. Cyber-Enabled Crime.  Both sides commit to prioritize cooperation on combatting cyber-enabled intellectual property (IP) theft for commercial gain and cooperate in law enforcement operations in four additional areas: online child pornography distribution, misuse of technology and communications for terrorist activities, commercial email compromise/phishing and online firearms trafficking.  Both sides decided to conduct a proposed seminar on misuse of technology and communications to facilitate violent acts of terrorism in 2016 in China before the next round of the dialogue.  The United States and China decided to create an action plan to address the threat posed from business email compromise scams.
6. Senior Experts Group.  Both sides discussed the first U.S.-China Senior Experts Group on International Norms in Cyberspace and Related Issues.
7. Third High-Level Dialogue.  Both sides plan to hold the next round of the dialogue in the second half of 2016 in Washington, D.C.       

Today, at the United State of Women Summit, the Department of Justice and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), through its new Elder Justice AmeriCorps partnership, announced $2 million in grants to provide legal assistance and support services to victims of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation – the majority of whom are women. 

The Elder Justice AmeriCorps program is funded by the Justice Department’s Elder Justice Initiative, Office for Victims of Crime and CNCS, the federal agency which administers AmeriCorps and other national service programs.  This new effort is also supported by the Justice Department’s Office for Access to Justice.  

The new program will support 300 AmeriCorps members, serving through Equal Justice Works, over the next two years in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

“Elder abuse and exploitation exact an enormous physical, financial and emotional toll on victims, many of whom never find the comprehensive support they so desperately need,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.  “Elder Justice AmeriCorps deploys a volunteer army of legal advocates in communities across the country, giving thousands of our nation’s elders a place to turn for healing and justice.”

“After a lifetime of hard work, serving our nation, and raising their families, our seniors are often targeted by unscrupulous actors who intend to take advantage of them, making them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation,” Said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.  “Through Elder Justice AmeriCorps, we are expanding our partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice to connect these older adults with highly skilled AmeriCorps members who can provide legal services that will ensure our seniors have the care and support they need and deserve.”

The AmeriCorps members are expected to serve more than 4,000 older adults each year by providing screenings for abuse, neglect or exploitation; referrals to support services associated to abuse or neglect; and high-quality legal services. Elder Justice AmeriCorps members are also expected to leverage an additional 300 community volunteers who will be engaged in the provision of specialized legal services to older adults who have been victims of abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Elder Justice AmeriCorps is the first-ever army of new lawyers and paralegals to help victims of those who prey on our nation’s elders.  It expands on an existing partnership between the two agencies, which includes justice AmeriCorps, a legal aid program launched in 2014 by the Department of Justice and CNCS to serve unaccompanied minors.  Upon completion of their service, Elder Justice AmeriCorps members will be eligible for a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, or scholarship, to help pay for additional education or pay back student loans.

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The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages millions of Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund and other programs, and leads president's national call to service initiative, United We Serve.  For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.

On June 14 the White House Council on Women and Girls is convening the first United State of Women Summit, a large-scale effort to rally together advocates of gender equality to highlight what we've achieved, identify the challenges that remain, and chart the course for addressing them. Experts, advocates, and grassroots and business leaders who work in both domestic and international arenas will gather to highlight key issues affecting women and girls.  More information on the summit is available at www.theunitedstateofwomen.org.