District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
Government Files Enforcement Actions against Two California Companies and Three Individuals to Stop Importation of Dangerous Children's ProductsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it filed two civil actions in federal court in the Central District of California seeking to enjoin the importation and sales activities of two California companies and three individuals in connection with their importation of illegal and dangerous children’s products. The department filed the two actions at the request of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), alleging that the defendants were responsible for importing children’s products containing, among other things, lead, phthalates and small parts posing a choking hazard for children under the age of three. The companies and defendants have agreed to settle the lawsuits and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction.
“Companies who do not comply with CPSC’s statutes and regulations regarding toys put American children at risk,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Parents have a right to feel confident that the toys their children play with are safe.”
“We have zero tolerance for companies and individuals who put children at risk,” said CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. “To protect our children from unsafe and dangerous toys, we’ll continue to use all available enforcement tools at our disposal as well as continue to collaborate with our federal partners. Parents deserve no less when it comes to the safety of their children’s toys.”
“There is no greater responsibility of the Department of Justice than to protect our nation’s children,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California. “Today’s action demonstrates the Department’s commitment to keeping our children safe from all sources of harm.”
Both complaints allege that the defendants imported toys and other children’s products in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA). One complaint was filed against Brightstar Group Inc., a Los Angeles importer and retailer of children’s products and toys, and its owner, Sherry Chen, 61, of Arcadia, California. The complaint alleges that since August 2013, CPSC collected dozens of samples from Brightstar’s import shipments as they attempted to enter the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, California, and from Brightstar’s Los Angeles facility. Based on their findings, CPSC issued nine Letters of Advice between September 2013 and April 2015, notifying the Brightstar defendants that their products violated federal standards. CPSC found numerous children’s products, including a fire engine set, a tea set, toy boxing gloves, collapsing stroller and marbles, in violation of the CPSA, the FHSA and their implementing regulations. Most of the violative products were stopped at import and were not sold to consumers. Chen is also sued for violations, which include importing violative infant rattles that occurred while she was the manager of Taifung Corp., a now-dissolved California corporation owned by her husband that also imported and sold children’s products and toys.
A second action was filed against Unik Toyz Trading Inc. (Unik), a Los Angeles importer and retailer of children’s products and toys, its owner, Julie Tran, 33, and its manager, Kiet Tran, 38, both of of Arcadia, California. The complaint alleges that since September 2011, CPSC identified 39 samples of children’s products imported by Unik, including toy cars, toy trains, bubble guns and art materials, that violate federal standards for children’s toys. These violations include illegal levels of lead content and toys intended for children under the age of three that contain small parts and accessible batteries. Most of these violative toys were stopped at import at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and were not sold to consumers.
In conjunction with the filing of the complaints, the defendants in both lawsuits agreed to settle the litigation and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction. All of the defendants agreed to immediately cease all importation and sale of toys and children’s products, unless and until the CPSC determines that the firm’s practices have come into compliance with the law and with various remedial measures set out in the decrees. The proposed consent decrees are awaiting judicial approval.
The cases are being handled by Trial Attorneys Melanie Singh and Ann F. Entwistle of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Renee McCune of the CPSC’s Office of the General Counsel. The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California also provided assistance.
Wettengel Elementary School Invites Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosetta San Nicolas for Career DayRead the Press Release
United States Attorney ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Rosetta San Nicolas was invited to speak at Wettengel Elementary School for Career Day on May 21, 2015. AUSA San Nicolas spoke to three 5th grade classes with approximately 25 students in each class. AUSA San Nicolas shared the educational process of becoming an attorney and her duties as an AUSA. She also conducted a “Bullying, Cyberbullying and Internet Safety presentation.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, continues to conduct presentations at various schools on the topics of “Bullying, Cyberbullying and Internet Safety.” If your school would like a presentation by U.S. Attorney Limtiaco, please email [email protected] to make arrangements.
AUSA San Nicolas addressing the students
AUSA San Nicolas addressing the studentsU.S. and Five Gulf States Reach Historic Settlement with BP to Resolve Civil Lawsuit over Deepwater Horizon Oil SpillRead the Press Release
The United States today joins the five Gulf states in announcing a settlement to resolve civil claims against BP arising from the April 20, 2010 Macondo well blowout and the massive oil spill that followed in the Gulf of Mexico.
This global settlement resolves the governments’ civil claims under the Clean Water Act and natural resources damage claims under the Oil Pollution Act, as well as economic damage claims of the five Gulf states and local governments. Taken together this global resolution of civil claims is worth $20.8 billion, and is the largest settlement with a single entity in the department’s history.
Also today, consistent with the settlement, the Deepwater Horizon Trustees Council, made up of representatives of the five Gulf states and four federal agencies, has published a draft damage assessment and restoration plan and a draft environmental impact statement. The plan includes a comprehensive assessment of natural resource injuries resulting from the oil spill and provides a detailed framework for how the trustees will use the natural resource damage recoveries from BP to restore the Gulf environment.
“Building on prior actions against BP and its subsidiaries by the Department of Justice, this historic resolution is a strong and fitting response to the worst environmental disaster in American history,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “BP is receiving the punishment it deserves, while also providing critical compensation for the injuries it caused to the environment and the economy of the Gulf region. I am proud that the Department of Justice has helped lead the way from tragedy to opportunity, and I am confident that our actions today will help to ensure that Gulf communities emerge from this disaster stronger and more resilient than ever before.”
“Five years after one of the worst environmental disasters in our nation's history, which claimed 11 lives and caused untold damage, we have reached a historic milestone with today's settlement,” said Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “With this settlement, federal, state and local governments and the Gulf coast communities will have the resources to make significant progress toward restoring ecosystems, economies, and businesses of the region. We are committed to ensuring the Gulf Coast comes back stronger and more vibrant than before the disaster. If made final, the settlement will provide the U.S. and Gulf states with the resources and certainty needed for effective restoration planning and improvements.”
“This agreement brings renewed hope for a fully restored Gulf of Mexico to millions of Americans who value the Gulf for its contributions to our economy, our environment and plentiful recreational opportunities,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “Today’s settlement is a significant step in restoring the natural resources that were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and a breakthrough for building back the resilience of this region. The Trustees will continue to work with people along the coast to ensure they have every opportunity to be engaged in these meaningful recovery and restoration efforts that will generate jobs, improve water quality, support our tribal responsibilities and result in an improved wildlife habitat for migratory birds and hundreds of vulnerable species.”
“Through this historic settlement, USDA will continue working with rural communities, landowners and other partners to conserve watersheds and working lands,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This work will benefit the Gulf of Mexico and its associated natural resources as well as help local economies that were damaged by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.”
“Today is a day of justice for every family and every Gulf community whose health, land, water, and livelihoods were threatened by the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” said Administrator Gina McCarthy of EPA. “This settlement puts billions of dollars to work to help restore the Gulf, and holds BP publically accountable for changes to its practices, to prevent this kind of disaster from happening again.”
“Today’s settlement ensures that BP repays the Government for its costs in responding to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy,” said Admiral Paul Zukunft of the U.S. Coast Guard Commandant. “The historic civil penalty also sends a clear message of accountability for those who pollute the U.S. environment. In addition, this settlement is a positive step toward restoring our Gulf Coast to health and to ensure that it remains a national centerpiece for economic prosperity, a place of recreation and, most importantly, a pristine home to the generations of Americans who work and reside along its bays, rivers and estuaries.”
On April 10, 2010, less than 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the Macondo well suffered a catastrophic blowout. The ensuing explosion and fire destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 men aboard and sending more than three million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of nearly three months. Oil flowed within deep ocean water currents hundreds of miles away from the blown-out well, resulting in oil slicks that extended across more than 43,000 square miles, affecting water quality and exposing aquatic plants and wildlife to harmful chemicals. Oil was deposited onto at least 400 square miles of the sea floor and washed up onto more than 1,300 miles of shoreline from Texas to Florida.
The spill damaged and temporarily closed fisheries vital to the Gulf economy, oiled hundreds of miles of beaches, coastal wetlands and marshes and killed thousands of birds and other marine wildlife, among other economic and natural resource injuries.
On Dec. 15, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a civil lawsuit against BP and several co-defendants, seeking to hold them accountable for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The federal lawsuit culminated in a three-phase civil trial in which the United States proved, among other things, that the spill was caused by BP’s gross negligence.
Each of the Gulf States – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – also filed civil claims against BP relating to the spill, including claims for economic losses and natural resource damages.
Under the terms of a consent decree lodged in federal court in New Orleans this morning, BP must pay the following:
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$5.5 billion federal Clean Water Act penalty, plus interest, 80 percent of which will go to restoration efforts in the Gulf region pursuant to a Deepwater-specific statute, the RESTORE Act. This is the largest civil penalty in the history of environmental law.
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$8.1 billion in natural resource damages, this includes $1 billion BP already committed to pay for early restoration, for joint use by the federal and state trustees in restoring injured resources. BP will also pay up to an additional $700 million, some of which is in the form of accrued interest, specifically to address any later-discovered natural resource conditions that were unknown at the time of the agreement and to assist in adaptive management needs. The natural resource damages money will fund Gulf restoration projects that will be selected by the federal and state trustees to meet five different restoration goals and 13 restoration project categories. These include restoration focusing on supporting habitats such as coastal wetlands, but also provide for specific resource types, such as marine mammals, fish and water column invertebrates, sturgeon, submerged aquatic vegetation, oysters, sea turtles, birds and lost recreational use, among others.
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$600 million for other claims, including claims for reimbursement of federal and state natural resource damage assessment costs and other unreimbursed federal expenses and to resolve a False Claims Act investigation due to this incident.
The payments will be made over time and are backed by parent company guarantees from BP Corporation North America Inc. and BP P.L.C.
Additionally, BP has entered into separate agreements to pay $4.9 billion to the five Gulf states and up to a total of $1 billion to several hundred local governmental bodies to settle claims for economic damages they have suffered as a result of the spill.
Notice of both the consent decree and the draft damage assessment and restoration plan are published in the federal register. Both will be available for public comment for 60 days. The materials and instructions for commenting on the consent decree can be found at http://www.justice.gov/enrd/deepwater-horizon. The materials and instructions for commenting on the draft damage assessment and restoration plan and draft environmental impact statement can be found at www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov. A series of public meetings will be held in the Gulf region and Washington, D.C. to solicit comments on the proposed consent decree and the draft restoration plan.
Earlier settlements:
The settlements announced today are in addition to several earlier criminal and civil settlements of federal government claims concerning the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
First, on Feb. 17, 2012, MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, which had a 10 percent stake in the well, agreed to settle its liability for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in a settlement with the United States valued at $90 million. Approximately $45 million of the $90 million settlement was dedicated to directly benefit the Gulf in the form of penalties, as well as coastal and habitat protection projects.
On Jan. 29, 2013, BP Exploration and Production Inc. pleaded guilty to illegal conduct leading to and after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, and was sentenced to pay $4 billion in criminal fines, penalties and restitution, including $2.4 billion for natural resource restoration.
On Feb. 14, 2013, Transocean Deepwater Inc., the Deepwater Horizon’s owner and operator, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and was sentenced to pay $400 million in criminal fines and penalties, for its conduct in relation to the disaster. A separate civil settlement imposed a record $1 billion Clean Water Act penalty on Transocean and required the company to take significant measures to improve its performance and prevent recurrence of this conduct.
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U.S. Attorney’s Office Participates in Student Island Leadership DayRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that Zoie Susuico, the first place essay winner at the middle school level, was the student counterpart for the U.S. Attorney for Law Week 2015. Ms. Susuico is an 8th grade student at McCool Middle School, Department of Defense Educational Activities.
Ms. Susuico met with several staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office who shared their duties, including the Victim Witness Coordinator, the National Security Specialist, the Grand Jury Coordinator, Legal Assistant, Budget Officer, Assistant Systems Manager, and Assistant U.S. Attorney.
In addition to shadowing the U.S. Attorney’s Office staff for the day, Ms. Susuico and the other students who participated in the Law Week Student Island Leadership Day, attended presentations by the U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Probation Office, and the U.S. Secret Service.
U.S. Attorney’s Office staff from left to right: Student Clerk Sean Perez,
Student Clerk John Ruane, USA Stephen Leon Guerrero,
AUSA Mohammad Khatib, Legal Assistant Noreen Soriano,
Zoie Susuico, AUSA Jessica Cruz, Paralegal Jackie Emmanuel,
Legal Assistant Roxanne Ferrer, LEC/Victim Witness Specialist Mae Blas,
and National Security Specialist Joe Quitano
U.S. Attorney’s Office Donates Water for Yap Victims of Supertyphoon MaysakRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that the staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Guam, donated 80 cases of water for delivery to victims of Supertyphoon Maysak in the State of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, in April 2015. Senator Frank Blas, 33rd Guam Legislature, coordinated with the Office of the Mayor of the village of Barrigada, Guam regarding the logistics.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco and her staff know all too well the devastation caused by typhoons and were grateful for the opportunity to assist our neighboring islands.
From left to right: (kneeling) John Ruane and Ed Talato,
(standing) Irving Vida, Gil Mones, Connie San Nicolas, Patrick O’Keefe,
Noreen Soriano, Mikel Schwab, Michelle Perez, Jennifer Mafnas,
Shirley Baza, Jackie Emmanuel, Roxanne Ferrer, Joe Quitano,
Alicia Limtiaco, Greg Helm and Mae Blas
Stephen F. Leon Guerrero Promoted to Major in the Guam Air National GuardRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), announced that Stephen F. Leon Guerrero, an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Guam, who is a member of the Guam Air National Guard, was promoted to Major on June 30, 2015, at the Guam National Guard Compound in Barrigada, witnessed by numerous family members, friends and co-workers.
Major Stephen F. Leon Guerrero is the Staff Judge Advocate for the 254th Air Base Group at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. He provides legal advice to the Group Commander and Squadron Commanders on matters affecting the Guam Air National Guard. He also assists military members with legal assistance issues, mission readiness, and legal processes. Major Leon Guerrero received his direct commission in November 2007. He is admitted to practice law before the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, United States District Court of Guam, and Supreme Court of Guam.
In his capacity as an AUSA, Leon Guerrero is employed with the Criminal Division for the District of Guam. As a federal prosecutor, AUSA Leon Guerrero assists the U.S. Attorney on prosecutorial matters affecting Guam. He prosecutes drug trafficking, fraud, and immigration related cases in federal district court and handles appellate cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. AUSA Leon Guerrero is also the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Counsel (ATAC), and Prevention and Reentry Coordinator.
Major Leon Guerrero received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration, cum laude, University of Arizona in Tucson in 2001, and his Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Missouri, in 2006.
Col. Johnny S. Lizama administering the oath to Major Stephen Leon GuerreroRetirement Training for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the NMIRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that the staff from the Guam and Saipan offices received Retirement Planning Training conducted by Elizabeth “Irene” Meader. Ms. Meader is employed by Government Retirement and Benefits, Inc. and is from North Carolina. Prior to her employment with Government Retirement and Benefits, Inc., she worked at and retired from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The training was held at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Guam on July 8, 2015.
The Retirement Planning Training topics included: Eligibility for Retirement; Determining High-3; Computation of Annuity; Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Annuity Supplement; Disability Benefits; Survivor Benefits; Creditable Service; Deposits/Redeposits; Military Service Deposits; Voluntary Contributions; Cost-of-Living Adjustments; Application for Retirement; Processing your Retirement; Withholdings and Taxation; Social Security; Medicare; Thrift Savings Plan; Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance; Federal Employees Health Benefits; Federal Employees Dental/Vision Program; Long Term Care Insurance; and Flexible Spending Accounts.
The training was very well-received and the staff expressed their appreciation to Ms. Meader for her presentation and professionalism.
Professional Development Training for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the NMIRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that the staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office received professional development training conducted by Robin M. Fields, Assistant General Counsel, Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) General Counsel’s Office, Washington, D.C; Avery Bakeley, Deputy Assistant Director, EOUSA Equal Employment Opportunity Staff, Washington, D.C.; and Angela Groce, Counselor, EOUSA Employee Assistance Program from the National Advocacy Center, Columbia, South Carolina. The training was held at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Guam from January 28 to 30, 2015.
The professional development topics included: “Developing Effective Communication Styles,” “Social Styles,” “Conflict Resolution,” “Social Media,” “Management Training,” “Mental Health in the Legal Profession/Managing Stress and Grief,” and “Emotional Intelligence.”
The participants, who included management, litigation and administrative staff, enjoyed team-building exercises and learned about fostering an effective and rewarding work place, working with different personality styles, stress management, and ethics in social media. The training finished with an island-style fiesta catered by the staff to share with the trainers the traditional foods of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Seated from left to right are Angela Groce, Robin Fields, U.S.
Attorney Alicia Limtiaco and Avery Bakeley surrounded by the
staff from both districts
Nicole Benjamin, Roxanne Ferrer and Jackie Emmanuel enjoying
the fiesta spread prepared by the employees for the trainers in
appreciation
Management team with the trainers, left to right, AO Ed Talato,
Criminal Chief Marivic David, Trainer Robin Fields, Trainer Angela
Groce, Trainer Avery Blakeley, U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco,
Criminal Chief Mikel Schwab, Special Counsel to U.S. Attorney
Jessica CruzAttorney General Lynch:Use-of-Force Data is Vital for Transparency and AccountabilityRead the Press Release
Today, in a press conference held at the Department of Justice, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch reinforced the need for national, consistent data on law enforcement interactions with the communities they serve, especially data collection on the use-of-force. The Attorney General noted that the department has already taken steps to improve the accuracy and consistency of use-of-force data from law enforcement.
“The department’s position and the administration’s position has consistently been that we need to have national, consistent data,” said Attorney General Lynch. “This information is useful because it helps us see trends, it helps us promote accountability and transparency,” said Attorney General Lynch. “We’re also going further in developing standards for publishing information about deaths in custody as well, because transparency and accountability are helped by this kind of national data.”
Currently, federal authorities publish annual figures on the number of “justifiable homicides” by law enforcement. But this reporting is voluntary and not all police departments participate, causing the figures to be incomplete. That’s why the Justice Department and the Obama Administration are taking steps to work with law enforcement to improve the process.
“This data is not only vital – we are working closely with law enforcement to develop national consistent standards for collecting this kind of information,” Attorney General Lynch added.
The department has already taken steps to improve accurate accounts of use-of-force data from law enforcement:
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The Bureau of Justice Statistic (BJS) and the FBI are collaborating with major policing organizations, such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Major Cities Chiefs of Police Association (MCCA), the Major County Sheriffs Association (MCSA) on defining data collections on police use-of-force and homicides by law enforcement officers.
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The department also requires the records of police interactions when we enter into consent decree and collaborative reform agreements.
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The FBI recently announced that the Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics (UCR) will begin to collect data on non-fatal shootings between law enforcement and civilians.
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BJS has been conducting work on new methods for not only identifying deaths in police custody (as defined by the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act (PL 113-242), where they will go further than what the newspapers and media reports on law enforcement homicides that are derived from open source records verifying that the media accounts are correct and complete.BJS will do this by surveying police departments, medical examiners’ offices and investigative offices about the reports that it identifies from open source and using data from the multiple source to obtain a more accurate factual account of each incident.BJS will complete its methodology study by late 2015/early 2016 and then begin to stand up a national program on arrest related deaths.
The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and the President’s Police Data Initiative also seek to encourage better data and record keeping for local law enforcement reinforces the administration’s position on this need.
Excerpts from the Attorney General’s Press Conference:
ATTORNEY GENERAL LYNCH: [L]et me be clear: police shootings are not minutiae at all and the department’s position and the administration’s position has consistently been that we need to have national, consistent data. Both on excessive force and on officer involved shootings is vital. The point I was trying to make at that conference related to our overall view of how we deal with police departments as part of our practice of enforcing consent decrees, or working with them and I was trying to make the point that we also have to focus on building community trust which is a very individual – very local – practice. Unfortunately, my comments gave the misperception that we were changing our view in some way about the importance of this data – nothing could be further from the truth. This data is not only vital – we are working closely with law enforcement to develop national consistent standards for collecting this kind of information.
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ATTORNEY GENERAL LYNCH: [W]e do require it [data collection]. When we have consent decrees with departments and frankly we find it very, very useful as we look at data and trends and as we publish consent decrees we encourage other departments to do so. And frankly police departments also are finding it useful. Certainly the fact that we don’t have a nationwide, consistent set of standards is – not only does it make our job difficult it makes it hard to see these trends and that’s why it is so important to focus on these. And that’s why we are working through the department’s research arm – our Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI – are working with the leading police organizations; International Association of Chiefs of Police; Major Cities Chiefs; Major Counties Sheriffs; to look at these standards. And we’re also going further in developing standards for publishing information about deaths in custody as well; because transparency and accountability are helped by this kind of national data.
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2015 Social Worker’s ConferenceRead the Press Release
ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, was invited to be a keynote speaker at the Guam Social Work Conference 2015, “Celebrating Diversity in Micronesia: Empowering and Developing Communities Together,” held on March 18-20, 2015. U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also made a presentation, together with Karen Carpenter, a retired professor Emeritus from the University of Guam and presently a Victim Advocate, volunteering at Erica’s House, Victim Advocates Reaching Out, and the Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence, and a member of the Guam Human Trafficking Task Force.
U.S. Attorney Limtiaco spoke on the topic of “Preventing Human Trafficking in the Pacific Region,” and shared information on the Pacific Regional Response to Combat Human Trafficking Initiative (the “Initiative”), which is a collaborative effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and the NMI; the U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs; the U.S. Department of Labor; the Guam Human Trafficking Task Force, the NMI Human Trafficking Intervention Coalition; and other community partners. U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also discussed the intersection and relationship between human trafficking, sexual assault, child abuse and domestic and family violence, and prevention and enforcement efforts in the Pacific region.
The Initiative employs a multidisciplinary model, including participation, coordination, and collaboration among law enforcement, prosecution, victim service providers, social services, medical, mental and public health professionals, faith based organizations, educational institutions, Consulates, and other community stakeholders. The Initiative calls for the establishment and provision of victim services, investigation and prosecution of human trafficking, training opportunities, community outreach/ public awareness and prevention programs, and creation of human trafficking task forces and coalitions in the Pacific region island communities. The Initiative also provides fundamental training in human trafficking, including victimization, investigation and prosecution, prevention efforts, and other related topics to law enforcement, prosecution, victim service providers, social services, medical, mental and public health professionals, faith based organizations, educational institutions, Consulates, and other community stakeholders in our Pacific region island communities, which is critical to effective prevention and enforcement efforts in the region.
Victim Advocate Karen Carpenter shared information about how small jurisdictions like Guam with its limited resources can be responsive to the needs of victims of crime, including victims of human trafficking and other forms of abuse and exploitation. The workshop explored how the Initiative was organized, the importance of unique approaches to the problem depending on the jurisdiction, and the implications for other small jurisdictions.
Other keynote speakers at the conference were Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a poet, writer, journalist, and word-artist-empowerment activist; Francis Hezel, SJ, a prolific author of many books and articles on the region’s history and culture and founder of the Micronesian Seminar, an educational, social and research institute that engaged in a variety of public awareness programs for the indigenous population; and the Hon. Benjamin Cruz, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam and Vice Speaker of the 33rd Guam Legislature. There were also more than 30 other speakers at the conference.
Approximately 200 participants attended the Guam Social Work Conference 2015.
U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco giving her keynote remarks at the conference
Karen Carpenter and U.S. Attorney Alicia Limtiaco presenting at the conferenceUnited States Settles False Claims Act Suit against Guardian Hospice and Related EntitiesRead the Press Release
Hospice Allegedly Knowingly Billed Medicare for Ineligible Patients
Guardian Hospice of Georgia LLC, Guardian Home Care Holdings Inc. and AccentCare Inc. (collectively Guardian) agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations that Guardian knowingly submitted false claims to the Medicare program for hospice patients who were not terminally ill, the Department of Justice announced today. Guardian is a for-profit hospice which provides hospice services in Atlanta.
“The Medicare hospice benefit is intended to provide comfort and care to patients nearing the end of life,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to aggressively pursue companies that abuse the Medicare hospice benefit to improperly inflate their profits.”
The Medicare hospice benefit is available for patients who elect palliative treatment (medical care focused on providing patients with relief from pain, symptoms or stress) for a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of six months or less if their illness runs its normal course. Before billing Medicare, a hospice provider is obligated to comply with Medicare requirements and ensure that patients who are foregoing curative care are in need of end of life care.
The government alleged that Guardian submitted or caused the submission of false claims for hospice care for patients who Guardian knew were not terminally ill. Specifically, the United States contended that Guardian’s business practices contributed to its submission of claims for patients who did not have a terminal prognosis of six months or less, including failing to properly train its staff and medical directors on the hospice eligibility criteria, setting aggressive targets to recruit and enroll patients, and failing to properly oversee the Atlanta hospice.
“Medicare payments to hospices are increasing every year,” said U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia. “In order to preserve Medicare funds for services patients truly need, we will continue to pursue hospice providers who abuse the Medicare hospice benefit by billing Medicare for the care of patients who are not terminally ill.”
“Hospice care is only medically appropriate – and reimbursed by Medicare – for terminally ill patients who are in the last months of their lives,” said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue to vigorously investigate health care companies that put their own profits above their duty to give appropriate medical care to their patients and bill Medicare only for legitimate health care services.”
The settlement resolves allegations filed by Rose Betts and Jennifer Williams, former employees of Guardian, under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which authorize private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in the recovery. Ms. Betts and Ms. Williams will receive approximately $510,000.
This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $25.1 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $16.1 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
This matter was investigated by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia, the FBI and HHS-OIG. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
The lawsuit is captioned U.S. ex rel. Betts, et al. v. Texas Home Health of America, L.P., et al., No. 1 12:CV-0412 (N.D. Ga.).
Operator of $228 Million Fraudulent Tax Refund Scheme Sentenced to Prison and Ordered to Pay $1.7 Million in Restitution to Internal Revenue ServiceRead the Press Release
A resident of Reseda, California, was sentenced to prison today for conspiring to submit false claims, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch of the Northern District of California.
Duffy R. Dashner, aka Kevin Dashner, 42, was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,769,418 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He was detained following today’s sentence. On June 18, Dashner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims.
According to court documents, Dashner and his co-conspirators, including Mark R. Maness, operated a business called O.I.D. Process through which they helped others to prepare and file individual federal income tax returns that claimed false Original Issue Discount (OID) interest income and federal tax withholdings, resulting in fraudulent claims for tax refunds (OID returns). Dashner and Maness charged clients of O.I.D. Process a non-refundable registration fee to join the organization, and a 20 percent “refund acquisition fee” for any refund check issued by the IRS. Dashner and Maness also operated a website and conducted weekly conference calls with clients to promote their business and to assist clients in preparing and filing OID returns.
Dashner and Maness required clients of O.I.D. Process to change their mailing address with the IRS to the address of another co-conspirator who was an attorney in San Francisco. As a result, all correspondence from the IRS to the clients and the clients’ O.I.D. refund checks were sent to the attorney’s address rather than the clients’ home addresses. In this way, Dashner and Maness ensured they would receive a 20 percent refund acquisition fee. O.I.D. Process’s clients filed approximately 200 OID returns claiming refunds that totaled approximately $228 million.
Maness, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false claims against the United States, was sentenced in February 2015 to serve 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,176,668 in restitution to the IRS.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and Acting U.S. Attorney Stretch commended the efforts of special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant U. S. Attorney Michael G. Pitman of the Northern District of California and Trial Attorney Matthew J. Kluge of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
Justice Department Announces New Strategy to Combat Intellectual Property Crimes and $3.2 Million in Grant Funding to State and Local Law Enforcement AgenciesRead the Press Release
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department will launch a new collaborative strategy to more closely partner with businesses in intellectual property enforcement efforts and will award over $3.2 million to ten jurisdictions to support state and local task forces in the training, prevention, enforcement and prosecution of intellectual property theft and infringement crimes.
“The digital age has revolutionized how we share information, store data, make purchases and develop products, requiring law enforcement to strengthen our defenses against cybercrime – one of my top priorities as Attorney General,” said Attorney General Lynch. “High-profile instances of hacking – even against large companies like Sony and Target – have demonstrated the seriousness of the threat all business face and have underscored the potential for sophisticated adversaries to inflict real and lasting harm.”
The new FBI collaborative strategy builds upon the work previously done by the department while also working with industry partners to make enforcement efforts more effective. As part of the strategy, the FBI will partner with third-party marketplaces to ensure they have the right analytical tools and techniques to combat intellectual property concerns on their websites. The bureau also will serve as a bridge between brand owners and third-party marketplaces in an effort to mitigate instances of the manufacture, distribution, advertising and sale of counterfeit products. This new strategy will help law enforcement and companies better identify, prioritize and disrupt the manufacturing, distribution, advertising and sale of counterfeit products. Crimes will then be investigated by the FBI and other partners of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and finally prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
Additionally, the Office of Justice Program’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Program (IPEP) will award $3.2 million in grants to aid state and local law enforcement in addressing intellectual property crimes.
Local award recipients announced today include the following:
City of Austin Police Department
$400,000
City of Hartford Police Department
$399,545
Cook County State Attorney's Office
$400,000
Baltimore County Police Department
$120,174
North Carolina Department of Secretary of State
$367,076
New Jersey State Police
$269,619
City of Phoenix Police Department
$253,129
City of Portland Police Department
$373,569
Virginia State Police
$253,128
City of San Antonio Police Department
$400,000
Since IPEP’s establishment in 2009, the department has invested nearly $14.8 million for 41 task forces across the country. These grants have supported the arrest of 3,522 individuals, the dismantling of 1,882 piracy or counterfeiting organizations and the seizure of $266,164,989 in counterfeit property, other property and currency in conjunction with IP enforcement operations.
The department also launched a new intellectual property website http://www.justice.gov/iptf to serve as a both a resource to companies facing intellectual property challenges as well as a mechanism to educate the public on how intellectual property theft is a growing threat to the country’s public safety and economic well-being.
Intellectual property theft refers to the violation of criminal laws that protect copyrights, patents, trademarks and other forms of intellectual property and trade secrets both in the United State and abroad. Faulty and counterfeit products are often sold to unsuspecting consumers and pose a severe threat to their health and safety. In a few circumstances, these activities are used to fund dangerous or violent criminal enterprises or organized crime networks.
Department of Justice Files Statement of Interest in Kentucky School Handcuffing CaseRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today filed a statement of interest in S.R. & L.G. v. Kenton County, et al, in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky. The plaintiffs in the case are two elementary school children – named in the complaint as eight-year-old third grader S.R. and nine-year-old fourth grader L.G. – who allege that a school resource officer (SRO) violated their rights under the Fourth and 14th Amendment and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when the SRO handcuffed them in school, behind their backs, above their elbows, and at their biceps, after the children exhibited conduct arising out of their disabilities.
The purpose of the statement of interest, which does not take a position on the merits of the case, is to provide the court with a framework to assess the plaintiffs’ claim. The department’s statement of interest explains the requirements to protect the rights of children, particularly children with disabilities, in their interactions with SROs. SROs can partner with schools to help maintain a safe and positive school environment—when their role is clearly defined and they are trained to perform it properly. However, if SROs do not observe appropriate limits on their role and responsibility, the Justice Department writes, they risk “criminaliz[ing] school-related misbehavior and risk lasting and severe consequences for children, particularly children with disabilities.”
In its statement of interest, the Justice Department emphasizes that school resource officers should not handle routine disciplinary incidents that school officials should properly address. The brief also describes the particularized facts and circumstances the court should consider in evaluating whether the SRO’s conduct in this case was objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Finally, the department confirms that the ADA applies to SROs’ interactions with children with disabilities and that this statute requires SROs to make reasonable modifications in their procedures when necessary, and requires law enforcement agencies to change policies that discriminate against children with disabilities.
S.R. and L.G. v. Kenton County, et al. was filed in August 2015. The Department of Justice filed its statement of interest under a federal law that gives the Attorney General the authority to attend to the interests of the United States in any case pending in a federal court.
Alabama Woman Pleads Guilty for Involvement in Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud RingRead the Press Release
A Phenix City, Alabama, resident pleaded guilty for her role in a stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) conspiracy, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. of the Middle District of Alabama announced today.
According to court documents, between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2013, Benita Short conspired with others to defraud the United States by filing false federal income tax returns using stolen identities. Short obtained personal identifiable information, including names, social security numbers, addresses and dates of birth, without the individuals’ authorization. A co-conspirator obtained the stolen personal identifiable information from an individual who had access to Alabama state databases and gave it to Short. This co-conspirator also obtained Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs) in the names of several tax preparation businesses and provided the EFINs to Short. Short then used the stolen identities and EFINs to electronically file 326 fraudulent tax returns, causing a tax loss of $456,853. Short also caused fraudulent income tax refund checks to be cashed at several businesses in Alabama and Georgia.
Short additionally pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft. She faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release for the conspiracy charge and a statutory mandatory sentence of two years in prison and one year of supervised release for the aggravated identity theft charge. Short must serve the two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft in addition to whatever sentence the court imposes for the conspiracy charge. Both charges carry a statutory maximum fine of $250,000.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Beck commended special agents of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Michael P. Hatzimichalis of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross of the Middle District of Alabama, who are prosecuting the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor and Washington State Department of Labor and Industries Reach Agreement to Improve Access for Limited English Proficient WorkersRead the Press Release
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor have reached an agreement with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to resolve civil rights complaints filed by limited English proficient (LEP) workers who alleged that they were subject to national origin discrimination in the state’s workers’ compensation program. These workers alleged that they were denied access to interpreters and to vital information in their primary languages. The agreement calls for significant improvements in language assistance services for LEP workers.
“This agreement symbolizes how federal and state government can work together to improve access to government services for limited English proficient communities.” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will continue its efforts to ensure these communities have equal access to government services.”
“Navigating a system of government benefits can be daunting for anyone,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington. “This is particularly so for members of our community who are applying for workers compensation benefits and whose primary language is not English. The changes to Washington’s Labor and Industries practices set forth in this settlement agreement will ensure all workers’ rights are protected regardless of their country of origin.”
“I commend L&I for its commitment to work with the Civil Rights Center and the Department of Justice to remove language barriers for limited English proficient workers.” said Director Naomi M. Barry-Pérez of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Civil Rights Center.
The Departments of Justice and Labor worked with L&I to develop a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that memorializes L&I’s commitment to develop and implement a language access program that ensures LEP individuals are provided meaningful access to L&I programs, activities, and information. The MOA and new L&I Language Access Policy include the following commitments:
- All L&I staff will ensure LEP individuals receive language assistance services at no charge.
- L&I will develop a Language Access Plan, that sets forth the management actions needed to implement the Language Access Policy and ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws, including the tasks to be undertaken, assignment of responsibility, deadlines, processes, resources, quality controls, and periodic updates.
- L&I will translate claim and application forms, complaint and consent forms, letters and notices, and electronic materials into non-English languages.
- L&I will add advisory members to the Language Access Steering Committee to represent the interests of LEP workers and the Washington employer community.
- L&I will submit detailed monitoring reports that document its implementation of the MOA.
The investigation was jointly conducted by the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section (FCS) in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Civil Rights Center (CRC). Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 188 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the Victims of Crime Act, and their corresponding implementing regulations all prohibit national origin discrimination and require recipients of federal financial assistance to provide LEP individuals meaningful access to programs and activities through no-cost language assistance services.
FCS has worked with a number of state courts, law enforcement agencies, correctional agencies and other government entities to ensure Title VI compliance and access to language assistance services for LEP individuals. Please click here for further information about FCS. For additional LEP-related resources, go to LEP.gov, the Federal Interagency Website on LEP.
CRC enforces nondiscrimination laws that apply to recipients of financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor and, in some circumstances, from other federal departments and agencies. For more information about CRC, call 202-693-6500 (voice) or 800-877-8339 (relay) or visit CRC’s website.
Major Fertilizer Producer Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC to Ensure Proper Handling, Storage and Disposal of 60 Billion Pounds of Hazardous WasteRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Mosaic Fertilizer LLC that will ensure the proper treatment, storage and disposal of an estimated 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste at six Mosaic facilities in Florida and two in Louisiana. The settlement resolves a series of alleged violations by Mosaic, one of the world’s largest fertilizer manufacturers, of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which provides universal guidelines for how hazardous waste must be stored, handled and disposed. The 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste addressed in this case is the largest amount ever covered by a federal or state RCRA settlement and will ensure that wastewater at Mosaic’s facilities is properly managed and does not pose a threat to groundwater resources.
At Mosaic’s eight facilities in Florida and Louisiana, hazardous waste from fertilizer production is stored in large piles, tanks, ditches and ponds; the piles can reach 500 feet high and cover more than 600 acres, making them some of the largest manmade waste piles in the United States. The piles can also contain several billion gallons of highly acidic wastewater, which can threaten human health and cause severe environmental damage if it reaches groundwater or local waterways.
Under the settlement, Mosaic Fertilizer will establish a $630 million trust fund, which will be invested until it reaches full funding of $1.8 billion. These funds will cover the future closure of four Mosaic facilities—the Bartow, New Wales and Riverview plants in Florida and the Uncle Sam plant in Louisiana—and also be put toward the treatment of hazardous wastewater at and long-term care of those facilities and two additional facilities which are already undergoing closure. The Mosaic Company, Mosaic Fertilizer’s parent company, will provide financial guarantees for this work, and the settlement also requires Mosaic Fertilizer to submit a $50 million letter of credit.
Mosaic will also spend $170 million on projects to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and waste management programs at its facilities and $2.2 million on two local environmental projects. Mosaic will also pay a $5 million civil penalty to the United States and $1.55 million to the State of Louisiana and $1.45 million to the State of Florida, who joined the Department of Justice and EPA as plaintiffs in this case.
“This settlement represents our most significant enforcement action in the mining and mineral processing arena, and will have a significant impact on bringing all Mosaic facilities into compliance with the law,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Moreover, through this settlement, we establish critical financial assurance to cover the enormous closure and care costs at all these facilities. This sets the standard for our continuing enforcement of RCRA in the entire phosphoric acid industry. And, it reflects our emphasis on working jointly with impacted states.”
“This case is a major victory for clean water, public health and communities across Florida and Louisiana,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Mining and mineral processing facilities generate more toxic and hazardous waste than any other industrial sector. Reducing environmental impacts from large fertilizer manufacturers operations is a national priority for EPA, as part of our commitment to pursuing cases that have the biggest impact on protecting public health.”
The alleged violations in this case stem from storage and disposal of waste from the production of phosphoric and sulfuric acids, key components of fertilizers, at Mosaic’s facilities in Bartow, Lithia, Mulberry and Riverview, Florida, and St. James and Uncle Sam, Louisiana. Mosaic failed to properly treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste, and also failed provide adequate financial assurance for closure of its facilities.
As part of EPA’s National Enforcement Initiative for mining and mineral processing, the agency has required phosphate fertilizer production facilities to reduce the storage volumes of hazardous wastewaters, ensure that waste piles and ponds have environmentally-protective barriers installed and verify the structural stability of waste piles and ponds.
Mosaic has committed to spending approximately $170 million over the next several years to implement an innovative reconfiguration of their current operations and waste management systems. The development of these of industry-leading technologies will optimize resource efficiency and decrease the amount of raw materials required to produce fertilizer. This case spurred Mosaic to develop advanced engineering controls and practices to recover and reduce some types of acid wastes that result from fertilizer production, which will reduce the amount and toxicity of the waste materials stored at Mosaic’s facilities and the severity of potential spills while cutting Mosaic’s costs for treating material at closure, which would otherwise have been categorized as hazardous waste.
Under the settlement, Mosaic will also fund a $1.2 million environmental project in Florida to mitigate and prevent certain potential environmental impacts associated with an orphaned industrial property located in Mulberry, Florida. In Louisiana, Mosaic will spend $1 million to fund studies regarding statewide water quality issues.
Mosaic produces phosphorus-based fertilizer that is commonly applied to corn, wheat and other crops across the country. Sulfuric acid is used to extract phosphorus from mined rock, which produces large quantities of a solid material called phosphogypsum and wastewater that contains high levels of acid. EPA inspections revealed that Mosaic was mixing certain types of highly-corrosive substances from its fertilizer operations, which qualify as hazardous waste, with the phosphogypsum and wastewater from mineral processing, which is a violation of federal and state hazardous waste laws.
A consent decree formalizing the settlement was lodged today in the U.S. District Courts for the Middle District of Florida and the Eastern District of Louisiana and is subject to a 45-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.
For a copy of the consent decree, visit www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
Los Departamentos de Justicia y Trabajo de y el Departamento de Trabajo e Industria del Estado de Washington Realizaron un Acuerdo para Mejorar el Acceso para Trabajadores con Conocimientos Limitados del Idioma InglésRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Los Departamentos de Justicia y Trabajo de EE.UU. han realizado un acuerdo con el Departamento de Trabajo e Industrias [Department of Labor and Industries (L&I)] del Estado de Washington en resolución de demandas de derechos civiles entabladas por trabajadores con conocimientos dominio limitado del Inglés [limited English proficient (LEP)] que alegaron que fueron objeto de discriminación por origen nacional en el programa de compensación del trabajador del estado. Los trabajadores alegaron que se les negó acceso a intérpretes y a información vital en sus idiomas principales. El acuerdo exige mejoras importantes en los servicios de asistencia idiomática para trabajadores LEP.
“Este acuerdo simboliza cómo el gobierno federal y estatal pueden trabajar juntos en mejorar el acceso a servicios gubernamentales para comunidades con conocimientos limitados del inglés”, señaló la Procuradora General Adjunta Suplente Principal Vanita Gupta, líder de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU. “El Departamento de Justicia seguirá adelante con su labor de garantizar que estas comunidades tengan acceso igualitario a servicios gubernamentales”.
“La comprensión de un sistema de beneficios gubernamentales puede resultarle sobrecogedor a cualquiera”, dijo la Fiscal Federal Annette L. Hayes del Distrito Oeste de Washington. “Esto es especialmente así para los miembros de nuestra comunidad que solicitan beneficios de compensación del trabajador y cuyo idioma principal no es el inglés. Los cambios a las prácticas de Trabajo e Industrias de Washington establecidos en este acuerdo conciliatorio garantizarán que se protejan los derechos de todos los trabajadores, independientemente de su país de origen”.
“Felicito a L&I por su compromiso de trabajar con el Centro de Derechos Civiles y el Departamento de Justicia para eliminar las barreras idiomáticas para trabajadores con conocimientos limitados del inglés", dijo la Directora Naomi M. Barry-Pérez del Centro de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.”
Los Departamentos de Justicia y Trabajo trabajaron con L&I en el desarrollo de un memorando de acuerdo [memorandum of agreement (MOA)] que documenta el compromiso de L&I de desarrollar e implementar un programa de acceso idiomático que asegure que las personas LEP tengan acceso significativo a programas, actividades e información de L&I. El MOA y la nueva Política de acceso idiomático de L&I incluyen los siguientes compromisos:
- Todo el personal de L&I se asegurará de que las personas LEP reciban servicios de asistencia idiomática sin cargo.
- L&I desarrollará un Plan de Acceso Idiomático que establezca las acciones de gestión necesarias para implementar la Política de Acceso Idiomático y asegure el cumplimiento de las leyes federales de derechos civiles, incluidas las tareas a realizarse, la asignación de responsabilidades, plazos, procesos, recursos, controles de calidad y actualizaciones periódicas.
- L&I traducirá a idiomas extranjeros sus formularios de reclamación y solicitud, formularios de quejas y consentimiento, cartas y avisos y materiales electrónicos.
- L&I agregará miembros asesores al Comité Directivo de Acceso Idiomático para que representen los intereses de los trabajadores LEP y a la comunidad de empleadores de Washington.
- L&I presentará informes de monitoreo detallados que documenten su implementación del MOA.
La investigación fue realizada en forma conjunta por la Sección de Coordinación y Cumplimiento Federal [Federal Coordination and Compliance Section (FCS)] de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia, la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Oeste de Washington y el Centro de Derechos Civiles [Civil Rights Center (CRC)] del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. El Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, Sección 188 de la Ley de Inversión en Fuerza Laboral de 1998, y sus reglamentaciones correspondientes prohíben la discriminación por origen nacional y exigen que los beneficiarios de asistencia financiera federal brinden acceso significativo a programas y actividades a las personas LEP por medio de servicios de asistencia idiomática gratuitos.
La FCS ha trabajado con una serie de tribunales, agencias de fuerzas del orden público, agencias correccionales estatales y otras entidades gubernamentales para garantizar el cumplimiento del Título VI y el acceso a servicios de asistencia idiomática para personas LEP. Haga clic aquí para más información sobre la FCS. Para más recursos relacionados con las personas LEP, diríjase a LEP.gov, el portal de Internet Interagencias Federal.
El CRC hace valer las leyes antidiscriminatorias aplicables a beneficiarios de asistencia federal del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. y, en algunas circunstancias, de otros departamentos y agencias federales. Para obtener más información sobre el CRC, llame al 202-693-6500 (voz) o 800-877-8339 (‘relay’) o visite el portal en Internet del CRC.
- Información para clientes con un dominio limitado del inglés (Limited English Proficient, LEP) que participan en programas y actividades del Departamento de Trabajo e Industrias del Estado de Washington
- Washington State Department of Labor and Industries Memorandum of Agreement
Justice Department Announces BHF-Bank (Schweiz) AG Reaches Resolution under Swiss Bank ProgramRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that BHF-Bank (Schweiz) AG (BHF) has reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program.
The Swiss Bank Program, which was announced on Aug. 29, 2013, provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Swiss banks eligible to enter the program were required to advise the department by Dec. 31, 2013, that they had reason to believe that they had committed tax-related criminal offenses in connection with undeclared U.S.-related accounts. Banks already under criminal investigation related to their Swiss-banking activities and all individuals were expressly excluded from the program.
Under the program, banks are required to:
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Make a complete disclosure of their cross-border activities;
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Provide detailed information on an account-by-account basis for accounts in which U.S. taxpayers have a direct or indirect interest;
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Cooperate in treaty requests for account information;
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Provide detailed information as to other banks that transferred funds into secret accounts or that accepted funds when secret accounts were closed;
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Agree to close accounts of accountholders who fail to come into compliance with U.S. reporting obligations; and
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Pay appropriate penalties.
Swiss banks meeting all of the above requirements are eligible for a non-prosecution agreement.
According to the terms of the non-prosecution agreement signed today, BHF agrees to cooperate in any related criminal or civil proceedings, demonstrate its implementation of controls to stop misconduct involving undeclared U.S. accounts and pay penalties in return for the department’s agreement not to prosecute this bank for tax-related criminal offenses.
BHF was established in 1974 as a wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary of BHF-BANK Aktiengesellschaft (BHF-BANK AG), a private bank located in Germany. Deutsche Bank AG purchased BHF-BANK AG in 2010, and in 2014, BHF-BANK AG was sold to a consortium of investors. BHF is headquartered in Zurich and has a branch in Geneva. The name of the group is now BHF Kleinwort Benson Group.
BHF opened and maintained undeclared accounts for U.S. taxpayers. It chose to continue to service U.S. customers without disclosing their identities to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or taking steps to ensure that clients were compliant with U.S. tax laws and without considering the impact of U.S. criminal law on that decision.
BHF offered a variety of traditional Swiss banking services that it knew could assist, and did assist, U.S. clients in the concealment of assets and income from the IRS, such as “hold mail” services, which minimized the paper trail between the U.S. clients and undeclared assets and income, and debit cards, which allowed U.S. clients to access their undeclared accounts without having to visit BHF.
In 1982, Plinius Management Limited, Zurich (Plinius), a trust company, was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHF to provide special services for wealthy clients, which included advice regarding trusts, foundations, fiduciary agreements and holding companies in order to protect assets and minimize tax liability. Plinius had no employees, and BHF provided it with staff and infrastructure.
Plinius also assisted with referrals to establish various types of structures, including Liechtenstein Anstalten and Stiftungen, and British Virgin Islands and Panamanian entities. Plinius did not create the structures; instead, it would contact an external trust company or law firm in Liechtenstein to set up the entity within the agreed-upon jurisdiction. While Plinius’ relationship managers did not have access to the Forms A held by BHF that identified the beneficial owners, in some cases they were aware of the ultimate beneficial owner(s) of the accounts. Four subsidiary-related structured accounts were established for U.S. persons, which improperly sheltered U.S. taxpayer-clients and hid their assets from the IRS.
U.S.-related accounts, including offshore structured accounts, came into BHF through its relationship managers, through external asset managers or otherwise. For example, one account in the name of an offshore entity was referred to a BHF manager from a U.S.-based structuring lawyer prior to 2008, and transferred to BHF from another Swiss bank. The file contained a Form W-8BEN and certification of non-U.S. persons for the offshore corporate accountholder. BHF’s management approved opening the account even though the account also held U.S. securities. There was no Form W-9 completed or provided to BHF for the U.S. beneficial owner. BHF did not confirm that the U.S. beneficial owner was compliant with U.S. tax obligations.
In the fourth quarter of 2000, BHF signed a Qualified Intermediary (QI) Agreement with the IRS. The QI regime provided a comprehensive framework for U.S. information reporting and tax withholding by a non-U.S. financial institution with respect to U.S. securities. The QI Agreement was designed to help ensure that, with respect to U.S. securities held in an account at BHF, non-U.S. persons were subject to the proper U.S. withholding tax rates and that U.S. persons were properly paying U.S. tax.
BHF implemented a policy that every client had to sign either a Form W-9 or a Declaration of Non-U.S. Person Status, which required the customer to declare whether he or she was a U.S. person for tax purposes. Some U.S. clients who did not want to have their identities disclosed to the IRS could avoid detection by declining U.S. securities. Approximately five clients refused to sign a Form W-9, but BHF nevertheless continued to service these clients’ accounts and kept them open.
While participating in the Swiss Bank Program, BHF encouraged existing and prior accountholders and beneficial owners of U.S.-related accounts to provide evidence of tax compliance or of participation in any of the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs or Initiatives or to disclose their accounts to the IRS through such a program. BHF sought waivers of Swiss bank secrecy from all accountholders and obtained waivers for more than 50 percent of its accounts. BHF has also provided certain account information related to U.S. taxpayers that will enable the government to make requests under the 1996 Convention between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income for, among other things, the identities of U.S. accountholders.
Since Aug. 1, 2008, BHF held a total of 125 U.S.-related accounts, comprising total assets under management of approximately $202,964,006. BHF will pay a penalty of $1.768 million.
While U.S. accountholders at BHF who have not yet declared their accounts to the IRS may still be eligible to participate in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, the price of such disclosure has increased.
Most U.S. taxpayers who enter the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to resolve undeclared offshore accounts will pay a penalty equal to 27.5 percent of the high value of the accounts. On Aug. 4, 2014, the IRS increased the penalty to 50 percent if, at the time the taxpayer initiated their disclosure, either a foreign financial institution at which the taxpayer had an account or a facilitator who helped the taxpayer establish or maintain an offshore arrangement had been publicly identified as being under investigation, the recipient of a John Doe summons or cooperating with a government investigation, including the execution of a deferred prosecution agreement or non-prosecution agreement. With today’s announcement of this non-prosecution agreement, noncompliant U.S. accountholders at BHF must now pay that 50 percent penalty to the IRS if they wish to enter the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo thanked the IRS, and in particular, IRS-Criminal Investigation and the IRS Large Business & International Division for their substantial assistance. Ciraolo also thanked Charles M. Duffy, who served as counsel on this matter, as well as Senior Counsel for International Tax Matters and Coordinator of the Swiss Bank Program Thomas J. Sawyer, Attorney Kimberle E. Dodd and Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette L. Davis of the Tax Division.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
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Justice Department Announces $53 Million in Grant Awards to Reduce Recidivism Among Adults and YouthRead the Press Release
New Second Chance Grants Announcement Will Impact Nearly 45 Jurisdictions around the Country
The Justice Department announced today that it will award grants totaling $53 million to 45 jurisdictions, to reduce recidivism among adults and youth returning to their communities after confinement.
The Second Chance Act (SCA) programs, administered through the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP’s) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) support state, local and tribal community organizations in their efforts to reduce recidivism, provide reentry services and support research programs.
SCA funding covers a broad range of services, training, mentorship and technical assistance programs.
BJA grant awards:
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SCA Two-Phase Adult Reentry Demonstration, 10 awards totaling $7,774,158;
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SCA Reentry Program for Adults with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Disorders, 10 awards totaling $5,989,258;
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SCA Mentoring, six awards totaling $5,983,401;
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National Reentry Resource Center (supplement), one award totaling $5,281,751
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SCA Statewide Recidivism Reduction (supplements), four awards totaling $3,995,861;
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SCA Technology Career Training Program, four awards totaling $2,949,536;
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SCA Statewide Recidivism Reduction Planning, seven awards totaling $594,222;
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SCA and Corrections Visiting Fellows, two awards totaling $487,551; and
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Vera Institute of Justice Postsecondary Education/Pell Experiment (supplement), one award totaling $200,000.
OJJDP grant awards:
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SCA Supporting Latino/a Youth from Out-of-Home Placement to the Community, six awards totaling $2,900,000;
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SCA Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers and Their Children: A Reentry Mentoring Project, seven awards totaling $2,939,067;
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SCA Strengthening Families and Children of Incarcerated Parents, three awards totaling $1,239,276;
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SCA Comprehensive Statewide Juvenile Reentry System Reform Implementation, three awards totaling $2,196,894;
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SCA Smart of Juvenile Justice: Enhancing Youth Access to Justice Initiative, Training and Technical Assistance (to provide legal services to youth reentering the community), one award totaling, $708,106;
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SCA Smart on Juvenile Justice: Community Supervision, six awards totaling $1,000,000;
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SCA Smart on Juvenile Justice: Community Supervision Training and Technical Assistance, one award totaling $650,000; and
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Initiative to Develop Juvenile Reentry Measurement Standards, one award totaling $750,000.
These programs include training and job placement for incarcerated or detained adults and juveniles in technology-related jobs; training for mentors to assist pre- and post-release; screening and assessments pre-release and evidence-based treatment after incarceration to improve outcomes for incarcerated individuals with substance abuse and mental disorders; and assistance for jurisdictions providing reentry services to members of Native American tribes.
These grants also provide supplemental funding to improve existing reentry research and programs, including ongoing data-driven assessments of the needs, policy barriers and resource gaps for successful reentry. Additional funding will enable the Vera Institute to deliver technical assistance in post-secondary education and corrections and to share best practices through its resource center.
In addition, the Justice Department awarded two fellowships: its first-ever Second Chance Visiting Fellow, Daryl Vincent Atkinson, who will engage formerly incarcerated individuals to gather what is needed for successful reentry; and a Corrections Visiting Fellow, Dr. Emily Wang of Yale University, who will measure the risk of hospitalization following prison release among Medicaid beneficiaries and the impact of community primary care on patient recidivism.
Lastly, the National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) will continue to offer training and technical assistance for grantees and administer the What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse, a “one-stop shop” for research on the effectiveness of a wide variety of reentry programs and practices. The NRRC collaborates with the Attorney General’s Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC), and other federal agencies.
For more information on the NRRC, please visit: www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org.
For more information on FIRC, please visit: csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/firc/.
About OJP
OJP, headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six components: BJA; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; OJJDP; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.
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Former Peanut Company Officials Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in Salmonella-Tainted Peanut Product OutbreakRead the Press Release
Two former officials of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) were sentenced to prison today in Albany, Georgia, for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud their customers by shipping salmonella-positive peanut products before the results of microbiological testing were received and falsifying microbiological test results, the Department of Justice announced today. Last week, PCA’s former president received 28 years in prison, the largest criminal sentence ever given in a food safety case.
Samuel Lightsey, 50, of Blakely, Georgia, a former operations manager at PCA’s Blakely plant, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands of the Middle District of Georgia to serve 36 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Daniel Kilgore, 46, also of Blakely, and a former operations manager at PCA’s Blakely plant, was sentenced to serve 72 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Both Lightsey and Kilgore pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and the sale of misbranded and adulterated food. Additionally, both Lightsey and Kilgore served as witnesses in the 2014 trial of Stewart Parnell, 61, of Lynchburg, Virginia, the former owner and president of PCA; Michael Parnell, 56, of Midlothian, Virginia, Stewart Parnell’s brother, who worked at P.P. Sales and was a food broker who worked on behalf of PCA; and Mary Wilkerson, 41, of Edison, Georgia, who held various positions at PCA’s Blakely plant, including receptionist, office manager and quality assurance manager. Lightsey was on the witness stand during nine trial days and Kilgore testified as a witness during five trial days.
The trial, which led to the convictions of Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell and Mary Wilkerson, established that tainted food led to a salmonella outbreak in 2009 with more than 700 reported cases of salmonella poisoning in 46 states. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on epidemiological projections, that number translates to more than 22,000 total cases, including nine deaths. During the sentencing phase of the case, the court found that the evidence presented at trial linked PCA’s contaminated peanut products to the victims’ illnesses.
“Today’s sentences are a just result,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “They reflect the roles that the defendants played in these terrible acts, their acceptance of responsibility for those roles, and their willingness to assist the government, albeit after the fact, in ensuring that all of those who engaged in criminal activity were held accountable. The Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with its partners to ensure that the American people are protected from food that is adulterated or misbranded.”
The government presented evidence at trial to establish that Stewart Parnell and Michael Parnell, with Lightsey and Kilgore, participated in several schemes by which they defrauded PCA customers and jeopardized the quality and purity of their peanut products. Specifically, the government presented evidence that the defendants misled customers about the presence of salmonella in their products. For example, the Parnells, Lightsey and Kilgore fabricated certificates of analysis (COAs) that accompanied various shipments of peanut products. COAs are documents that summarize laboratory results, including test results concerning the presence or absence of pathogens in food. According to the evidence, on several occasions, the Parnells, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in a scheme to fabricate COAs that stated that the food at issue was free of pathogens when in fact there had been no testing of the food or tests had revealed the presence of pathogens.
The government also presented evidence that demonstrated that when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials visited PCA’s Blakely plant to investigate the outbreak, Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Wilkerson gave untrue or misleading answers to questions posed by those officials.
“By making sure that the individuals involved in the corporate fraud at PCA were held accountable, I am confident that the message to other executives is clear,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia. “Because we all know that it is people who make decisions about what goes on behind the corporate curtain, we'll be looking to hold those individuals personally accountable when they steer their businesses down the path of fraud. Mr. Kilgore and Mr. Lightsey acknowledged their wrongdoing, and today their sentences reflect not only their acceptance of that responsibility, but also the requirement of accountability.”
“Today’s sentencing in federal court will afford these defendants, former corporate officers at Peanut Corporation of America, plenty of time to reflect on their roles in the fatal 2009 salmonella outbreak as a result of their criminal conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. “It is the FBI’s hope that this will provide some solace to the families of those that died and the many more that suffered as a result of this outbreak.”
On Sept. 21, Judge Sands sentenced Stewart Parnell to serve 336 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, Michael Parnell to serve 240 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and Mary Wilkerson to serve 60 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Patrick Hearn and Mary M. Englehart of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mizer and U.S. Attorney Moore thank the investigative efforts of the FBI and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations.
Former Oregon Woman Pleads Guilty for Conspiring to File Fraudulent Income Tax Returns Claiming More than $1 Million in RefundsRead the Press Release
A former resident of Portland, Oregon, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to file fraudulent income tax returns claiming more than $1 million in refunds, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of the District of Oregon.
According to the plea agreement, Tataneisha White, 42, admitted that during 2010, she conspired with other individuals to prepare and file more than 227 fraudulent income tax returns. The false information on the tax returns included fictitious wage and withholding information and fraudulent refundable credits. White has agreed to pay $626,750 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is the amount of fraudulent claims for refunds that were deposited into bank accounts under her control.
White also pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds and one count of filing a false claim.
White faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the theft of government funds count, a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy count and a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for the false claims count. White also faces a maximum potential sentence of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of conviction.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended the special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Lori Hendrickson and Ryan Raybould of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case. Ciraolo also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland for their valuable assistance in this case.
Co-Founder of OXYwater Sentenced for Wire Fraud and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
A co-founder of Imperial Integrative Health Research and Development LLC (Imperial) was sentenced to serve 83 months in prison in federal court today for his role in a fraud scheme related to Imperial and its product, OXYwater, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart of the Southern District of Ohio.
Thomas E. Jackson, 40, of Powell, Ohio, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory L. Frost of the Southern District of Ohio. In addition to the prison sentence, Jackson was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $8,840,706 in restitution to victims of the fraud. On March 25, Jackson was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, eight counts of wire fraud and 12 counts of money laundering.
Jackson’s business partner, Preston J. Harrison, 43, and Harrison’s wife, Lovena Harrison, 42, both of Lewis Center, Ohio, also went to trial in March and were convicted of multiple crimes. Preston Harrison was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false income tax return, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and 12 counts of money laundering. Lovena Harrison was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false income tax return and structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements.
The Harrisons were sentenced on Aug. 25. Preston Harrison was sentenced to serve 83 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay approximately $8.8 million to victims of the fraud and approximately $376,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He was also ordered to forfeit $1.1 million, including two vehicles, eight weapons, cash and the contents of a bank account. Lovena Harrison was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay approximately $376,000 in restitution to the IRS.
According to court testimony, Jackson and Preston Harrison operated Imperial, based in Westerville, Ohio, and developed OXYwater, a beverage that promoters claimed was an all-natural, vitamin-enhanced sports drink that contained added oxygen for improved physical performance.
The defendants engaged in a scheme to deceive Imperial’s investors about Imperial and OXYwater’s structure, composition, finances, sales and profits in order to make the company appear to be a lucrative and profitable financial investment. Jackson and Preston Harrison produced and sent false and fraudulent documents intended to deceive investors in order to obtain additional investments in Imperial. They then misappropriated that money for their own personal use, which included purchasing jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, a BMW vehicle, weapons, clothing, home improvements and a swimming pool.
Between August 2010 and spring 2013, Jackson and Preston Harrison misappropriated approximately $2 million of the investors’ funds. The defendants’ scheme caused investors to suffer substantial losses when the corporation was forced to declare bankruptcy with no assets. As a result of the defendants’ conduct, investors lost approximately $9 million.
In 2011, Preston Harrison misappropriated approximately $1.1 million from Imperial, which he and Lovena Harrison diverted into an account in the name of a daycare business and used for personal expenses. The Harrisons did not report the money as income on their 2011 income tax return.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Stewart commended special agents of IRS-CI and the FBI, who investigated the case, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Kim of the Southern District of Ohio and Trial Attorney Jason Scheff 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.
Two North Carolina Men Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy and Identity TheftRead the Press Release
A resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to prison today for his role in a conspiracy to file false claims and for aggravated identity theft, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina announced.
Christian Rhodes, 39, was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,036,918 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Rhodes pleaded guilty on May 11 to one count of conspiracy to file false claims and one count of aggravated identity theft.
“Today’s sentence reflects the heavy price that will be paid by those individuals who steal identities and file fraudulent claims for refunds to line their own pockets,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “The department remains committed to working with the IRS and other federal and state law enforcement agencies to identify, prosecute and seek lengthy incarceration of these offenders.”
On Aug. 4, 2015, Senior U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox of the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced Rhodes’ brother and co-conspirator, Rodney Wright, 33, to serve 15 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $86,447 in restitution. Wright pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false claims.
According to court documents, Rhodes, Wright and others conspired to prepare and file false income tax returns with the IRS. Wright obtained personal identification information of taxpayers and provided this information to Rhodes so that Rhodes, and to a more limited degree Wright, could prepare and file false tax returns that fraudulently claimed refunds. Rhodes also obtained the personal information of taxpayers from other sources, which he used to prepare and file false tax returns. The false information on the returns included deductions, credits, employers, wages and withholdings. Rhodes and Wright charged taxpayers a fee for preparing false returns.
Rhodes also recruited his sister, Virginia Parks-Bert, and Kellian James to join his scheme. Parks-Bert and James pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims with the IRS in the Eastern District of Virginia and were sentenced to serve 42 months and 15 months in prison, respectively. Rhodes taught Parks-Bert to file false tax returns and explained how to make it more difficult for the IRS to trace false returns back to her. Rhodes introduced James and Parks-Bert to each other so that James could recruit clients and Parks-Bert could prepare and file more tax returns. The total intended tax loss of the fraudulent claims filed in this conspiracy was more than $3 million.
Rhodes also filed false claims for refund using stolen identities. He used the identification of clients from previous tax years to file false tax returns in their names and then kept the entire fraudulently obtained refund. Rhodes deposited the fraudulently obtained refunds into his own bank accounts or the accounts of third parties, including family members and girlfriends. He then withdrew cash from his accounts or directed the accountholders to withdraw the funds and deliver them to him.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Menzer of the Eastern District of North Carolina and Trial Attorneys Lauren M. Castaldi and Rebecca Perlmutter of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
More information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Tractor Supply Company Agrees to Pay Penalty and Implement Company-Wide Compliance Program to Resolve Clean Air Act ViolationsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Tractor Supply Company Inc. and Tractor Supply Company of Texas L.P., that resolves allegations that the companies imported and sold more than 28,000 all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles and engines that did not comply with federal Clean Air Act certification and emission information labeling requirements. Under the settlement, Tractor Supply Company will implement a compliance plan to prevent future violations and mitigation projects to reduce air pollution. Tractor Supply Company will also pay a $775,000 civil penalty.
“We will take strong action to ensure that foreign-made vehicles and engines that are imported and sold in the U.S. comply with the same Clean Air Act requirements that apply to domestically-made products,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden, for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Under this settlement, Tractor Supply Company will not only pay a civil penalty and mitigate the potential adverse environmental effects of having sold noncompliant vehicles and engines, but will also take steps to ensure future imports and sales of its vehicles and engines meet Clean Air Act standards.”
“Emissions from vehicles and engines can cause serious health and environmental problems, so it’s imperative that importers and vendors ensure their products comply with federal clean air standards,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “It is also critical that we ensure a level playing field for companies that follow the law -- that is a cornerstone of our environmental enforcement programs.”
The Clean Air Act requires that every vehicle and engine sold in the United States be covered by a valid, EPA-issued certificate of conformity, which manufacturers obtain by certifying that vehicles meet applicable federal emissions standards for various pollutants. EPA and the Justice Department alleged that from 2006 to 2009, Tractor Supply Company imported from China and sold in the U.S. over 28,000 vehicles and engines, representing at least 10 vehicle and engine models, that varied from the certificates of conformity that had been submitted to EPA.
The vehicles had adjustable carburetors that were not described in the applications for certification, were produced by different manufacturers than the ones specified in the applications, were manufactured prior to the dates of the certificates of conformity, had model names that were not identified on the certificates of conformity, or were significantly more powerful than described. Some engines were incorrectly certified as non-road engines rather than as recreational vehicles and some, like certain of the vehicles, were significantly more powerful than described in the allegedly applicable certificate of conformity. The Department of Justice and EPA also alleged that the emission control information labels on certain vehicles did not comply with federal regulations, and that Tractor Supply Company provided an incomplete and inaccurate response to EPA’s information request.
The settlement requires Tractor Supply Company to implement a rigorous corporate compliance plan that requires regular vehicle and engine inspections, emissions and catalyst testing, staff training and reporting for five years. Tractor Supply Company will also mitigate potential adverse environmental effects of equipment already sold to consumers, which is estimated by EPA to be up to 23.5 tons of excess hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and 12.2 tons of excess carbon monoxide emissions.
Motorcycles, recreational vehicles and spark-ignited engines emit carbon monoxide, a gas that is poisonous at high levels in the air even to healthy people and is especially dangerous to people with heart disease. These machines also emit hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, commonly known as smog. Exposure to even low levels of ozone can cause respiratory problems and repeated exposure can aggravate pre-existing respiratory diseases.
This settlement is part of an ongoing effort by the EPA to ensure that importers of vehicles and engines comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act and that retailers exercise due diligence in ensuring that their products comply fully with the regulations. In a similar case settled with The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack (Pep Boys) in 2010, EPA required implementation of a similarly extensive corporate compliance plan.
Tractor Supply Company is a national rural lifestyle retail supply chain. The company has stores in 49 states and its headquarters is in Tennessee.
The settlement, lodged Sept. 30, 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.
For more information on this settlement or to read the consent decree, go to http://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
Service Members' Compensation for Unlawful Foreclosures Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Rises to $311 MillionRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that an additional 1,461 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $186 million for home foreclosures under the department’s settlements with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers. Those settlements implement the protections of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Together with other foreclosure-related compensation announced by the department in February, a total of 2,413 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $311 million. The five mortgage servicers are JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. (JP Morgan Chase); Wells Fargo Bank N.A. and Wells Fargo & Co. (Wells Fargo); Citi Residential Lending Inc., Citibank, NA and CitiMortgage Inc. (Citi); GMAC Mortgage LLC, Ally Financial Inc. and Residential Capital LLC (GMAC Mortgage); and Bank of America N.A., Countrywide Home Loans Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., Countrywide Home Loans Servicing L.P. and BAC Home Loans Servicing L.P. (Bank of America).
The compensation results from the SCRA portion of the 2012 settlement known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS) and an earlier settlement with Bank of America, for foreclosures that took place between Jan. 1, 2006, and Apr. 4, 2012, where the servicer obtained a foreclosure without a judicial proceeding or where the servicer obtained a default foreclosure judgment without filing a proper affidavit with the court stating that the service member was in military service.
“While this compensation will provide some financial relief to more than 2,400 service members and their families, the fact is no one serving our country in the Armed Forces should ever have to worry about losing their home to an illegal foreclosure,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “Through the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative, the Department of Justice will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect service members and their families from such unjust actions.”
“We are very pleased that the men and women of the armed forces who were subjected to unlawful foreclosure judgments while they were serving our country are now receiving compensation,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. “We look forward, in the coming months, to facilitating the compensation of additional service members who were subjected to excess interest charges on their mortgages. We appreciate that JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, GMAC Mortgage and Bank of America have been working cooperatively with the Justice Department to compensate the service members whose rights were violated.”
Section 533 of the SCRA prohibits non-judicial foreclosures against service members who are in military service or within the applicable post-service period, as long as they originated their mortgages before their period of military service began. Even in states that normally allow mortgage foreclosures to proceed non-judicially, the SCRA prohibits servicers from doing so against protected service members during their military service and applicable post-military service coverage period. Section 521 of the SCRA prohibits mortgage servicers from obtaining default judgments against service members unless they file an affidavit with the court stating whether the defendant is in military service. If the affidavit shows that the person is in military service, the court must appoint an attorney to represent the service member and may delay or “stay” the foreclosure proceeding for a minimum of 90 days.
Under the NMS, for mortgages serviced by Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi and GMAC Mortgage, the identified service members will each receive $125,000, plus any lost equity in the property and interest on that equity. Eligible co-borrowers will also be compensated for their share of any lost equity in the property. To ensure consistency with an earlier private settlement, JP Morgan Chase will provide any identified service member either the property free and clear of any debt or the cash equivalent of the full value of the home at the time of sale, and the opportunity to submit a claim for compensation for any additional harm suffered, which will be determined by a special consultant, retired U.S. District Court Judge Edward N. Cahn. Payment amounts have been reduced for those service members or co-borrowers who have previously received compensation directly from the servicer or through a prior settlement, such as the independent foreclosure review conducted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board.
The NMS process for identifying service members eligible for foreclosure-related relief is now complete. The department expects that additional service members will be identified in the coming months based upon ongoing reviews of Bank of America’s non-judicial foreclosures pursuant to the earlier settlement.
The NMS also provides compensation for service members who gave proper notice to the servicer, but were denied the full benefit of the SCRA’s 6 percent interest rate cap on pre-service mortgages. The service members entitled to compensation under this provision will be identified in the upcoming months.
The following chart shows the number of service members who will be compensated by each of the servicers for both non-judicial and judicial foreclosures:
Non-Judicial Judicial
Amount of Money to be Distributed
# of Servicemembers Eligible for Compensation
Amount of Money to be Distributed
# of Servicemembers Eligible for Compensation
Bank of America
$35,369,756
286
$63,686,567
490
Citi
$14,880,578
126
$24,146,544
197
GMAC Mortgage
$13,720,588
113
$11,516,002
89
JP Morgan Chase
$32,488,293
188
$27,424,558
204
Wells Fargo
$28,290,790
239
$59,484,334
481
TOTALS
$124,750,005
952
$186,258,005
1,461
Today the parties filed a joint motion with the federal district court in Washington, D.C., to extend the term of the SCRA compensation provisions in the National Mortgage Settlement, which would allow additional time to reach all the service members entitled to foreclosure relief, as well as to complete the interest-rate reviews, which are ongoing.
Borrowers should use the following contact information for questions about SCRA payments under the National Mortgage Settlement:
- Bank of America borrowers should call Rust Consulting Inc., the settlement administrator, toll-free at 1-855-793-1370 or write to BAC Home Loans Servicing Settlement Administrator, c/o Rust Consulting Inc., P.O. Box 1948, Faribault, MN 55021-6091.
- Citi borrowers should call Citi toll-free at 1-888-326-1166.
- GMAC Mortgage borrowers should call Rust Consulting Inc., the settlement administrator, toll-free at 1-866-708-0915 or write to P.O. Box 3061, Faribault, Minnesota 55021-2661.
- JPMorgan Chase borrowers should call Chase toll-free at 1-877-469-0110 or write to P.O. Box 183224, OH-7160/DOJ, Columbus, Ohio 43219-6009.
- Wells Fargo borrowers should call the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Military Customer Service Center toll free at 1-877-839-2359.
Service members and their dependents who believe that their SCRA rights have been violated should contact an Armed Forces Legal Assistance office. To find the closest office, consult the military legal assistance office locator at http://legalassistance.law.af.mil and click on the Legal Services Locator. Additional information about the Justice Department’s enforcement of the SCRA and the other laws protecting service members is available at www.servicemembers.gov.
Mexico Extradites 13 Defendants to Face Charges in the United StatesRead the Press Release
Thirteen individuals, including alleged high-level cartel members, were extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges pending in various jurisdictions, including the murders of a U.S. Consulate employee and two others, and other violent crimes and drug trafficking-related offenses.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI Director James B. Comey and Acting Director David Harlow of the U.S. Marshals Service made the announcement.
In their first meeting on June 16, 2015, Attorney General Lynch and Attorney General Arely Gómez González of Mexico agreed to begin a new era of collaboration between the two nations to fight international organized crime. The extraditions announced today are a result of these efforts.
“Today’s extraditions would not have been possible without the close collaboration and productive relationship the Department of Justice enjoys with officials at the highest levels of law enforcement in Mexico,” said Attorney General Lynch. “I am grateful to our Mexican counterparts not only for their assistance with this important matter, but also for their extraordinary efforts and unwavering partnership in our ongoing fight against international organized crime. I look forward to all that we will continue to accomplish in the service of that mission as we build on these achievements together in the days and months ahead.”
The following 12 defendants were placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service late this afternoon. An additional defendant was also extradited, but the case remains under seal until the defendant’s initial appearance tomorrow.
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Luis Umberto Hernandez Celis, aka Pack; Alberto Nunez-Payan, aka Fresa, Fresco and 97, and Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, aka Chino, are alleged members of the Barrio Azteca gang and were charged on March 9, 2011, in Western District of Texas with participating in the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.
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Jorge Costilla-Sanchez, aka El Cos, is an alleged former leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, and was charged on April 10, 2002, in the Southern District of Texas with cocaine and marijuana importation and distribution, money laundering, and threatening federal law enforcement officers with assault, kidnapping or murder. Costilla-Sanchez was among the FBI’s most wanted until his arrest by Mexican authorities on Sept. 12, 2012.
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Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie, and Carlos Montemayor were allegedly high-level members of the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva Cartels and were charged on June 11, 2010, in the Northern District of Georgia with conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, as well as conspiring to launder money by transporting drug money from the United States into Mexico. Valdez Villarreal also faces narcotics-related charges in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
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Jean Baptiste Kingery was charged on Nov. 20, 2013, in the Central District of California with arms trafficking related to the illegal exportation of defense article and munitions from the United States to Mexico. Kingery is expected to make his initial appearance in the District of Arizona on Oct. 1, 2015.
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Aureliano Montoya-Pena, aka La Changa, was among 20 defendants charged on Nov. 2, 2011, in the Northern District of Illinois with conspiracy to possess and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and various other offenses related to transporting millions of dollars in drug proceeds between Chicago and Mexico.
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Julio Cesar Valenzuela-Elizalde, aka The Pilot, was among eight defendants charged on Dec. 19, 2002, in the District of Arizona with an international methamphetamine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.
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Martin Daniel Castillo-Rascon was charged on June 12, 2013, in the Western District of Texas with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, importation of a controlled substance and aiding and abetting.
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Antonio Reynoso-Gonzalez was charged in 1995 in the Southern District of California along with Joaquin Guzman-Loera, aka El Chapo, and 22 others with conspiracy to import and to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.
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Antonio Gonzalez Platas was charged in the state of Arkansas with rape.
The charges and allegations in an indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Today’s extraditions were coordinated by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI, the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service. The federal cases are being handled by prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section and Organized Crime and Gang Section and in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the District of Columbia, Central District of California, Northern District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Louisiana, Southern District of Texas and the Western District of Texas. The state case is being handled by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for Arkansas.
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Justice Department and the Corporation for National and Community Service Expand Their Partnership to Provide Legal Aid to Victims of Elder Abuse and Financial ExploitationRead the Press Release
Today, the Department of Justice, through its Elder Justice Initiative and its Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency which administers AmeriCorps and other national service programs, are announcing Elder Justice AmeriCorps, a new grant program to provide legal assistance and support services to victims of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation and to promote pro bono capacity building in the field. This effort will expand a 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 vulnerable populations.
“The Department of Justice is committed to continuing to investigate and prosecute those who prey on our nation’s elders and to support and empower victims through programs like Elder Justice AmeriCorps,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “As a prosecutor I have seen firsthand the devastating emotional, financial and physical consequences of elder abuse and exploitation. Too often victims need legal assistance to help them address multiple issues, such as safe housing and medical care, but have trouble getting help at all, much less through one, comprehensive legal service provider. This innovative program will offer the holistic delivery of comprehensive legal services for elder abuse victims.”
“We are very pleased to be expanding our partnership with the Department of Justice to protect vulnerable populations,” said CEO Wendy Spencer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “By harnessing the power of national service and encouraging a new generation of lawyers to assist victims of elder abuse and financial exploitation, we will raise awareness of and combat problems affecting millions of Americans each year.”
The Elder Justice AmeriCorps program, which is intended to complement existing Office for Victims of Crime grants to support the development of legal assistance networks providing comprehensive, pro bono legal services for victims of crime, will consist of a single grant to an intermediary organization that will support approximately 60 full-time AmeriCorps positions for each year of the two-year program. Interested applicants can review the Notice of Funding Opportunity at http://www.nationalservice.gov/build-your-capacity/grants/funding-opportunities/2016/americorps-state-and-national-grants-fy-2016#FGSAAA.
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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 nationalservice.gov.
The Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative supports the Department’s law enforcement efforts against nursing homes and other long-term care providers that provide grossly substandard care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and coordinates the department’s elder justice policy and programmatic efforts. For example, in September 2014, the Elder Justice Initiative launched the Elder Justice website, a resource for victims of elder abuse and financial exploitation and their families; practitioners who serve them; law enforcement agencies and prosecutors; and researchers seeking to understand and address this silent epidemic.
The Office for Victims of Crime administers the Crime Victims Fund. OVC channels funding for victim compensation and assistance throughout the United States, raises awareness about victims’ issues, promotes compliance with victims’ rights laws, supports innovative programming for crime victims, including federal crime victims and provides training, technical assistance and resources to practitioners who work with crime victims.
Settlement Will Provide Nearly $194 Million for Cleanup Work at the Superfund Site in Bridgewater Township, New JerseyRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that Wyeth Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of the Pfizer Corporation, will perform nearly $194 million worth of cleanup work at the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. The cleanup work that the company has agreed to perform includes work to address six disposal areas at the site, where chemicals were manufactured for nearly 100 years. In addition, the company will pay $1 million for EPA’s past costs of overseeing cleanup work at the site.
“Just as we must act to meet the environmental challenges of the present and the future, we cannot leave unaddressed the toxic legacies of the past like American Cyanamid’s site in Bridgewater Township,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This agreement will help protect waterways from seeping contaminated groundwater and makes significant progress towards closing waste disposal areas at the site.”
“This agreement marks an important milestone in EPA’s work to clean up pollution throughout this complex site,” said Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck for EPA. “This will allow critical work to reduce problems posed by soil and groundwater contamination on parts of the site.”
The cleanup work includes addressing contaminated soil, groundwater and six waste disposal areas at the site. In addition, the agreement includes the closure of two waste disposal areas whose contents were previously excavated and sent off-site. Under the agreement, Wyeth will continue to operate a system for collecting and treating contaminated groundwater underneath the site to prevent it from seeping into the nearby Raritan River, Cuckel’s Brook and Middle Brook. A study to evaluate alternatives for cleaning up two additional waste disposal areas is ongoing.
The American Cyanamid Superfund Site has a history of industrial pollution dating back to 1915. For nearly a century, prior owners manufactured chemicals at the property. A number of impoundments were constructed and used for waste storage and disposal throughout this time period, which eventually contaminated soil and groundwater. The site was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1983 after hazardous chemicals were found in the impoundments, soil and groundwater.
The soil, groundwater and waste disposal areas are contaminated with volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds and heavy metals. The extent and nature of potential health effects depend on many factors, including the level of contamination to which people are exposed and how long people may be exposed to the contaminants. The groundwater underlying the site is highly contaminated with benzene and other contaminants. Many of the site contaminants are known or suspected to cause cancer in people and animals, and benzene can cause cancer in people.
The public has the opportunity to submit written comments on the consent decree. The consent decree is subject to the 30-day comment period and final approval by the court. A copy of the consent decree is available at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
Louisiana Resident Sentenced for Involvement in Stolen Identity Tax Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A resident of Hammond, Louisiana, was sentenced to more than six years in prison for his involvement in a stolen identity tax fraud scheme, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite of the Eastern District of Louisiana announced today.
Corey Lewis, aka Coco, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey of the Eastern District of Louisiana to serve 75 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Zainey set a later date for ordering restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Lewis pleaded guilty on June 23 to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit mail fraud and theft of public money.
According to court documents, Lewis and his co-defendants conspired to prepare and file false income tax returns using stolen identities, including the victims’ names and social security numbers, to claim large tax refunds. The refund checks were mailed to addresses in Louisiana, including post office boxes that were opened by the co-conspirators. Once the checks were received, Lewis and others falsely endorsed and deposited the refund checks into bank accounts under their control. The co-conspirators then divided the proceeds of the refund checks amongst themselves.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Polite commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hayden Brockett and Dall Kammer of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Lauren M. Castaldi of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
Justice Department Requires Cox Automotive to Divest Inventory Management Solution in Order to Complete Acquisition of DealertrackRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Cox Automotive Inc., a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., to divest Dealertrack Technologies Inc.’s automobile dealership full-featured inventory management solution (IMS) business in order for Cox to acquire Dealertrack through an approximately $4 billion tender offer.
The department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition. At the same time the department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns alleged in the lawsuit.
“Cox’s proposed acquisition of Dealertrack would have allowed Cox to become the dominant inventory management solution provider in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Antitrust Division. “The divestiture will ensure that automotive dealerships in the United States continue to benefit from the competition that now exists among inventory management solution providers.”
According to the department’s complaint, Cox and Dealertrack are the two leading IMS providers. Cox’s acquisition of Dealertrack would increase Cox’s market share from 60 percent to 86 percent. Inventory management solutions use algorithms and sophisticated analytics to assist automotive dealerships in managing their vehicle inventories. They are used most frequently by large franchised and independent dealerships, which are more dependent on robust, automated solutions to manage their businesses. The elimination of competition between Cox and Dealertrack would likely result in higher prices and lower quality for automotive dealerships that use this technology.
The proposed consent decree, which requires Cox to divest Dealertrack’s IMS business to DealerSocket Inc., or to another buyer approved by the United States, remedies the loss of competition in the IMS market. The proposed consent decree also requires Cox to enable the continuing exchange of data and content between the divested IMS business and other data sources, internet sites and automotive solutions that Cox will control. Additionally, Cox must undertake various obligations to prevent Cox from using Dealertrack’s interest in Chrome Data Solutions LP, a company that compiles and licenses vehicle information data for use in inventory systems and other automated solutions and services for the automotive industry.
Cox Enterprises Inc. and its subsidiary Cox Automotive Inc. are privately-held Delaware corporations with their headquarters in Atlanta. Cox sells a diverse portfolio of leading automated solutions and services for automotive dealers and consumers, including vAuto, an IMS. Cox’s total annual automotive revenue in 2014 was about $4.9 billion, of which it’s U.S. IMS revenue was a small part.
Dealertrack is a Delaware corporation with its headquarters in Lake Success, New York. Dealertrack sells a variety of automated solutions and services for automotive dealers, including Inventory+, an IMS that combines the functionality from two IMSs that Dealertrack acquired – AAX and eCarList. Dealertrack’s total annual net revenue in 2014 was about $854 million, of which it’s U.S. IMS revenue was a small part.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed consent decree, along with a competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement within 60 days of its publication to James J. Tierney, Chief, Networks & Technology Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street N.W., Suite 7100, Washington, D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the court may enter the final judgment upon finding that it is in the public interest.
Cox Complaint (205.74 KB)
Cox Hold Separate & PFJ (186.8 KB)
Cox CIS (188.69 KB)
Cox Explanation (48.19 KB)
Guardian Industries Corp. to Cut Harmful Air Pollution at Flat Glass Manufacturing Plants in Seven StatesRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Guardian Industries Corp. that will resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at Guardian’s flat glass manufacturing facilities throughout the United States. Under the proposed settlement, Guardian will invest more than $70 million to control emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter (PM) and sulfuric acid mist (H2SO4) from all of its flat glass manufacturing facilities. Guardian will also fund an environmental mitigation project valued at $150,000 to reduce particulate matter pollution in the San Joaquin Valley in California and pay a civil penalty of $312,000.
“This settlement is a great example of a cooperative, company-wide effort to reduce air pollution and will mean cleaner air for communities across the country, where glass manufacturing is currently a significant source of the air pollutants that cause serious lung and heart problems,” said Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are also particularly grateful to the states of Iowa and New York, as well as the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, all of whom were active partners in achieving this important outcome for the American people.”
“Air pollution from flat glass facilities can impact communities hundreds of miles away, which is why today’s announcement is so crucial to address pollution at the source and protect public health,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “By investing in pollution control equipment and funding a mitigation project that will protect the health of low-income residents, Guardian is setting an example for the flat glass industry for how to control harmful air emissions at its facilities.”
“We applaud Guardian Industries, who today became an industry leader by committing to a substantial investment to reduce emissions of air pollutants that are harmful to human lungs,” said U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade for the Eastern District of Michigan. “This agreement strikes the appropriate balance between promoting manufacturing and protecting the clean air that is essential to public health and Michigan’s future.”
Today’s settlement resolves allegations that Guardian violated the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control plans when it made major modifications to its flat glass furnaces that significantly increased harmful air emissions. This settlement is part of EPA’s ongoing National Enforcement Initiative addressing Clean Air Act New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration program violations and is the agency’s first settlement involving the flat glass manufacturing sector. Flat glass, also known as float glass, is used as windows for office buildings and homes as well as for automobile windshields.
The $150,000 mitigation project with the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District will provide incentives to low-income residents living in the San Joaquin Valley to replace or retrofit inefficient, higher-polluting wood-burning appliances with cleaner-burning, more energy-efficient appliances. The San Joaquin Valley is an area with poor air quality.
EPA expects that the pollution controls required by the settlement will reduce harmful emissions by 7,300 tons per year, including approximately 6,400 tons per year of NOx, 550 tons per year of SO2, 200 tons per year of PM and 140 tons of H2SO4. The mitigation project in California will yield additional reductions of PM. These emissions reductions will result in significant human health and environmental benefits for communities. Guardian’s flat glass manufacturing facilities are located in Kingsburg, California, DeWitt, Iowa, Carleton, Michigan, Geneva, New York, Floreffe, Pennsylvania, Richburg, South Carolina, and Corsicana, Texas.
SO2 and NOX have numerous adverse effects on human health and are significant contributors to acid rain, smog and haze. Once airborne, these pollutants can also convert into particulate matter. PM, especially the fine particles, can travel deep into a person’s lungs causing severe respiratory impacts, such as coughing, decreased lung function, and chronic bronchitis. Fine PM is also associated with cardiovascular impacts and even premature death. H2SO4 irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat and lungs, and exposure to high concentrations can lead to more severe health impacts.
The states of Iowa and New York actively participated in the settlement and will each receive $78,000 of the total penalty. The United States will receive $156,000. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District also actively participated in the settlement.
“New Yorkers’ health, environment, and economy depend on clean air,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “This settlement will ensure that the Guardian facility in Geneva operates in full compliance with air pollution laws. It will also significantly cut emissions from the facility, providing a breath of fresh air to New Yorkers living in the Finger Lakes region.”
The proposed consent decree was lodged today in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.
For more information on the settlement and to read the proposed settlement, visit http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/guardian-industries-corp-clean-air-act-settlement.
For more information on the settlement or to read a copy of the consent decree, visit
http://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.Excerpts of Attorney General Lynch at the Launch of the Strong Cities Network to Combat Violent ExtremismRead the Press Release
In her first address at the United Nations General Assembly, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch will join other leaders from around the world to launch the Strong Cities Network to combat violent extremism.
Copied below are excerpts from her prepared remarks about how these collaborative efforts will improve social cohesion and resilience to violent extremism:
“Some [violent extremists] aspire to travel overseas to train or to fight. Others plot attacks on targets within their homelands. But all are antithetical to the shared vision and common cause that joins us here today in this renowned international forum: commitment to collaboration; dedication to peace; and devotion to the cause of justice within our nations and throughout the world.”
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“It is clear that the challenge of building resilience against violent extremism – a challenge that spans vast oceans and borders while impacting our most tightly-knit cities and towns – requires a response that is both wide-ranging and highly focused.”
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“As residents and experts in their communities, local leaders are often best positioned to pinpoint sources of unrest and discord; best equipped to identify signs of potential danger; and best able to recognize and accommodate community cultures, traditions, sensitivities, and customs. By creating a series of partnerships that draws on the knowledge and expertise of our local officials, we can create a more effective response to this virulent threat.”
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“Through the Strong Cities Network that we have unveiled today, we are making the first systematic effort in history to bring together cities around the world to share experiences, to pool resources, and to forge partnerships in order to build local cohesion and resilience on a global scale. Today we tell every city, every town, and every community that has lost the flower of its youth to a sea of hatred – you are not alone. We stand together, and we stand with you.”
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“Our experience tells us that partnering with city-level officials and the communities they represent extends the reach and deepens the perspective of national governments and international alliances. And connecting those localities to one another – as the Strong Cities Network is doing – is not only a powerful way to lift up our communities worldwide. It also sends a message about who we are and what we aspire to be – as an alliance of nations and as a global community. When the representatives of the Strong Cities Network join together for their first Annual Summit in Paris in Spring 2016, they will be making a strong and clear statement to their citizens and to the world: we stand united against violence, united against fear, and united in the pursuit of a better and brighter future.”
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"By connecting municipal leaders, facilitating information-sharing and providing training and other assistance where appropriate, the Strong Cities Network will help to fashion a global response to a global issue, without losing sight of its inherently local roots. It will offer city leaders a way to learn from one another about successful initiatives and productive programs. It will provide a platform for discussing community policing and prevention strategies that safeguard the individual rights of citizens. And it will support the practical delivery of community resilience programs in cities that are taking a new look at this evolving issue."
U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Awards Nearly $18 Million to Combat Violence Due to Methamphetamine, Heroin and GangsRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates today announced nearly $18 million in COPS Office grant funding aimed at addressing and reducing violent crime through programs focused on methamphetamine use and production, the distribution of heroin and other opioids and gang activity.
“The funding awarded through these COPS Office initiatives will expand the capacity of the recipients, including some of our local partners, to proactively address contributors to violent crime and increase public safety,” said Deputy Attorney General Yates.
“We look forward to the work of our local and state law enforcement partners,” said COPS Office Director Ronald Davis. “By getting methamphetamine off the streets and shutting down laboratories, investigating illicit activities related to the distribution of heroin or unlawful distribution of prescriptive opioids, and combating gang activity through enforcement, prevention, education and intervention, we can make the country safer for everyone.”
The COPS Office is awarding more than $6.1 million under the COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program to seven state-level law enforcement agencies dealing with high seizures of precursor chemicals, finished methamphetamine and laboratories. The agencies will use the funds to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. For more information about the COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program and a list of grant recipients, visit http://cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2716.
Under the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program, the COPS Office is awarding close to $5.8 million to six state-level law enforcement agencies to investigate illicit activities related to the distribution of heroin or unlawful distribution of prescriptive opioids. The goal of the program is to address the troubling trend of increases in heroin seizures and heroin-related overdose deaths. For more information about the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program and a list of grant recipients, visit http://cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2776.
Under the COPS Anti-Gang Initiative, the COPS Office is awarding close to $5.8 million to nine multijurisdictional task forces to address gang activity. The initiative focuses on combating gang activity through enforcement, prevention, education and intervention. All the award recipients under this initiative are agencies leading multijurisdictional partnerships between federal, state and local law enforcement to address all forms of gang activity. For more information about the COPS Anti-Gang Initiative and a list of grant recipients, visit http://cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2775.
The COPS Office, headed by Director Ronald Davis, is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 127,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training, and technical assistance. For additional information about COPS, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.
Transcript of Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin’s Briefing at the Foreign Press Center on the Foreign Terrorist Threat and Other National Security IssuesRead the Press Release
MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome to the New York Foreign Press Center. This is an on-the-record briefing on Department of Justice measures to combat violent extremism with Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin. We’re very pleased to host him today. I would like to ask, after his initial remarks we’ll go to Q&A, and please wait for the microphone and please identify yourself.
Thank you. Mr. Carlin.
CARLIN: Thank you. Good afternoon. At the Department of Justice, the National Security Division was the first new litigating division created in about 50 years. And we were created in 2006 as one of the post-9/11 reforms. And our number one mission, simply, is to prevent terrorist attacks here inside the United States. And our mission, first and foremost, when it comes to ISIL is to prevent attacks against U.S. citizens here in the United States and abroad. And we work in coordination with our law enforcement intelligence community partners and with countries around the world to ensure that we can disrupt terrorist actors before they commit those acts.
This is a good week with United Nations General Assembly in town and the Global Counterterrorist Forum to take a step back and talk a little bit less about our efforts to protect U.S. citizens and more about our responsibilities as global partners to prevent terrorist attacks elsewhere in the world. We have a fundamental responsibility to prevent ISIL from having U.S. citizens join ISIL in its campaign to rape, to commit sexual slavery and to murder innocent civilians, including children, as tactics. And so together last year, when I was here in New York for these same events, we worked on the UN Security Council Resolution 2178, which was an unprecedented mandatory resolution for every country around the world to work to put laws on the books to prevent foreign terrorist fighters from their country from going to join the fight and also to take steps to keep them from returning to commit terrorist attacks once they left the battleground in Iraq or Syria.
Since that resolution last year, we commend the over 20 nations that since last year have put new laws on the books that are specifically designed to combat the support for these foreign terrorist organizations either through actual citizens from their countries or from providing material or financial support. And among those since last year, over three dozen nations have taken law enforcement actions – have arrested individuals before they could go join these foreign terrorist organizations.
At the Justice Department we’ve provided assistance both in the legislation and as some countries try using these statutes for the first time. And we’ve sent our prosecutors over the last year on countless trips to work hand-in-hand with foreign partners all over the world as they draft these new laws.
We also house and support Interpol. And since last year, when there was a commitment by countries at this very event – and in conjunction with 2178 and also with the Global Counterterrorism Forum that consists of over 30 countries, there was a new commitment to provide information to Interpol, which we house and support. And since last year, that has resulted in six times the amount of information being shared, approximately 4,000 new profiles on foreign terrorist fighters, from over 45 countries.
And we recognize, to talk a little bit about what we face in the United States versus other countries as they face this foreign terrorist fighter threat, although the overall number some put at 25,000 or 30,000 individuals – and that’s higher than what we saw even at the height of the conflict in Afghanistan and the FATA – that when it comes to the numbers that are from the United States, our numbers are lower, particularly even compared to our Western partners. And we have about – we estimate around 250 U.S. citizens who have either attempted to or gone over to fight, or who have gone over and returned. That number also includes those we’ve arrested.
Since about last year, we’ve brought criminal cases against 70 individuals. Sixty of those individuals, it was for conduct related to either supporting foreign terrorist fighters or attempting to join the group. The other 10 is a trend that we’ve started to see here in the United States since ISIL changed its tactics and called on individuals to commit terrorist attacks where they live, particularly in Western countries. We have over 10 criminal cases brought to date of individuals inspired by ISIL or other terrorist groups to commit attacks here in the United States. So between the 60 who wanted to join the foreign terrorist fighter groups and the 10 who wanted to commit attacks here in the United States, that’s how we have over 70 cases.
In terms of trends inside the United States, in almost every case social media is involved. Unlike some other countries, we’re not seeing it in any particular geographic part of the United States nor confined to any ethnic group. The FBI currently has open investigations in all 50 states, and we have brought criminal cases in 25 different jurisdictions to date across the United States, so places that have not traditionally confronted a foreign terrorist threat.
Consistent with the fact that this is a social media-driven threat here, in over 50 percent of the cases the defendants are 25 years or younger, and in over a third of the cases they are 21 years or younger. And for us in confronting the terrorist threat, that is different than the demographic we saw who went to support core al-Qaida in the Afghanistan FATA (Federally Administrated Tribal Areas) region.
I think what you’ll hear tomorrow under the President of the United States, leadership is the summit that he’s convening of countries throughout the world – over 60 countries – dedicated to combating this terrorist threat. And what you’ll see is a focus – in addition to the efforts that I’ve talked about to date, the law enforcement criminal justice efforts – is a focus on efforts to prevent it from ever reaching the law enforcement system in the first place. And that means working on countering the message and propaganda that ISIL uses to draw recruits from our communities, and it means exposing ISIL for what it really is and not what it pretends to be.
They put out images of child soldiers handing out candy to children, but in reality they’re a group that beheads and kills Muslims and non-Muslims alike with equal impunity, that rapes and sells women and children into sexual slavery, and that deliberately looks to destroy the cultural heritage of the countries in which it resides. So a law enforcement response is essential, and we need to continue the progress that we’ve made since last year’s resolution. But it also can only be part of the answer, and others need to dissuade would-be foreign fighters from joining ISIL in the first place.
You’ll see the Attorney General of the United States convene a first-of-its-kind Safe Cities Forum tomorrow as well that will consist of mayors across the United States but also from other countries across the world, because fundamentally dissuading individuals in the first instance from joining these types of groups is going to require local-level, community-driven engagement. And so I think tomorrow’s forum, the Safe Cities Forum, is going to work and introduce mayors to each other so they can talk about best practices at keeping these individuals from ever going down the path of radicalization.
I will stop there and open it up for questions.
QUESTION: Hajime Matsuura, Japan, Sankei's columnist here based in New York. A question about the most – the breakdown of the social media ISIL is using. Do you have the breakdown of which social media is popular and how you’re working with the host of or owners of the social media?
CARLIN: So when it comes to social media, I think you see ISIL use pretty much every available service that they can find, and they target people according to who uses the service. So – and it’s different depending on which country that you’re in, although it is a global problem. So here in the United States, we’re seeing it with those who are using sites that are frequented by English-language speakers or are popular in the United States. And that really ranges through the most familiar names, be it Twitter to Facebook to YouTube videos.
And what they do is they blast out these often slickly-produced, propagandistic messages using the same type of techniques that Madison Avenue advertisers use to put out images like handing out candy to children, or they’ll have an ISIL soldier in the caliphate with a kitten in one hand and a gun in the other and they’ll say, “Come join the caliphate.” They bombard the internet with thousands and thousands of these messages a day, and the number of people who respond to them is a tiny, tiny percentage of those who they reach with that message, but it only takes a very small number from each country to either prevent or present a terrorist threat our home country, but also to reach the numbers that they’re reaching of getting people to join the fight when you’re talking about having that message reach 100 different countries.
So to the extent they’re able to get people who are language or cultural experts, then they will use those individuals who have joined ISIL already to target a particular country or audience.
QUESTION: Hi, thank you. Diego Senior from Caracol Radio in Colombia. I know you’re focusing on ISIL, but this is a question that I have to ask, and it’s about a terrorist organization – deemed terrorist organization by the U.S. government in Colombia. And they just reached this peace accord – not a complete peace accord, but one regarding transitional justice in our country. I’m wondering what the strategy from your department or from wherever within the Justice Department is capable of doing. What are you guys doing or thinking to do facing terrorism – that terrorism threat which it might stop be or at some point – when will you stop calling them terrorists since they’re going to give in their weapons?
CARLIN: So I’ll describe generally. In the American legal system, the model that we’ve used to confront the international terrorist threat is using a statute called the material support to terrorism statute. As we’ve discussed, as countries around the world are putting new statutes on their books, this is one model that they’ve – that some countries have elected to follow. And what it hinges upon is there’s a formal process for the designation of a group or an individual as an international terrorist organization, and then the criminal consequences of that designation follow. So to the extent that there is an armistice, what would be the key for those of us in the prosecution and law enforcement community would be whether or not they remove the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) as a designated terrorist organization as part of the reconciliation process, and so we’ll wait and see what occurs in that regard.
And obviously, long-term, and this includes ISIL, the endgame – we need to use law enforcement and prosecution as a tool to prevent these terrorist attacks from occurring, but we recognize that the long-term solution is one that requires the participation of states and local governments to prevent these groups from existing in the first place, and that’s what success looks like. And that’s why I think you’ll see the President tomorrow emphasize the need to combat violent extremism and the Attorney General at the Safe Cities event talk to mayors about getting rid of those root causes to that these groups don’t exist in the first instance.
MODERATOR: We have a question from Washington. Washington, please go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you. My name is Anatoly Bochinin, TASS News Agency, Russia. Sir, as you said today, this ISIL problem affects many countries – also Russia. So my question is: do you cooperate with Russian security services? And are you going to work with this new informational center in Baghdad which will be established these days? Thank you.
CARLIN: So I’ll say that generally, that the FBI has partnerships with law enforcement agencies throughout the world, and some countries have made a real dedicated push to share intelligence or law enforcement information regarding the terrorist threat. Some countries have work to do in that regard, but it’s going to take a partnership when it comes to combating these foreign terrorist organizations. And we’ve seen improvements, like I discussed in terms of Interpol and sharing information about terrorist identities, or since last year, with a dedicated focus on this, the number of terrorist identities has increased six times. We have 4,000 identities into that system.
It needs to improve further, and we hope it will.
QUESTION: Thank you. Harriet Alexander from The Telegraph. You spoke about the 250 estimated citizens who’ve gone or attempted to go, and those against which you’ve got criminal cases. I wondered if you’d talk a little bit more about the backgrounds of those people, just generally. I ask because in Europe, we find that an awful lot of people who are going to join these organizations have already got criminal records and have previously spent time specifically in prison. That was very much the case in France with the Paris attacks and with the Toulouse attacks. And I just wondered if you could talk a little bit about any de-radicalization programs that you may have in prisons.
CARLIN: That’s a good question, Harriet. So I’d say in terms of the trends that what we’ve seen is there isn’t a particular profile other than the common factors that I discussed, which is, one, in almost every case there’s some connection to social media; and two, the general demographic trending young. And as you can imagine, as it trends younger and younger, these are not people with long criminal histories inside the United States. And although we remain very much vigilant and concerned about the issue of prison radicalization and what occurs to individuals when they are released, that has not comprised currently the majority of the cases that we’ve seen.
What we are seeing is with this new focus on targeting the young or the unstable, that they’ll attract individuals who you would not necessarily think of as being ISIL adherents but end up going down the process of radicalization after being exposed through one of these general social media sites. And then what they do often is once they have someone on the hook, if you will, they end up in direct communication in some of these cases – so the terrorist overseas is in direct communication with the young person or troubled person here, personally walking them down the path towards radicalization using social media. And this is new, I know, for the United Kingdom, having talked to counterparts there, and for the United States. In terms of a trend, I think both our countries together are struggling on new approaches to combat what is a new strategy or tactic by the terrorist group.
It is different than – although we still remain concerned, and al-Qaida still has the intent to commit the large-scale spectacular attack against a Western target, as does al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and al-Nusrah, the al-Qaida franchise in the Syria region. So we remain concerned and need to disrupt that large-scale spectacular attack, but this new tactic of urging people to commit the attack, even small-scale, immediately – we use the expression sometimes “the short flash to bang,” which is social media-driven, which means if you think about a fuse of dynamite, the time between when you light the fuse and when the dynamite explodes is very, very short. That’s a hard problem for the intelligence community and law enforcement to crack and really is going to rely on partnerships.
QUESTION: Hi there. Justin Fishel with ABC. I have two quick questions. The first is about the migration issue and the refugee crisis. As you know, the U.S. wants to bring in 85,000 refugees from Syria next year, and there are some sort of opposing views about whether this – there’s risks associated with this and risks of ISIL infiltration. So what’s your assessment of that risk and plan to combat it? Then I have one more other question.
CARLIN: Look, our job in the law enforcement/intelligence community is to see what the decision is by policymakers to try to accommodate those who are in a terrible situation and who are facing unbelievable brutality, both by the regime and by ISIL. And whatever decision is made, then we need to work and apply the resources to make sure that the terrorist groups don’t try to take advantage of a humanitarian gesture to get individuals predisposed to commit terrorist attacks either in Europe or the United States. And we’ve faced that sort of challenge before and we’ll apply the resources necessary to combat it.
QUESTION: Okay. My last question, more a domestic politics issue. Your division of the Justice Department is overseeing the email review, and the one piece of clarification I think – and one of the things that got really confused throughout this whole thing was why this is not a criminal probe but the – there are federal – there are people like yourselves involved in it, so how is it that it is not criminal? That’s something that I think a lot of people are confused about, and I apologize to my colleagues for the domestic nature of this question.
CARLIN: Well, I’m going to stick to the foreign press questions for this event.
QUESTION: I’m Sajidu Haque from Bangladeshi television channel. Do you think Bangladesh fall in high risk in near future? Because some existing terrorist group, like ISIL and al-Qaida, they are all in Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Pakistan, India fall in high risk.
CARLIN: I’m sorry, I didn’t fully catch the question.
QUESTION: Do you think near future, Bangladesh fall in high risk for terrorism – in terrorism?
CARLIN: Oh, do I think that there’s a high risk of terrorism occurring in Bangladesh?
QUESTION: Yeah.
CARLIN: I confess to not being an expert in terms of what the risks are of terrorist attacks occurring inside Bangladesh. I’d say more generally, as we’ve seen, this is a phenomenon that has already crossed in an unprecedented way. It has foreign terrorist fighters from over 100 countries. I believe Bangladesh is one of those 100 countries. And there is a concern, certainly, if any citizen goes over to fight with one of those foreign terrorist groups, what happens when they return armed, trained on how to commit attacks, and spending a long time being steeped in this ideology? So in that sense there’s a concern that cuts across all of these countries.
And the other issue would be the same social media phenomenon of individuals who stay at home and are contacted by this terrorist group and are encouraged to commit, if they can’t travel, terrorist acts where they live.
QUESTION: Vasco Jesus, VascoPress Communications, Brazil. (Inaudible.) Is there any sharing of information, collaboration, between the government of Brazil and United States, your department, concerning the threat of international terrorism? I ask you this because next year – well, Brazil doesn’t have a history of international terrorism on its borders, but next year Brazil is hosting the Summer Games, and our neighbor Argentina in the ‘90s had two huge cases – the AMIA (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) case and the bombing of the Israeli consulate. I would like you to comment on those, thank you.
CARLIN: I’d say prior to each of the last Olympics – and this is the world in which we live now – I know that we have offered assistance, including the sharing of information, primarily through the channel of the FBI and law-enforcement-to-law-enforcement channels, but also in others, to help protect not only our own citizens participating in the games but to help protect the games themselves. And I know we have extended and will extend similar outreach to Brazil and look forward to working as appropriate with their authorities to help protect the games.
QUESTION: So far?
CARLIN: I’d have to refer you probably over to FBI or other avenues to talk about current efforts to date.
QUESTION: Sorry, me again. Can I just ask for a bit more information about this Safe Cities Forum? So what actually do you think will come out of that? I mean, is that just a talking shop where people are going to be exchanging ideas, or do you think that there’ll be concrete policies and agreements resulting from that?
CARLIN: I think it is both. It is, one, to make sure to focus individuals’ attention on this issue and to make sure that there’s a channel for community-to-community engagement. But I also think they hope to, if not at that forum, to kick it off into smaller sessions to develop best practices, similar to the type of best practices we’ve developed through the Global Combating Terrorist Forum that led to resolutions like encouraging certain changes in the criminal code, like protecting classified information and figuring out a way to do that while preserving due process or undercover operations. That’s been the type of best practice produced in my space, in the space of a group focused on criminal prosecutions. I think for the mayors, they’re hoping when it comes to combating violent extremism that similarly there may be some community-based, local-oriented best practices for cities to take into account when they’re developing their own programs as to how to keep people from going down this path in the first instance.
QUESTION: Alexey Osipov from Israeli Novosti. Most of the international media and of course politicians are politically correct; they call terrorism as at least international, but for sure 99 percent of terrorism has specific religion or specific nationality. In your department, in your office, do you use words like “Islamic terrorist,” “anti-Israel terrorism,” “Palestinian terrorism,” et cetera?
CARLIN: So for us as lawyers under our statutes, we have the full remit for the prosecution of terrorist cases. When it comes to international terrorism, the statute that we use, as I was describing earlier, is based on whether or not the particular group is designated as an international terrorist group. So it keys off identifying that group and then if you provide any support – financial, even yourself to support to the group – you fall within our criminal laws. So I wouldn’t – I don’t indict a religion or a nationality, but the name of the designated terrorist group will be in the indictment.
For our domestic terrorism groups, those without an international connection, there is not a similar statute in U.S. law. There’s a definition of terrorism that works as a sentencing enhancement and for certain evidentiary purposes, but usually what we’re charging will be the actual criminal conduct, because many times under our system – and this is different than most countries throughout the world – because of the First Amendment and our dedication to free speech and free expression and the way it plays out in our legal system, in many instances talking the talk, if you will, in support of these groups is not sufficient for a criminal charge. You have to show some type of overt act in furtherance of a violation of a criminal statute.
QUESTION: Me again. For domestic enforcement, sort of ethnic or racial profiling has been an issue under scrutiny. How about your stance with this regard? And is there any possibility that you’re using that kind of screening?
CARLIN: So you cannot profile an individual based on their – or target an individual and use legal tools against an individual based solely upon their First Amendment-protected rights under our guidelines. And as I said, when it comes to who that profile would be, at least with our current version of the ISIL terrorist threat, what we’re seeing is a threat that cuts across all 50 states, where we’ve currently brought criminal cases in over 25 different jurisdictions and where there’s little in common between the 70 individuals who are currently charged other than some connection to social media and being connected to one of these groups.
And so I think we do need to look for – this is a lesson even in the criminal realm – but is to make parents, community members aware of what could be going on with their friend or neighbor when they’re on social media, because it’s new for a lot of parents that they’re facing this type of threat, and look for those signs which both law enforcement but also community organizations are putting out of someone who’s started down this path of radicalization.
According to one study of cases that did end up in the criminal justice system, in 80 percent of those cases there was someone who saw that process of radicalization occurring, and in over half of those cases they did not take a step to intervene. So if we can improve those numbers and have people in the community take steps to intervene, hopefully we can reduce the number of people that ever enter the criminal system.
MODERATOR: We are out of time. I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it there. Thank you very much.
CARLIN: Thank you.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review to Host Stakeholder Meeting on New Rule on the List of Pro Bono Legal Service ProvidersRead the Press Release
SUMMARY: The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) invites interested parties to participate in person or via webinar/teleconference in a meeting to discuss a recently announced final rule titled, “List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers for Individuals in Immigration Proceedings.” More information on this rule is available at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/notice-eoir-publishes-rules.
DATE: Thursday, October 8, 2015, from 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time)
LOCATION: 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2500, Falls Church, VA.
RSVP: To RSVP for the meeting, please contact Nathan Berkeley, EOIR Outreach Director, at
[email protected] by noon on Tuesday, October 6, 2015. In person attendance will be limited to the first fifteen (15) individuals to RSVP.
In your email, please indicate whether you intend to participate in person or by webinar/teleconference and provide the name(s) of the attendee(s), your organization, and an email address.
EOIR will send Web access and call-in information on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, to those who RSVP and indicate they will participate remotely. For those who plan to attend in person, please see the attachments for instructions on accessing EOIR headquarters and for parking and public transportation options.
- 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.
Launch of Strong Cities Network to Strengthen Community Resilience Against Violent ExtremismRead the Press Release
Cities are vital partners in international efforts to build social cohesion and resilience to violent extremism. Local communities and authorities are the most credible and persuasive voices to challenge violent extremism in all of its forms and manifestations in their local contexts. While many cities and local authorities are developing innovative responses to address this challenge, no systematic efforts are in place to share experiences, pool resources and build a community of cities to inspire local action on a global scale.
“The Strong Cities Network will serve as a vital tool to strengthen capacity-building and improve collaboration,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “As we continue to counter a range of domestic and global terror threats, this innovative platform will enable cities to learn from one another, to develop best practices and to build social cohesion and community resilience here at home and around the world.”
The Strong Cities Network (SCN) – which launches September 29th at the United Nations – will empower municipal bodies to fill this gap while working with civil society and safeguarding the rights of local citizens and communities.
The SCN will strengthen strategic planning and practices to address violent extremism in all its forms by fostering collaboration among cities, municipalities and other sub-national authorities.
“To counter violent extremism we need determined action at all levels of governance,” said Governing Mayor Stian Berger Røsland of Oslo while commenting on their participation in the SCN. “To succeed, we must coordinate our efforts and cooperate across borders. The Strong Cities Network will enable cities across the globe pool our resources, knowledge and best practices together and thus leave us standing stronger in the fight against one of the greatest threats to modern society.”
The SCN will connect cities, city-level practitioners and the communities they represent through a series of workshops, trainings and sustained city partnerships. Network participants will also contribute to and benefit from an online repository of municipal-level good practices and web-based training modules and will be eligible for grants supporting innovative, local initiatives and strategies that will contribute to building social cohesion and resilience to violent extremism.
The SCN will include an International Steering Committee of approximately 25 cities and other sub-national entities from different regions that will provide the SCN with its strategic direction. The SCN will also convene an International Advisory Board, which includes representatives from relevant city-focused networks, to help ensure SCN builds upon their work. It will be run by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a leading international “think-and-do” tank with a long-standing track record of working to prevent violent extremism:
“The SCN provides a unique new opportunity to apply our collective lessons in preventing violent extremism in support of local communities and authorities around the world”, said CEO Sasha Havlicek of ISD. “We look forward to developing this international platform for joint innovation to impact this pressing challenge.”
“It is with great conviction that Montréal has agreed to join the Strong Cities Network founders,” said the Honorable Mayor Denis Coderre of Montreal. “This global network is designed to build on community-based approaches to address violent extremism, promote openness and vigilance and expand upon local initiatives like Montréal’s Mayors’ International Observatory on Living Together. I am delighted that through the Strong Cities Network, the City of Montréal will more actively share information and best practices with a global network of leaders on critical issues facing our communities.”
The Strong Cities Network will launch on Sept. 29, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT, following the Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism. Welcoming remarks will be offered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, who will also introduce a Keynote address by U.S. Attorney General Lynch. Following this event, the Strong Cities International Steering Committee, consisting of approximately 25 mayors and other leaders from cities and other sub-national entities from around the globe, will hold its inaugural meeting on Sept. 30, 2015, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT.
For more information, please visit www.strongcitiesnetwork.org or contact Sabine Barton via email at: [email protected] or telephone: +44 207 493 9333.
Justice Department Expands Violence Reduction Network to Five New SitesRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates and Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced that five new cities will join the Violence Reduction Network (VRN), a comprehensive approach to reducing violent crime in communities around the country. The new partnering cities are Little Rock, Arkansas; West Memphis, Arkansas; Compton, California; Flint, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey. They join the inaugural sites of Detroit; Chicago; Camden, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; and Oakland and Richmond, California.
“The Violence Reduction Network uses every tool in the Justice Department’s toolbox to help communities combat violent crime. And we deploy these resources in a targeted, strategic, data-driven way to get the most bang for our buck,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates. “While we’re still early in this process with the five cities we announced last year, we’re encouraged by the progress we’ve made so far. And we’re looking forward to getting down to work in the five new cities we’re announcing today.”
Today’s announcement was made before an audience of U.S. Attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, local leaders from the ten sites and Department of Justice representatives at the second annual VRN Summit in Detroit. Through the VRN, the Justice Department enlists tactical and operational expertise available from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys, the Community Oriented Policing Services Office and the Office on Violence Against Women.
Deputy Attorney General Yates cited the progress reported by the current VRN sites in their first year. In Camden, for example, the FBI assisted the local police display wanted felons’ information on digital billboards, resulting in the arrest of two felons The ATF helped the Camden County Police Department acquire National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) equipment and training. NIBIN has allowed the county to initiate eTrace, an Internet-based firearms tracing and analysis tracking process to enhance criminal investigations.
In Chicago, police used closed-captioned television to post videos of sexual assault suspects on Facebook, leading to arrests. With the advice and technical support of the DOJ VRN partners, the Wilmington Police Department created a new homicide unit and the homicide clearance rate rose from less than 10 percent to more than 50 percent on current-year cases. Detroit started to use sophisticated data analysis techniques to identify warning signals for domestic violence homicides to prevent these crimes and in August 2015 coordinated with the FBI in using the Digital Billboards Initiative to feature a homicide suspect.
Oakland and Richmond, California strengthened their relationships with the DOJ law enforcement partners in significant ways. The ATF embedded three full-time ATF special agents in the Richmond Police Department to assist with commercial armed robberies, shootings, and homicides. A national USMS task force operation in Contra Costa County resulted in the apprehension of over 130 people, including 12 homicide suspects.
The Oakland Police Department (OPD) continues to focus on ways to use analytics to enhance their crime prevention and violence reduction efforts. They have received two training sessions in social network analysis through the VRN. OPD is planning to conduct a full group audit to extract “on the ground” intelligence of known offenders and gangs through focus-group style working sessions with law enforcement and community organizations and will use this intelligence to build and support their social network analysis. The Oakland Police Department also participated in Crime Analysis for Executive Training and is now revamping their crime analysis unit.
This past summer, the FBI, DEA, and USMS participated in the Richmond’s Safe City Summer: Crime Prevention Public Safety Fair, a collaborative effort at Richmond City Hall to combat recent increases in violence and interacted with over 4,000 community members on their agency’s federal law enforcement role in assisting the police department with crime prevention efforts.
The DEA, through their El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), is providing all the VRN sites with the opportunity to work collaboratively to enhance their investigations and operations that target criminal activities.
In addition to announcing the five new VRN sites, Deputy Attorney General Yates announced Smart Policing grant awards totaling over $2 million to law enforcement agencies to develop innovative, data-driven approaches to crime.
For more VRN information visit www.bja.gov/Programs/VRN.html.
Justice Department Announces More than $2 Million for Smart Policing InitiativeRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates today announced that the Justice Department has awarded more than $2 million in funding for the Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). SPI will support four jurisdictions nationwide by helping them build evidence-based, data-driven tactics and strategies to ensure law enforcement agencies are effective, efficient and economical.
“The goal of these efforts is to make a difference in each community by helping local law enforcement agencies reduce crime and earn the confidence of the citizens they serve,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates.
The SPI, a competitive grant program administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, creates collaborations between law enforcement officials and researchers in 39 communities to tackle such public safety challenges as neighborhood drug markets, gun violence, domestic violence, and the chronic violent offenders who perpetrate such crimes. It encourages innovative use of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices, while seeking community input on ways to improve policing practices and increase transparency, accountability and legitimacy.
Today’s announcement was made at the 2nd Annual Violence Reduction Network (VRN) Summit. VRN is an unprecedented effort to deliver strategic, intensive training and technical assistance to reduce violence in local communities.
For more information on the Smart Policing Initiative and VRN visit:
https://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=80.
https://www.bja.gov/Programs/VRN.html
About the Office of Justice Programs (OJP)OJP, headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.
Justice Department Announces $26 Million in Grants to Develop and Strengthen Criminal Justice and Community Partnerships to Address Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating and StalkingRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates today announced 44 awards totaling over $26 million in funding through the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women’s Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders Program. These 44 recipients will create and enhance collaborative partnerships between criminal justice agencies, victim services providers, and community organizations that respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. The awards were announced at the Justice Department’s Second Annual Violence Reduction Network (VRN) Summit in Detroit, Michigan.
“Sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking are serious crimes that require a robust criminal justice system response in coordination with community based organizations and victim service providers,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates. “This program challenges the whole community to work together to identify barriers and develop solutions that enhance victim safety and hold offenders accountable.”
Three VRN sites – Chicago, Detroit, and Oakland/Richmond – will directly benefit from these awards. Cook County is receiving an award to develop a multidisciplinary team to strengthen the law enforcement response to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking who are enrolled in colleges located in Cook County, including Chicago. Contra Costa County, California—home to Richmond—is receiving an award to support the "Contra Costa County Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence" project, which, among other things, will provide a variety of resources and services for victims of domestic violence and support a full-time probation officer who will monitor 35-40 high-risk domestic violence probationers. And Detroit is receiving an award to improve the information communication systems between the Detroit Police Department’s Domestic Violence Unit and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and to provide centralized, accessible legal and social services to victims of domestic violence.
The Fiscal Year 2015 Arrest Program grant recipients are:
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Bannock County, ID
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Buncombe County, NC
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Circle, Incorporated, VT
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City and County of Denver, CO
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City and County of San Francisco, CA
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City of Cheyenne, WY
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City of Detroit, MI
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City of Gainesville, FL
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City of Indianapolis, IN
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City of Lee's Summit, MO
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City of Lowell, MA
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City of New Orleans, LA
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City of Richmond, KY
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Contra Costa County, CA
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Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, MI
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County of Cook, IL
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Cumberland County, ME
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Erie County, NY
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Executive Office of the State of Kansas, KS
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Family Support Center of South Sound, WA
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Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, MI
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Iowa State Judicial Branch, IA
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James City County, VA
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Jersey Battered Women's Service, Incorporated, NJ
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Lafayette City Parish Consolidated Government, LA
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Lake County, MT
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Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, ME
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Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County, TN
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Monroe County, IN
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Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, NV
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New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety, NJ
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New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, NY
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Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, OK
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Rhode Island Public Safety Grant Administration Office, RI
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Riverside County, CA
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Safe Horizon, Incorporated, NY
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Schuylkill County, PA
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Shelby County, AL
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Strafford County Commissioners, NH
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Suffolk County, NY
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Summit County, OH
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Town of East Bridgewater, MA
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Travis County Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Survival Center, TX
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Winnebago County Circuit Court, IL
About the Office on Violence Against Women
Created in 1995, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) provides federal leadership in developing the Nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and subsequent legislation. OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. To learn more, visit www.justice.gov/ovw
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Defense Contractor Agrees to Pay $4.63 Million to Settle Overcharging AllegationsRead the Press Release
L-3 Communications Corporation, Vertex Aerospace LLC and L-3 Communications Integrated Systems LP (collectively L-3) have agreed to pay $4.63 million to resolve allegations that they inflated labor hours for time spent by independent contractors at the military’s Continental U.S. Replacement Centers (CRC) in Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Bliss, Texas, preparing to deploy to overseas posts to support U.S. military operations abroad. The CRCs prepare individuals for deployment by providing orientation briefings, training, health screenings, payroll processing and addressing other administrative matters.
“The Justice Department is committed to vigorously pursuing all those who knowingly submit false claims under government contracts,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Contractors that seek taxpayer funds must be scrupulous in their billing, and invoice only for work and amounts permitted by their contracts.”
L-3 performed rotary aviation maintenance and support services for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait under contracts with the U.S. Air Force. The United States alleges that from 2006 through November 2011, L-3 knowingly overcharged the government for time their independent contractors spent at the CRCs by billing for each individual not based on the actual time that individual spent at the CRC, but based instead on the earliest arrival or latest departure time of any other individual who also processed through the center that same day.
“Contractors owe a duty to the taxpayers to accurately bill the United States for the actual work performed,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn of the Northern District of Georgia. “This settlement demonstrates our commitment to hold contractors accountable for false billing and restore wrongfully taken funds to the military.”
“This collaborative investigative effort reflects the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s commitment to protecting American taxpayers’ interests by ensuring integrity and accountability throughout the Defense contracting system,” said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Southeast Field Office.
“Today’s settlement is a testament to the hard work of our special agents and also highlights the importance of the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act,” said Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit. “In this particular case, a concerned citizen wasn’t afraid to speak up, alerted the proper authorities, and helped save the U.S. government millions of dollars.”
The allegations settled today arose from a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower, Robert A. Martin, a former L-3 independent contractor, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery. Mr. Martin will receive $798,675 from the recovery announced today.
This case was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia, with the assistance of DCIS, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
The lawsuit is captioned United States ex rel. Martin v. L-3 Communications Corp., et al., 1:10-CV-1622-CAP (N.D. Ga.). The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Third Person Sentenced in Las Vegas for International Biofuel Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Alex Jariv, 28, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced today in federal court to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in illegal schemes to generate and sell fraudulent biodiesel credits, marking the culmination of nearly four years of investigations and prosecutions for this complex international fraud scheme. Alex Jariv pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, make false statements and launder monetary instruments. Jariv was ordered to forfeit $491,061 in previously seized cash, an SUV, real estate and the contents of several bank accounts in the United States and abroad that were some of his proceeds of the conspiracy.
Alex Jariv is the third person to be sentenced for their role in the scheme. James Jariv, 64, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced in August to ten years in prison for his role in the illegal schemes to generate fraudulent biodiesel credits and for his role in exporting biodiesel without providing biodiesel credits to the United States. James Jariv was also ordered to make restitution in the amount of $6,345,830 and to forfeit between $4 to $6 million in cash and other assets.
Nathan Stoliar, 64, of Australia, was sentenced to two years in prison in April for his role in both conspiracies and ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution and to forfeit of $4 million in cash. James Jariv and Stoliar both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, two counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements under the Clean Air Act.
“We simply will not tolerate and will vigorously prosecute schemes like this one, that defraud a program designed to strengthen our nation’s petroleum independence and improve our air quality,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“Mr. Jariv is the third defendant sentenced to prison in this complex and egregious scheme to defraud fuel suppliers and the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden for the District of Nevada. “Through the tenacious work of our investigators and prosecutors, we also were able to seize and forfeit millions of dollars from numerous bank accounts, as well as real property in Nevada and California, jewelry and other assets.”
“The Renewable Fuel Standard helps reduce the nation’s impact on climate change and lessens our dependence on foreign oil and this case shows that EPA takes seriously its responsibility to bring violators of this important program to justice,” said Special Agent Jay Green, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Nevada. “In order to ensure a level playing field, it’s vital that companies following the law don’t have to compete with those that break it.”
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 created a number of federally-funded programs that provided monetary incentives for the production and use of renewable fuels such as biodiesel in the United States. Biodiesel producers and importers can generate and attach credits known as renewable identification numbers (RINs) to the gallons of biodiesel they produce or import. Because certain companies, such as companies that sell transportation fuel in the United States, need RINs to comply with regulatory obligations, RINs have significant market value. They are routinely bought and sold in the marketplace.
Beginning around September of 2009, James Jariv and Stoliar operated and controlled a company – City Farm Biofuel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – that represented itself as a producer of biodiesel from “feedstocks” such as animal fat and vegetable oils. James Jariv and Stoliar also formed a company called Canada Feedstock Supply – that represented itself as City Farm’s supplier of feedstocks necessary to produce biodiesel. James Jariv operated and controlled a company based in Las Vegas called Global E Marketing (GEM).
Alex Jariv worked for and on behalf of these companies. Using these three and other closely-held companies, the three defendants claimed to produce biodiesel at the City Farm facility and to import and sell biodiesel to GEM and then generated and sold RINs based upon this claimed production, sale and importation. In reality, no biodiesel produced at City Farm was ever imported and sold to GEM as claimed. The Jarivs and Stoliar used GEM to claim to blend the biodiesel with petroleum diesel, allowing them to sell the RINs separately from any actual biodiesel. Using this scheme, the three men falsely claimed to import, purchase and blend more than 4.2 million gallons of biodiesel. They then sold the RINs, and fraudulently generated more than $7 million.
James Jariv and Stoliar also purchased and resold RIN-less B-99 biodiesel as B-100 biodiesel, which allowed them to charge substantially more for this product than if it has been accurately labeled. They exported significant amounts of the RIN-less B-99 they bought in the United States to Canada and Australia. They then sold the biodiesel in those countries and conspired to not acquire and provide RINs to the United States for these exports as they were required to do by law. In doing so, James Jariv and Stoliar failed to give to the United States RINs worth in excess of $34 million, keeping this money for themselves instead.
Finally, James and Alex Jariv and Stoliar conspired to launder the proceeds of their crimes, utilizing foreign banking institutions and complex financial transactions to promote their illegal schemes and distribute the proceeds of their crimes. Accounts were utilized in Canada, Nevada and Australia and transactions between the defendants’ closely-held companies were described as other legitimate transactions involving biodiesel, when in reality they were not.
The investigation into the Jarivs’ and Stoliar’s activities was the result of collaborative work by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI, with assistance from the United States Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The case was prosecuted by Wayne D. Hettenbach of the Environmental Crimes Section, U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Crane M. Pomerantz and Daniel D. Hollingsworth of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada and Assistant Deputy Chief Darrin L. McCullough of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Ringleader of $24 Million Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Ring Sentenced to 15 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
9,000 Identities Stolen from the U.S. Army, Alabama State Agencies and Georgia Companies
A resident of Newnan, Georgia, was sentenced today to prison for her role as the ringleader of a $24 million stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) conspiracy, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. of the Middle District of Alabama.
Keisha Lanier was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama to serve 15 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $5,811,406. She was also detained following the sentencing hearing. On May 19, Tamika Floyd, a defendant in a related case, was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison. On June 25, Tamaica Hoskins, a co-defendant charged in the same indictment, was sentenced to serve 145 months in prison. And on Aug. 7, the following sentences were imposed on Lanier’s other co-defendants:
- Tracy Mitchell, of Phenix City, Alabama, was sentenced to serve 159 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $329,242, which was seized in cash from her residence;
- Talarius Paige, of Phenix City, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $762,512 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS);
- Mequetta Snell-Quick, of Columbus, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 24 months and one day in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $199,471 in restitution to the IRS;
- Latasha Mitchell, of Phenix City, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $513,821 in restitution to the IRS;
- Dameisha Mitchell, of Phenix City, was sentenced to serve 65 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $440,176 in restitution to the IRS;
- Sharonda Johnson, of Phenix City, was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $440,176 in restitution to the IRS;
- Patrice Taylor, of Midland, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $28,783 in restitution to the IRS; and
- Cynthia Johnson, of Phenix City, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $5,047 in restitution to the IRS.
“Today’s sentence brings to a close an extensive criminal network led by Keisha Lanier and designed to victimize U.S. citizens and defraud the U.S. Treasury of over $20 million in fraudulent refund claims,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “The substantial sentences imposed on Ms. Lanier and her co-defendants send a clear message that those who chose to engage in such criminal conduct will pay a very heavy price.”
According to information in court documents and at the sentencing hearings, between January 2011 and December 2013, Lanier and Tracy Mitchell led a large-scale identity theft ring in which Lanier, Tracy Mitchell and their co-defendants filed more than 9,000 false individual federal income tax returns that claimed more than $24 million in fraudulent claims for tax refunds. The IRS paid out close to $10 million in refunds on these fraudulent claims. The defendants obtained the stolen identities from various sources, including from the U.S. Army, several Alabama state agencies, a Georgia call center and employee records from a Georgia company. Mitchell worked at the hospital located at Fort Benning, Georgia, where she had access to the identification data of military personnel, including soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan. She stole the personal information of soldiers and used that information to file false tax returns.
“Today’s sentencing of Keisha Lanier, who conspired with others to use the identities of American service members and hospital patients to enrich themselves by stealing tax refunds, demonstrates the depths of how far criminals will stoop and the extent to which IRS-CI will go to fight identity theft,” said Chief Richard Weber of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “We will use every available resource in collaboration with our law enforcement partners to combat these serious crimes.”
“This sentencing demonstrates our firm commitment to hold accountable those who commit fraud or otherwise steal from our government,” said Director Daniel Andrews of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (CID) Computer Crime Investigative Unit. “Special agents from our Computer Crime Investigative Unit, along with our federal law enforcement counterparts, are unwavering in our commitment to seek out and hold responsible all those who conduct criminal activity against the United States Army and the American taxpayer.”
Floyd stole personal information from two Alabama state agencies and provided those names to Lanier. Lanier provided those names to Tracy Mitchell, Latasha Mitchell, Paige and others to file false tax returns. Lanier also obtained stolen identities from the Alabama Department of Corrections. Paige and Taylor worked in a call center for a payment-processing company in Columbus and stole identities. Paige, in turn, used those identities to file false tax returns, some of which he filed from Tracy Mitchell’s residence. Tracy and Latasha Mitchell also obtained employee files from a Columbus company and used those identities to file false tax returns.
To file the false tax returns, the defendants obtained several IRS Electronic Filing Numbers in the names of sham tax businesses. On behalf of those sham tax businesses, the defendants applied for bank products from various financial institutions. Under the guise of a legitimate business account, the institutions mailed blank check stock to the defendants’ homes. The defendants directed the IRS to pay anticipated tax refunds to prepaid debit cards, in U.S. Treasury checks and to financial institutions, which in turn issued the tax refunds via prepaid debit cards or checks. When the refunds were sent through the financial institutions, the defendants simply printed out the refund checks from the check stock that had been sent to their homes.
After a period of time, the financial institutions stopped permitting the defendants to print out the tax refund checks. To continue the scheme, Tracy Mitchell and members of her family recruited U.S. Postal Service employees. The corrupt postal employees specified addresses along their postal routes to have the U.S. Treasury checks mailed, then obtained those checks and turned them over to the defendants for a fee.
The scheme also involved a complex money laundering operation. Nearly $10 million in fraudulent tax refund checks were cashed at several businesses located in Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. To coordinate this massive check cashing scheme, the defendants communicated using text messages and maintained detailed records. For instance, Sharondra Johnson worked at the Walmart money center in Columbus, where she cashed checks for customers as part of her job. Dameisha Mitchell recruited Sharondra Johnson to cash tax refund checks that were fraudulently issued in the names of other individuals. Sharondra Johnson agreed to cash the checks and communicated with Dameisha and Tracy Mitchell via text messages. In an attempt to conceal the crime from Walmart, the defendants had multiple individuals deliver the tax refund checks to Johnson for her to cash them.
At sentencing, the government offered victim impact statements from several individuals whose identities were stolen, from family members, and from companies and governmental agencies where the identity theft breaches occurred. One agency representative noted that the identity theft was not only devastating financially, but that it also impaired the agency’s ability to serve the residents of this state. The mother of a U.S. Army soldier whose identity was stolen submitted a statement describing the consequences of the fraud on her and her family:
While [my son] was fighting for our country and all back home[,] I received a very disturbing phone call from [an] Agent [] from the IRS that my son[,] while at Ft. Benning training to defend our country[,] the land of the free[,] had his identity stolen and fraudulent tax returns were filed with his social security number. This news was devastating to think that my [] 19-year-old son[,] who was defending the very freedom this country stands [for] [,] was wronged by one of those people [he] was willing to die for. My whole family could not believe what was happening. We now had to worry about this terrible act by one of our own. As I tried my best to keep composed and handle all of the gruesome mounds of paperwork to get this straightened out with the IRS, [my son] was then denied his tax refund. This created a financial hardship on [him]. We were too afraid to tell [him] while he was deployed because we did not want to worry him and we wanted him to focus only on getting home alive and not have to worry about such an atrocious act by someone who did not even know [him].
“No sentence is too strong for those who prey on our fighting men and women,” said U.S. Attorney Beck Jr. “War is hell on the home front, too, and the family left behind holding things together must be strongly protected.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Beck Jr. commended special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Army-CID, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Gregory P. Bailey of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Todd A. Brown, Jonathan S. Ross and Kevin P. Davidson of the Middle District of Alabama, who prosecuted the case. Ciraolo and Beck Jr. also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Georgia for their assistance in the case.
Justice Department Announces Two Banks Reach Resolutions under Swiss Bank ProgramRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that Migros Bank AG (Migros) and Graubündner Kantonalbank (Graubündner) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $18 million.
“It is abundantly clear from the agreements reached to date that for decades, many foreign financial institutions engaged in a pattern of conduct designed to facilitate the concealment of accounts owned by U.S. taxpayers, and to profit from these relationships,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “With each agreement reached under the Swiss Bank Program, and each U.S. accountholder who initiates and completes a voluntary disclosure to the Internal Revenue Service, we move a step closer to eliminating secret undisclosed accounts.”
The Swiss Bank Program, which was announced on Aug. 29, 2013, provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Swiss banks eligible to enter the program were required to advise the department by Dec. 31, 2013, that they had reason to believe that they had committed tax-related criminal offenses in connection with undeclared U.S.-related accounts. Banks already under criminal investigation related to their Swiss-banking activities and all individuals were expressly excluded from the program.
Under the program, banks are required to:
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Make a complete disclosure of their cross-border activities;
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Provide detailed information on an account-by-account basis for accounts in which U.S. taxpayers have a direct or indirect interest;
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Cooperate in treaty requests for account information;
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Provide detailed information as to other banks that transferred funds into secret accounts or that accepted funds when secret accounts were closed;
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Agree to close accounts of accountholders who fail to come into compliance with U.S. reporting obligations; and
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Pay appropriate penalties.
Swiss banks meeting all of the above requirements are eligible for a non-prosecution agreement.
According to the terms of the non-prosecution agreements signed today, each bank agrees to cooperate in any related criminal or civil proceedings, demonstrate its implementation of controls to stop misconduct involving undeclared U.S. accounts and pay penalties in return for the department’s agreement not to prosecute these banks for tax-related criminal offenses.
Migros was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Zurich. As of Dec. 31, 2014, Migros Bank had 66 offices (all in Switzerland) and more than 1,300 employees. In January 2001, Migros Bank entered into a Qualified Intermediary (QI) Agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The QI regime provided a comprehensive framework for U.S. information reporting and tax withholding by a non-U.S. financial institution regarding U.S. securities. Migros Bank issued several directives to its employees concerning the QI Agreement. An October 2000 directive stated that persons subject to U.S. taxes who did not want to be disclosed to the “U.S. tax authority” would not be authorized to hold or purchase U.S. securities in their accounts beginning on Jan. 1, 2001. The directive further stated that persons subject to U.S. taxes who disclosed their identities to the U.S. tax authority via an IRS Form W-9 could purchase and sell U.S. securities without restriction.
Migros Bank also created a handbook regarding the QI Agreement, which was first issued to its employees in 2003. The handbook recognized that “the U.S. retains the right to full taxation of its citizens,” but also that a “U.S. person has the option not to disclose to U.S. tax authorities.” The handbook instructed Migros Bank employees that “[i]f a U.S. person does not wish to disclose to U.S. tax authorities, it is sufficient if the W-9 form is not filled out for Migros Bank,” and that the customer could sign a waiver to forego investing in U.S. securities. The handbook further instructed Migros Bank employees that clients residing in the United States “who would like to refrain from disclosure” could be “tended to” by, among other things, retaining their mail in Switzerland through hold-mail agreements, not making regular fund transfers to the United States and not sending payment orders from the United States.
From 2001 until 2005, Migros Bank accepted referrals of U.S. persons as new clients from an external asset manager based in Switzerland. The external asset manager brought a total of 165 U.S.-related accounts to Migros Bank during that period, and most of those accountholders were U.S. residents. The maximum value of these accounts during that period was approximately $62 million. The external asset manager had full control of his clients’ accounts, and Migros Bank’s relationship managers usually interacted with him rather than with his clients. In 2005, Migros Bank decided to terminate its relationship with the external asset manager, but it did not end the relationship until the end of 2006 in order to provide the external relationship manager with additional time to contact his clients and possibly move their funds to other depositary banks. Alternatively, his clients could elect to stay at Migros Bank and give the external asset manager powers of attorney to continue managing their accounts.
In December 2008, Migros Bank’s executive board established a working group of bank officials to study the situation of U.S.-domiciled clients, whom Migros Bank considered to be the riskiest U.S. persons from a U.S. tax-enforcement perspective, identify any related risks to Migros Bank and propose measures to limit such risks. The working group assessed the risk of U.S. tax authorities taking actions against additional Swiss banks as moderate and the risk of Migros Bank’s website and e-banking services causing it to fall under U.S. bank supervision as low. They also assessed the risk of relationship managers’ insufficient legal and linguistic knowledge causing erroneous advice to U.S.-domiciled clients as moderate.
The working group considered discontinuing business with all U.S.-domiciled clients to be a “low priority” because that business generated earnings with hardly any additional expenditure and had “further potential as various banks are discontinuing the provision of advisory services.” Instead, the working group considered the creation of a U.S. desk to be a top priority. The working group presented a business case for this option that envisioned obtaining an additional one percent share of the total U.S.-domiciled clients with more than 1 million Swiss francs in assets then being served by all Swiss banks. The working group estimated that there were more than 2,500 UBS clients alone in that category. The business case also envisioned potentially obtaining an additional two percent share of all other U.S.-domiciled clients, “depending on the strategy.” The working group estimated that this course of action would result in Migros Bank having 250 million Swiss francs under management from U.S.-domiciled clients.
The executive board ultimately decided, starting in 2009, to create a U.S. desk by re-assigning all U.S.-domiciled clients, whether in premium or retail banking, to a group of premium-banking relationship managers who spoke English and had received specialized regulatory training. The head of the premium-banking department had ultimate responsibility over this team, which eventually included nine relationship managers. In May 2009, Migros Bank issued a directive requiring that the head of the premium-banking department approve all new U.S.-domiciled clients, prohibiting Migros Bank employees from sending correspondence to the United States or accepting orders received by telephone, fax or mail from the United States, and prohibiting U.S.-domiciled clients from initiating transactions through the e-banking system. After issuing the directive, Migros Bank accepted 37 new U.S.-related accounts in the remainder of 2009. Of these, 17 were funded by transfers from banks with operations already under investigation by the department, or Category 1 banks.
Since Aug. 1, 2008, Migros Bank provided banking services for 898 U.S.-related accounts, with more than $273 million in assets. Migros Bank will pay a penalty of $15.037 million.
Graubündner was founded in 1870. It is headquartered in Chur, Switzerland, and has 63 branches, all located within the Canton of Graubünden.
With respect to its U.S.-related accounts, Graubündner offered a variety of traditional Swiss banking services that, though available to all of its clients, were used by some U.S. taxpayers to conceal their undeclared assets and income. These services included code word or numbered accounts and assisting U.S. clients in executing forms that directed Graubündner not to disclose their names to the IRS. For approximately 76 U.S-related accounts, Graubündner provided hold mail services, through which Graubündner held bank statements and other mail in Switzerland rather than sending the documents to the United States. In a few cases, Graubündner processed substantial cash withdrawals in connection with U.S. clients’ closure of their accounts. For example, at an account closing in December 2009, the bank permitted a U.S. taxpayer to withdraw approximately $112,000 in cash. Graubündner also closed a U.S.-related account held by a U.S. citizen and resident by transferring the account funds to another Graubündner account held in the name of the U.S. client’s parents, who lived in Switzerland.
Graubündner opened and maintained accounts for seven U.S. taxpayers in the names of offshore structures where the U.S taxpayer’s interest in the account was not reported to the IRS. Five U.S. citizens were the beneficial owners of accounts held in the names of nominee entities, including four Liechtenstein foundations and a British Virgin Islands company. Two of these accounts had traded in U.S. securities, but Graubündner did not report account earnings or transmit withholding taxes to the IRS as required. Graubündner also opened and maintained two accounts in the names of Swiss companies, one for a Swiss citizen and one for a German citizen, both of whom resided in the United States.
In December 2008, Graubündner required that all new and existing U.S. clients, irrespective of domicile, submit a handwritten declaration of compliance with their U.S. tax obligations, waive Swiss banking secrecy and provide a Form W-9. Graubündner also prohibited the opening of new accounts for entities with a U.S. beneficial owner, even with a Form W-9 and confirmation of tax compliance. New U.S. clients who failed to submit the requested documents were not supposed to be accepted, though initially some relationship managers continued to accept U.S. customers without securing a Form W-9. Existing clients who failed to meet these requirements were to be exited by June 2010. In July 2009, Graubündner stopped accepting any new U.S. clients, with the exception of U.S. nationals residing in Switzerland or Swiss nationals temporarily residing in the United States.
Graubündner has fully cooperated with the department, providing all relevant and requested information and documents as part of its participation in the Swiss Bank Program. Further evidencing Graubündner’s cooperation is the fact that its employees and members of the board of directors have not objected to the disclosure of their names and functions at Graubündner to the department. In compliance with Swiss privacy laws, Graubündner has sought and obtained bank secrecy waivers from many of its U.S. customers, whose names were then provided to the U.S. government.
Since Aug. 1, 2008, Graubündner had 364 U.S.-related accounts with an aggregate maximum balance of approximately $105.5 million. Graubündner will pay a penalty of $3.616 million.
In accordance with the terms of the Swiss Bank Program, each bank mitigated its penalty by encouraging U.S. accountholders to come into compliance with their U.S. tax and disclosure obligations. While U.S. accountholders at these banks who have not yet declared their accounts to the IRS may still be eligible to participate in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, the price of such disclosure has increased.
Most U.S. taxpayers who enter the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to resolve undeclared offshore accounts will pay a penalty equal to 27.5 percent of the high value of the accounts. On Aug. 4, 2014, the IRS increased the penalty to 50 percent if, at the time the taxpayer initiated their disclosure, either a foreign financial institution at which the taxpayer had an account or a facilitator who helped the taxpayer establish or maintain an offshore arrangement had been publicly identified as being under investigation, the recipient of a John Doe summons or cooperating with a government investigation, including the execution of a deferred prosecution agreement or non-prosecution agreement. With today’s announcement of these non-prosecution agreements, noncompliant U.S. accountholders at these banks must now pay that 50 percent penalty to the IRS if they wish to enter the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program.
“Today’s resolution with Migros Bank AG and Graubündner Kantonalbank continues the progress of DOJ’s Swiss Bank Program,” said acting Deputy Commissioner International David Horton of the IRS Large Business & International Division. “This settlement aids our efforts to make sure U.S. taxpayers report their foreign accounts and pay taxes on the income earned on those accounts. Working with DOJ, we continue to make progress fighting offshore tax evasion and those who aid such illegal activity.”
“The Swiss Bank Program continues to pay dividends due to the strength of our partnership with the Department of Justice,” said Chief Richard Weber of IRS-Criminal Investigation (CI). “A significant element of this program has been the influx of highly-detailed account data along with information about the variety of schemes used to hide assets overseas. This information will continue to be used on both an individual and global basis to combat international tax evasion.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo thanked the IRS, and in particular, IRS-CI and the IRS Large Business & International Division for their substantial assistance. Ciraolo also thanked Gregory E. Van Hoey, Michael R. Pahl, John E. Sullivan and Thomas G. Voracek, who served as counsel on these matters, as well as Senior Counsel for International Tax Matters and Coordinator of the Swiss Bank Program Thomas J. Sawyer and Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette L. Davis of the Tax Division.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
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Joint Statement by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh JohnsonRead the Press Release
We welcome recent progress made with the People’s Republic of China on cyber issues of concern to both the United States and China. Through the efforts of President Obama and President Xi Jinping, as well as officials from both sides, we have made several key commitments focused on concrete actions and arrangements to address our differences on cyber issues. These include:
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The United States and China committed that both sides should increase law enforcement communications regarding malicious cyber activities, including breaches of sensitive information, and provide timely responses to requests for information and assistance concerning those activities. Further, both sides agreed to provide updates to the other side on the status and results of those investigations and to take action, as appropriate.
- The United States and China committed that neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.
As a means of ensuring that these commitments are upheld and responses are provided in a timely and comprehensive manner, the United States and China committed to establish a high-level joint dialogue mechanism on cybercrime and related issues. We will co-chair the dialogue for the United States, with participation from representatives of the FBI, the U.S. Intelligence Community and other agencies. China will designate an official at the Ministerial level to lead representatives from the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Justice and the State Internet and Information Office. This dialogue will enable both sides to periodically assess our progress; address any issues related to investigative cooperation or information exchanges; and outline means for relevant agencies on both sides to enhance cooperation. Further, the two countries will establish a hotline to address urgent issues or difficulties that have not otherwise been successfully resolved. We look forward to scheduling the first session of this dialogue before the end of the calendar year.
We intend to remain personally engaged on these issues to ensure that both sides take concrete and reciprocal steps to advance progress made thus far. These commitments do not resolve all our challenges with China on cyber issues. However, they do represent a step forward in our efforts to address one of the sharpest areas of disagreement in the U.S.-China bilateral relationship. The United States is prepared to fulfill our commitments and make reciprocal efforts. We expect China to do the same and have been clear with the Chinese government that their words must be matched by actions.
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District Court Enters Permanent Injunction against Miami Dietary Supplement Manufacturer and its Two Owners to Stop Distribution of Adulterated ProductsRead the Press Release
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Miami-based Sunset Natural Products Inc. and the firm’s co-owners, Teresa Martinez and Elsy Cruz, to prevent the distribution of adulterated dietary supplements, the Department of Justice announced today.
The department filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), alleging that the defendants violated the law by manufacturing and distributing dietary supplements that were deemed to be adulterated. Under the law, dietary supplement manufacturers are required to have systems in place to ensure that their products meet specifications for identity, purity, strength and composition.
According to the complaint, several FDA inspections between 2012 and 2014 allegedly revealed that Sunset failed to conduct at least one appropriate test or examination to verify the identity of every dietary ingredient before using the ingredient, and that the firm failed to establish product specifications for the identity, purity, strength and composition of finished batches of dietary supplements. The defendants allegedly failed to use equipment and utensils of appropriate design, construction and workmanship to enable them to be adequately cleaned and properly maintained.
The firm and its owners agreed to settle the litigation and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction that prohibits them from committing further violations of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The consent decree requires Sunset to cease all operations and requires that if the defendants seek to resume manufacturing and distributing dietary supplements, the FDA first must determine that the firm’s manufacturing practices have come into compliance with the law. The consent decree also requires the defendants to recall all dietary supplements that the defendants manufactured, prepared, processed, packed, labeled, held and/or distributed at any time since April 2014. The defendants are then required to destroy all dietary supplements in their possession, custody and/or control.
“Manufacturers of dietary supplements who do not follow the appropriate federal regulations put the public at risk,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with FDA to protect consumers from adulterated products.”
On March 19, 2013, the FDA issued a warning letter to Martinez, detailing numerous violations of current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations the FDA observed during the 2012 inspection. According to the complaint, all of the cGMP violations described in the warning letter were the same as, or similar to, the violations the FDA observed during the April 2014 and September 2014 inspections. As noted in the complaint, the warning letter stated that it was the defendants’ responsibility to ensure compliance with the law and cautioned that failure to take prompt action to correct the deviations, and prevent their recurrence, may result in legal action.
According to the complaint, Martinez responded to the 2013 warning letter with promises to correct the cGMP violations. However, according to the allegations, the defendants either did not follow through on their promises to correct and/or failed to fully correct these violations, as shown by the FDA investigators’ observation and documentation of ongoing, significant cGMP deficiencies during the subsequent inspections in 2014.
The government is represented by Counsel Melanie Singh of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance from Senior Counsel Michele Svonkin of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel – Food and Drug Division.
Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority Signs Legal Agreement with EPA and U.S. Department of Justice to Reduce Air Pollution at Two Power PlantsRead the Press Release
Under an agreement announced today by the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) will come into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act at its Krum Bay facility on St. Thomas and Cruz Bay facility on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The settlement resolves numerous violations of the Clean Air Act, including VIWAPA’s failure to properly operate pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that can cause serious respiratory illness. These pollutants are linked to health problems, including asthma, lung and heart disease. VIWAPA will spend approximately $12.2 million to comply with the agreement’s requirements. VIWAPA will also pay a $1.3 million penalty.
Separate from the settlement, VIWAPA has been in the process of converting several of its oil-fired turbines at the St. Thomas facility to be capable of burning liquefied petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas. The settlement requires that at least 85 percent of the power VIWAPA generates from the converted units be from burning liquefied petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas at the converted units and renewable sources. The agreement will result in a reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions by approximately 1,300 tons per year and particulate matter emissions by approximately 185 tons per year. In addition, the conversion to LPG or LNG will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the St. Thomas facility by approximately 66,000 tons per year and sulfur dioxide by approximately 200 tons per year.
“Today’s settlement marks another milestone in our ongoing efforts to enforce the Clean Air Act and reduce air pollution from power plants,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement will eliminate thousands of tons of harmful air pollution each year, significantly improving air quality in the Virgin Islands.”
“This settlement will drastically reduce the amount of air pollution in the Virgin Islands and bring the St. Thomas power plant, one of the most significant sources of air pollution in the U.S. Virgin Islands, into compliance with the Clean Air Act,” said Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck for EPA.
Under the Clean Air Act, large industrial facilities that make modifications that increase air pollution emissions must install best available control technology. VIWAPA operates with a permit that requires it to use the best available control technology to control emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. The complaint, which this settlement resolves, alleged numerous violations, including that VIWAPA had not properly operated nor maintained its water injection pollution control system during various times from October 2005 through December 2013. The complaint also alleged that the St. Thomas facility failed to meet the opacity (smoke) emission limits during normal operations and failed to conduct continuous monitoring to ensure compliance with its limits, and to keep proper records.
Under the agreement, at the St. Thomas facility, VIWAPA will:
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Properly operate and maintain the water injection pollution control system;
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Properly operate and maintain the continuous monitoring equipment;
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Develop and maintain an inventory of spare parts for the St. Thomas facility’s water injection pollution control system and emission monitoring equipment;
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Arrange for third-party audits and self-audits to ensure compliance with the water injection pollution control system requirements and emission monitoring requirements;
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Install a pollution control device to reduce visible emissions from one unit; and
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Install a video camera system to monitor visible emissions from the stacks and conduct visible emission monitoring when visible emissions are observed.
Under the agreement, at the St. John facility, VIWAPA will:
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Use cleaner fuel; and
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Submit a request to the Virgin Islands government to modify the permit to designate the unit as an emergency unit.
The EPA has worked with VIWAPA over the past several years to address its violations and operations at the St. Thomas facility and the St. John facility. As a result of that work, VIWAPA has already repaired and replaced pollution controls and monitoring equipment at the St. Thomas facility. It replaced its data acquisition system and installed an improved water system, which it now uses in its water injection pollution control system.
For more information on this settlement or to read the proposed consent decree, go to: http://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees
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Attorney General Lynch Announces $44 Million in Grant Funding to Combat Human Trafficking and Support SurvivorsRead the Press Release
As part of her commitment to combat human trafficking, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced more than $44 million in grant funding to combat human trafficking during her remarks today in Seattle, Washington, to the Washington Advisory Committee on Trafficking. Seattle is one of 16 sites selected for an anti-trafficking task force award, receiving $1.5 million to support law enforcement efforts and victim services for the next three years.
“Human traffickers prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and their crimes – which are nothing short of modern-day slavery – have no place in this country,” said Attorney General Lynch. “These grants – administered by the Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the National Institute of Justice – will fund efforts across the country to fight human trafficking, to provide services for survivors and to expand research going forward.”
The grant awards include the following:
- More than $22.7 million to support 16 anti-human trafficking task forces across the country. Within each task force location, BJA will make one award to a lead law enforcement agency and OVC will make one to the lead victim service provider. The grantees will work collaboratively with other key members of the task force, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office, local prosecutor’s office, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and community and system-based service providers. The task forces are listed at: http://www.ojp.gov/newsroom/pdfs/HT_Full_Chart_V.3.pdf.
- $1 million to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Inc. to conduct a comprehensive analysis of task force training and technical assistance needs to strengthen the capacity to investigate and prosecute human trafficking.
- More than $8.1 million to 12 victim service organizations to provide comprehensive services to any human trafficking victim identified within the target geographic region.
- More than $5.6 million to ten grantees to provide specialized services for victims of human trafficking, including programs that are culturally, linguistically and developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed, as well as services for underserved victims such as American Indians, Alaska Natives and individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ).
- Nearly $1 million total to two organizations to provide national training and technical assistance on comprehensive legal services for trafficking victims. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking will build legal service providers’ and pro bono attorneys’ capacity to serve foreign national and U.S. citizen trafficking victims and the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education will provide attorneys who represent trafficking survivors with specialized training and assistance in criminal history expungement.
- Nearly $477,000 to the National Conference of State Legislators to develop resources on human trafficking, including an online database of human trafficking state laws, web page, webinar and human trafficking briefing papers.
- More than $3.5 million to address knowledge gaps related to trafficking in persons, expand upon existing research and evaluation efforts and inform evidence-based practices for state, local and tribal criminal justice agencies.
- More than $1 million to three organizations to provide mentoring services for young victims of human trafficking, including additional training and technical assistance for organizations that provide specialized support services for youth victims.
For a complete list of individual grants awarded visit http://www.ojp.gov/newsroom/pdfs/HT_Full_Chart_V.3.pdf.
The grants announced today are part of a government-wide effort to combat human trafficking and provide services to survivors, as outlined in Coordination, Collaboration, Capacity: Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States, 2013–2017, released by the White House in January 2014.
Court Orders Florida Tax Return Preparation Company and Owner to Stop Assisting in Knowing Understatements of Tax Liability; Requires Monitoring at Company's ExpenseRead the Press Release
A federal district judge in Miami has ordered a tax return preparation business based in Miami and its owner to stop assisting in the preparation of federal income tax returns that knowingly understate federal income tax liability, the Justice Department announced today.
The injunction also requires Miami-based Ebenezer Tax Services Inc. and its owner, Ernice Joseph, to exercise due diligence in preparing returns that claim the Earned Income Tax Credit and bars them from preparing any return that claims the Fuel Excise Tax Credit. In addition, the judge ordered Ebenezer and Joseph to gather documentation to substantiate the deductions and credits claimed on the returns they prepare and to retain the documentation for a period of five years. The defendants are also required to send a copy of the injunction to customers and others. Finally, the injunction requires that a neutral monitor be engaged at Ebenezer’s and Joseph’s expense to review and monitor their compliance with the injunction and provide a report of its findings to the United States.
If the court later finds that Ebenezer or Joseph have violated any of the terms of the injunction, they will be permanently barred from preparing federal tax returns for others. The court previously barred Primo Tax Services Inc., another company partly owned by Joseph, from preparing returns for others.
According to the complaint, Joseph and Ebenezer Tax Services have prepared federal income tax returns that unlawfully understate income tax liabilities and overstate refunds through a variety of schemes. The complaint alleged that Ebenezer Tax Services prepared returns that unlawfully claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit by reporting fictitious Schedule C businesses or business income. The complaint also alleged that Ebenezer and Joseph prepared returns that claimed credits to which the taxpayers were not entitled in order to overstate their clients’ refunds. According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that the activities of Ebenezer Tax Services and Joseph may have led to millions of dollars in revenue losses.
In consenting to the injunction, Ebenezer and Joseph admitted that they had engaged in conduct subject to penalty under Section 6701 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 6701 penalizes the knowing preparation of documents whose use would result in an understatement of tax liability.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2015. The IRS has some tips on its website for choosing a tax return preparer, and has launched a free directory of federal tax return preparers. In the past decade, the 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.
Colombian National Sentenced to 63 Months for Conspiring to Launder Drug Trafficking ProceedsRead the Press Release
A Colombian national was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for conspiring to launder drug trafficking proceeds, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Tito Miller Parra-Isaza, 45, pleaded guilty on May 26, 2015. U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade of the Northern District of Texas imposed the sentence.
According to a factual stipulation filed in connection with his guilty plea, Parra-Isaza coordinated the deposit of bulk cash, which he knew to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, into financial institutions in Mexico and elsewhere. The bulk cash was later wire transferred into bank accounts in Dallas and then transported to Panama and elsewhere for distribution to individuals involved in drug trafficking.
Four other defendants previously pleaded guilty. Of the remaining charged defendants, three are fugitives and one is deceased.
This case is being investigated by the DEA. This case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mark Irish and Trial Attorney Nicole Grosnoff of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs also has provided substantial assistance.