District Not Recorded

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement Thursday following his meeting earlier today with President Obama to discuss the latest developments in Ferguson, Missouri:

“This morning, I met with President Obama to discuss the events in Ferguson, Missouri. Like the President, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of Michael Brown. While his death has understandably caused heartache within the community, it is clear that the scenes playing out in the streets of Ferguson over the last several nights cannot continue.

“For one thing, while the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, acts of violence by members of the public cannot be condoned. Looting and willful efforts to antagonize law enforcement officers who are genuinely trying to protect the public do nothing to remember the young man who has died. Such conduct is unacceptable and must be unequivocally condemned.

“By the same token, the law enforcement response to these demonstrations must seek to reduce tensions, not heighten them. Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told.

“At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message. At my direction, Department officials have conveyed these concerns to local authorities. Also at my direction, the Department is offering – through our COPS office and Office of Justice Programs – technical assistance to local authorities in order to help conduct crowd control and maintain public safety without relying on unnecessarily extreme displays of force. The local authorities in Missouri have accepted this offer of assistance as of this afternoon.

“Department officials from the Community Relations Service are also on the ground in Missouri to help convene law enforcement officials and civic and faith leaders to plot out steps to reduce tensions in the community. The latest such meeting was convened in Ferguson as recently as this morning. Over time, these conversations should consider the role that increased diversity in law enforcement can play in helping to build trust within communities.

“All the while, the federal civil rights investigation into the shooting incident itself continues, in parallel with the local investigation into state law violations. Our investigators from the Civil Rights Division and U.S. attorney’s office in Missouri have already conducted interviews with eyewitnesses on the scene at the time of the shooting incident on Saturday. Our review will take time to conduct, but it will be thorough and fair.”

A Puerto Rico businessman pleaded guilty today to bribing Puerto Rico Superior Court Judge Manuel Acevedo-Hernandez, who presided over the businessman’s vehicular homicide trial and acquitted him of all charges.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico and Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI’s San Juan Division made the announcement.

According to court documents, Lutgardo Acevedo-Lopez, 39, was a certified public accountant in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. On June 30, 2012, a car driven by Acevedo-Lopez collided with another car, resulting in the death of the other car’s driver. Acevedo-Lopez was charged with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the incident. Acevedo-Hernandez, a supervisory superior court judge in the Aguadilla judicial region of Puerto Rico, presided over the case and acquitted Acevedo-Lopez of all charges.

In his plea agreement, Acevedo-Lopez admitted that he bribed Acevedo-Hernandez to use his official position as a judge for Acevedo-Lopez’s benefit. Specifically, Acevedo-Lopez admitted that he used an intermediary to bribe Acevedo-Hernandez by paying taxes owed by Acevedo-Hernandez, paying for the construction of a garage for Acevedo-Hernandez, and providing Acevedo-Hernandez with a motorcycle, clothing and accessories, including cufflinks and a watch. In exchange, Acevedo-Hernandez acquitted Acevedo-Lopez of all charges.

Acevedo-Lopez is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8, 2014 before Chief U.S. District Judge Aida M. Delgado-Colón in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Charges remain pending against Acevedo-Hernandez, who was charged with bribery-related offenses in an indictment unsealed on May 28, 2014, in the District of Puerto Rico. The charges contained in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Division and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Peter Mason of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Henwood and Jose Capo of the District of Puerto Rico.

Citizens of Puerto Rico who have information about alleged public corruption are encouraged to contact the FBI’s San Juan Division at (787) 754-6000.

The Justice Department announced today that the manager and owner of the Linden House Apartments in Cleveland have agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve allegations that they refused to rent to individuals because the individuals had children . The settlement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department on September 30, 2013, against the Zaremba Management Company, the Linden Apartment Company and a property manager who worked at the Linden House Apartments. The United States alleged that the defendants violated the Fair Housing Act by maintaining a policy of refusing to rent units at Linden House to families with children. It also alleged that the Linden House Apartments had a policy of evicting tenants or asking tenants to relocate if they had children while living at Linden House. While the Fair Housing Act does allow housing that is reserved for older persons to limit residency to adults under certain circumstances, Linden House did not meet the requirements for this exemption.

The settlement requires the defendants to pay $90,000 to victims of their discriminatory actions, and to pay $10,000 in civil penalties to the United States. The settlement also requires the defendants to remove any restrictions on occupancy by families with children at the Linden House Apartments and to take certain steps such as training employees and reporting to the Department of Justice to make sure that such discriminatory policies are not implemented in the future.

“Finding decent, safe and affordable housing is critical for working families,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “Such families should not be turned away from housing merely because they have children.”

“Families deserve the legal right to live where they can, and the Justice Department will continue to protect them from housing discrimination,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach for the Northern District of Ohio.

Fighting illegal discrimination in housing is a top priority of the Justice Department. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt . Individuals who believe that they have been victims of housing discrimination or have information related to this lawsuit can call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected] or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.

Related Materials:

Zaremba Consent Order

Azzeddine El Amine, 47, of San José, Costa Rica, pleaded guilty today to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with his role in running Liberty Reserve, a company that operated one of the world’s most widely used digital currency services.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York made the announcement. The guilty plea was entered by U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote of the Southern District of New York.

According to allegations contained in the indictment and statements made in related court proceedings, Liberty Reserve was incorporated in Costa Rica in 2006 and billed itself as the Internet’s “largest payment processor and money transfer system.” Liberty Reserve was created, structured and operated to help users conduct illegal transactions anonymously and launder the proceeds of their crimes, and it emerged as one of the principal money transfer agents used by cybercriminals around the world to distribute, store, and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity. Liberty Reserve was used extensively for illegal purposes, functioning as the bank of choice for the criminal underworld because it provided an infrastructure that enabled cybercriminals around the world to conduct anonymous and untraceable financial transactions.

El Amine served as a principal deputy to Liberty Reserve founder Arthur Budovsky and operated a prominent Liberty Reserve “exchanger” service, through which he shared in Liberty Reserve’s profits with Budovsky. Before being shut down by the government in May 2013, Liberty Reserve had more than one million users worldwide, including more than 200,000 users in the United States, who conducted approximately 55 million transactions through its system and laundered more than $6 billion in suspected proceeds of crimes, including credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography and narcotics trafficking.

El Amine was arrested in Madrid, Spain, in May 2013, and pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, one count of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled .

This case is being investigated by the Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, which worked together as part of the Global Illicit Financial Team. The Justice Department expresses its appreciation for the assistance provided by various enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad, including the Secret Service’s New York Electronic Crimes Task Force, the Judicial Investigation Organization in Costa Rica, the National High Tech Crime Unit in the Netherlands, the Spanish National Police, Financial and Economic Crime Unit, the Cyber Crime Unit at the Swedish National Bureau of Investigation and the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kevin Mosley of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serrin Turner, Andrew Goldstein and Christine Magdo of the Southern District of New York. Support was also provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

The charges contained in the indictment against El Amine’s co-defendants remain pending and are merely accusations. Those defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Timothy S. Miller, 58, a co-founder of a Chesapeake, Virginia, government contracting company, pleaded guilty today to providing illegal gratuities to two public officials working for the United States Navy Military Sealift Command.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after Miller’s guilty plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, in February 2009, Miller, along with his business partner, Dwayne A. Hardman, co-founded a government contracting company that provided telecommunications support to the Military Sealift Command, which is the leading provider of transportation for the U.S. Navy.

At the plea hearing, Miller admitted that he provided illegal gratuities to two officials at the Military Sealift Command for favorable official acts. In particular, he admitted that on May 12, 2009, he gave $30,000 in cash to Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the Military Sealift Command’s N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, and Scott B. Miserendino Sr., a government contractor who worked with Toy at the Military Sealift Command Headquarters. He also admitted that just two days after giving Toy and Miserendino the $30,000, he agreed that Hardman should give Toy and Miserendino an additional $20,000.

According to Miller’s statement of facts, Toy exercised substantial influence over the Military Sealift Command contracting process by creating and executing multi-million dollar budgets, obtaining funding for projects, developing and having access to sensitive information, and requesting that subcontract work be awarded to particular companies. As a result of the $50,000 payment, Miserendino and Toy performed various official acts to assist Miller’s company. Indeed, in 2009, Miller’s company received approximately $2.5 million in business from the Military Sealift Command.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Miller has agreed to forfeit $167,000. Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014.

Earlier this year, five other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme. On February 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 29, 2014, to serve 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000. On February 18, 2014, Hardman pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 9, 2014, to serve 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $144,000. On February 19, 2014, Michael P. McPhail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on August 5, 2014, to serve 36 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000. On March 5, 2014, Roderic J. Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on June 23, 2014, to serve 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,000. On April 4, 2014, Adam C. White pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on July 11, 2014, to serve 24 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS and DCIS. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia.

A 65-year-old registered sex offender, with two prior convictions relating to possession of child pornography and attempted sexual conduct with minors, was found guilty today of attempting to produce child pornography, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, transporting child pornography, possessing child pornography and offense by a registered sex offender.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler for the Southern District of Indiana made the announcement. The verdict was rendered by U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson.

According to the evidence introduced at trial, the defendant, John Alan Lewis, met an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old online in November 2011. From November 2011 until May of 2012, Lewis sent and received numerous images depicting a minor under the age of twelve engaging in sexually explicit conduct via emails with this individual, who actually was an adult male registered sex offender living in Queens, New York. Following the arrest of the individual in the Eastern District of New York, in August of 2012, law enforcement assumed this individual’s online identity and engaged in a series of online chats where the defendant expressed his desire to travel from Ohio to Indiana, pick the 14-year-old up, and take her to a motel to engage in sexual acts with her.

On Sept. 19, 2012, the defendant rented a car in Lima, Ohio, and drove to Plainfield, Indiana. He was arrested when he arrived at the agreed-upon meeting location. The defendant had in his possession three electronic devices, each of which contained images depicting a minor, between the ages of 10 and 12, fully nude and engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Lewis has been in federal custody since he was arrested in September of 2012. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

The investigation was conducted by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Cyber Crime Unit, the Indiana State Police Cyber Crime Unit, the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section and the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is made up of federal and state law enforcement agencies. The case is being prosecuted by Criminal Division Trial Attorney Amy E. Larson of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Senior Litigation Counsel Steven D. DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with the Crestwood School District in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, to improve educational services for students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), establish a system for recruiting and hiring faculty and staff and ensure that individuals who complain about discrimination do not face unlawful retaliation.

With the district’s cooperation, the department conducted a thorough investigation under multiple provisions of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (EEOA) of the district’s policies and practices. Most of the ELL students in the district are native Arabic speakers. The department concluded that the district failed to provide adequate services and materials for ELL students, employed an insufficient number of qualified teachers and administrators and did not monitor and evaluate its ELL program effectively. In addition, the department found significant shortfalls in the district’s communications with Limited English proficient (LEP) parents. Lastly, the department responded to allegations of employment discrimination in the hiring of Arab-American and African-American teachers and claims that individuals who complain about discrimination were subject to retaliation in violation of the EEOA.

The agreement requires the district to implement programmatic changes at the start of the

2014-15 school year and will remain in place for at least four years. Under the agreement, the district will:

· Provide all ELL students, including students with disabilities, with appropriate English as a Second Language (ESL) and sheltered content instruction taught by teachers who are properly qualified and trained;

· Develop a kindergarten through-12th grade ESL curriculum and conduct a comprehensive inventory of the instructional materials to ensure that each school has appropriate resources available;

· Provide ELL students and LEP parents with meaningful access to important information, including discipline and special education materials and procedures;

· Monitor the academic progress of current and former ELL students, and implement protocols to collect and evaluate the data concerning the effectiveness of ELL programs;

· Work with the Department of Justice Community Relations Service to improve parental outreach and community engagement by establishing a community advisory panel and implementing training on cultural competency;

· With the assistance of a qualified consultant, draft a comprehensive recruitment and hiring policy and implement best practices for recruiting, hiring, and retaining a qualified and diverse faculty and staff; and

· Institute internal complaint processes, and designate and train employees to investigate and resolve allegations of employment discrimination and/or retaliation.

“All students, regardless of their proficiency in English, deserve the opportunity to succeed and thrive in school,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “This robust and multifaceted agreement will eliminate barriers that obstruct the path to success for English language learners in the Crestwood schools.”

“Schools have an obligation to provide equal educational opportunities for students from diverse cultural backgrounds,” said U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan. “We will continue to work cooperatively with the school district to monitor its compliance with the agreement.”

The enforcement of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act is a top priority of the

Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights

Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt .

Related Materials:

Crestwood Settlement Agreement

ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for Guam, announced that BERNARD DELA ROSA TOVES, was sentenced on Monday, August 12, 2014, in the U.S. District Court of Guam by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood.  TOVES received a sentence of five years incarceration, and ten years of supervised release.

Defendant TOVES pled guilty on October 9, 2012, to one count of Receipt of Child Pornography, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2252A(a)(2).  Defendant TOVES utilized the peer to peer (P2P) network to receive 49 movies which depict the sexual abuse of young children.  Defendant TOVES was ordered to register with the Sex Offender Registry wherever he lives, works or attends school.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco states, “Child pornography offenses involve the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.  These offenses are extremely serious because they result in perpetual harm to the child victims, and normalize the sexual exploitation of children. When the internet is utilized to obtain these images of child sexual abuse, the images can travel to offenders domestically and internationally anywhere in the world, to include the Pacific region.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to aggressively prosecuting defendants who victimize and prey on children through any means, including through the use of the internet or computer."

The U.S. Attorney Limtiaco additionally reminds defendants who have committed sexual abuse of children, that under federal and local law, all sex offenders have a duty to register and keep their registration current with the Sex Offender Registry in their jurisdiction.  Sex offenders who travel to Guam and who reside on Guam must inform the Guam Sex Offender Registry where they reside, work, or attend school - they must also periodically update their registration information.   The U.S. Attorney notes that the sex offender registry was created in order to protect the public by protecting victims, preventing further victimization and informing the public of the whereabouts of sex offenders.  Guam’s Sex Offender Registry can be found online at www.guamcourts.org.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative, a nationwide commitment to aggressively prosecute defendants who engage in the sexual victimization of children and adults, possess or receive child pornography, and sex offenders who fail to register with the jurisdiction’s Sex Offender Registry.

The remaining two defendants of 36 accused in the Southern District of Texas of racketeering activities as part of their roles with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) have pleaded guilty, capping a six-year sweeping effort that has led to 73 convictions across five federal districts and the decimation of the gang’s leadership and violent members and associates. Those convicted were charged with involvement in a criminal organization that engaged in murders, kidnappings, brutal beatings, fire bombings and drug trafficking.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Robert W. Elder of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)’s Houston Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBI’s Houston Field Division and Special Agent in Charge David M. Marwell of the Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Division made the announcement.

“The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas launched its murderous and racist ideology within the Texas prisons, but unleashed a violent crime wave that jumped the prison walls and spread like a virus,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Today we are announcing sweeping convictions that strike at the heart of the ABT gang: 73 convictions in five federal districts, including the five active generals who ran the organization with an iron fist. These convictions will ensure that these ABT gang members, from generals to soldiers, spend their years in federal prison paying for their crimes, not committing new ones.”

“Today, public safety is the winner,” said U.S. Attorney Magidson. “A significant blow to the ABT criminal activities culminated today with the convictions of all 36 as charged in relation to this significant racketeering activity. Only with a coordinated federal, state and local law enforcement effort, could these criminals’ extensive and heinous gang activities be brought before the bar of justice.”

Rusty Eugene Duke of Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity. Tammy Melissa Wall of Otto, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to the same charge on Aug. 6, 2014. Duke and Wall are two of 36 defendants charged in the Southern District of Texas with conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise, among other charges. With Duke’s plea today, all 36 defendants have pleaded guilty.

The 36 convicted are part of a larger, six-year effort that has led to the conviction of 73 ABT members and associates in cases brought in the Southern District of Texas, Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas and Western District of Oklahoma.

“Today marks a great day for the citizens of Texas,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Elder. “As they go about their daily lives, they can rest easier knowing that law enforcement across the state is working tirelessly to keep them safe from violent criminals. Finally, this investigation is a great example of ATF’s Frontline Model, which seeks to go after the very worst offenders by maximizing all of our resources.”

“While these convictions have dealt a serious blow to the gang, there are always others waiting to take their place in the organization,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Turner. “We have a message for them too: Violence and intimidation will not rule the streets of Houston. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly pursue gang leaders and their associates at every level to ensure the safety of our communities.”

Court records and admissions by the defendants have exposed the ABT as a race-based, Texas state-wide organization operating inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States. Established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system, the gang modeled itself after, and adopted many of the precepts and writings of, the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang formed in the California prison system during the 1960s. The ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and the promotion of whites as a superior race. The ABT used murder and the threat of murder to enforce its rules within the gang and maintain a position of power inside and outside of prison. Over time, the ABT expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit. Once released from prison, ABT members and associates continued to engage in criminal activity on behalf of the enterprise.

Court documents portray the ABT as a highly structured organization run by five generals, each of whom oversees one of five geographic regions of Texas and sits on a steering committee. Each general supervises two chains of command —one on the “inside” and one on the “outside” of prison. Reporting to each general is an “inside major” and an “outside major” and each major oversees several captains, lieutenants and sergeants-at-arms and numerous soldiers.

In this prosecution, all five active ABT generals have been convicted, as well as one “acting” general and one former general and founding member. In addition, the majors, captains and other leaders of the gang from each of the five regions – including Duke – were convicted.

ABT enforced its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violated ABT rules or posed a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, referred to as “direct orders.” For example, according to court records, ABT leaders ordered a subordinate to kill a rogue ABT prospect and return the victim’s severed finger as a trophy, engaged in planning to kill a police officer, and ordered the murder of an individual whom the ABT believed had stolen drugs from the enterprise.

Duke, Wall and numerous ABT gang members met on a regular basis at various locations throughout Texas to report on gang-related business, collect dues, commit disciplinary assaults against fellow gang members and discuss acts of violence against rival gang members, among other things. While females are not allowed to become members of the ABT, Wall and other women convicted in this case associated with the ABT, served as communication hubs for the gang, and engaged in criminal activity for the benefit of the ABT.

By pleading guilty to racketeering charges, Duke and Wall admitted to being members of the ABT criminal enterprise. They are both scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29, 2014.

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

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

Chastain Montgomery, Sr., 50, of Lavergne, Tennessee, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and ordered to pay $70,400 in restitution for federal crimes committed during a six-month spree that included the murders of United States Postal Service employees Paula Robinson and Judy Spray.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III for the District of Western Tennessee, Inspector in Charge Thomas Noyes of the Postal Inspection Service Charlotte Division and Director Mark Gwyn of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation made the announcement. The sentence was imposed by Senior U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla of the Western District of Tennessee.

“With the help of his son, Chastain Montgomery, Sr. heartlessly murdered two U.S. postal employees and put countless others at risk during a violent six-month crime spree that included armed bank robbery and kidnapping,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “No sentence can pay for the loss of a loved one, but we hope this prosecution has helped bring some sense of closure to the victims’ families.”

“The senseless and heinous murders of Paula Robinson and Judy Spray have left an irreplaceable void throughout the entire community,” said U.S. Attorney Edward Stanton. “I want to commend the tireless efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement who assisted with the investigation and prosecution of this case. The life sentence without the possibility of parole imposed upon Chastain Montgomery, Sr. today will hopefully bring justice and a meaningful measure of closure to the Spray and the Robinson/Croom families.”

“Today’s sentence of Chastain Montgomery, Sr. once again shows the determination of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to bring criminals to justice who take the lives of postal employees,” stated Inspector in Charge Thomas Noyes. “The cooperation among federal, state, and local law enforcement was second to none. We are fortunate to have such determined law enforcement partners who are willing to work countless hours to see these criminals identified and prosecuted.”

According to the facts alleged in the superseding indictment and revealed during subsequent hearings, on Oct. 18, 2010, Montgomery, Sr. and his son Chastain Montgomery, Jr. drove from Nashville, Tennessee to Henning, Tennessee, robbed the United States Post Office, and then murdered Sales and Service Associate Robinson and Rural Carrier Associate Spray.

Following their crimes, the Montgomeries returned to Nashville. Eight days later, Montgomery, Jr. stole a Nissan Frontier pick-up truck in Smyrna, Tennessee and used it as the getaway vehicle following their robbery at gunpoint of Southeast Financial Credit Union in Lavergne on Oct. 29, 2010.

One month later on Nov. 29, 2010, the pair stole a Chevy Venture minivan and used it as a getaway vehicle following the robbery at gunpoint of Mid-South Bank in Smyrna, Tennessee.

On Feb. 14, 2011, the pair made plans to leave the Middle Tennessee area. Montgomery, Jr. carjacked a man, stole his Chevrolet pick-up truck, and drove it from Nashville to Mason, Tennessee. During the journey he was observed by Chief Deputy Sheriff Mike Smothers of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department, who began a vehicular pursuit.

Chief Deputy Smothers reported that Montgomery, Jr. began driving at an excessive rate of speed and veered into other lanes in what appeared to be an attempt to cause an auto accident. Chief Deputy Smothers was joined in his pursuit by Mason Police Chief J. C. Paris.

When Montgomery, Jr. entered the town of Mason, he exited his vehicle and began shooting at members of law enforcement and innocent civilians outside a nearby market. Chief Deputy Smothers returned fire and struck Montgomery, Jr. who died at the scene.

Law enforcement immediately cordoned off the crime scene and began processing evidence. While doing so, officials noticed Montgomery, Sr. cross the crime scene barrier and begin moving toward the Chevy truck driven by his son. He was taken into custody and transported to the Tipton County Sheriff’s Department. While there, Montgomery, Sr. was interviewed by United States Postal Inspectors and made a full confession to all of his crimes.

Law enforcement confiscated a number of weapons and other items from the Mason crime scene, including the Ruger 9mm pistol and the Smith & Wesson .40 caliber pistol used to kill Robinson and Spray; a .45 caliber Glock pistol; a .380 pistol; two Mossburg 12 gauge shotguns; a Remington 12 gauge shotgun; a Springfield 9mm pistol; a Rossi .357 Magnum revolver; large amounts of ammunition; ski masks and latex gloves.

On May 22, 2014, Montgomery pleaded guilty to seven federal crimes, including murder, robbery, conspiracy to rob postal employees, banks, and credit unions, and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent offense.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service; the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; the Tennessee Highway Patrol; 25th District Attorney General Mike Dunavant’s Office; the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department; the Tipton County Sheriff’s Department; the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department; the Mason Police Department; the Henning Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the FBI; the United States Secret Service; the Tennessee Department of Correction; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Lavergne Police Department; the Smyrna Police Department; and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III; Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Arvin; Assistant U.S. Attorney Lorraine Craig; Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Canale and Trial Attorney Michael Warbel of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.

Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., 55, a former contractor for the United States Navy Military Sealift Command, pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes and conspiring to commit bribery.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after Miserendino entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Miserendino was a government contractor at the Military Sealift Command, which is the leading provider of transportation for the U.S. Navy. In that position, Miserendino worked closely with Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate. In approximately November 2004, Miserendino and Toy initiated an extensive bribery scheme that spanned five years, involved multiple coconspirators, including two companies, and resulted in Miserendino and Toy receiving more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things of value, in exchange for official assistance.

At his plea hearing, Miserendino admitted that he solicited and accepted regular cash bribes, as well as other things of value, from two Chesapeake, Virginia contracting companies, referred to as Company A and Company B in court documents, in exchange for providing favorable treatment to those companies in connection with U.S. government contract work. More specifically, Miserendino admitted that he accepted $3,000 in cash bribes per month from various employees at Company A, including co-conspirators Dwayne A. Hardman, Roderic J. Smith, Michael P. McPhail, and Adam C. White. Miserendino also admitted that he, along with Toy, accepted a cash bribe payment of $50,000 in May 2009, from Company B’s founders, Hardman and Timothy S. Miller.

In addition to the more than $265,000 in cash bribes, Miserendino also admitted that he and Toy received other things of value, including flat screen televisions, laptop computers, a vacation rental in Nags Head, North Carolina, a football helmet signed by Troy Aikman, and softball bats.

According to plea documents, in exchange for the bribes, Miserendino and Toy performed various official acts to assist Company A and Company B. Indeed, during the conspiracy, Company A received approximately $3 million in business from the Military Sealift Command and Company B received approximately $2.5 million in business.

As part of his guilty plea, Miserendino also admitted to engaging in a scheme to conceal his criminal activity, which involved Miserendino arranging for more than $85,000 to be paid to one of his co-conspirators, Hardman, in an attempt to prevent Hardman from reporting the bribery scheme to law enforcement authorities.

Miserendino is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2014.

Earlier this year, five other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme. On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to bribery, and he was sentenced on July 29, 2014, to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $100,000. On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman, the co-founder of Company A and Company B, pleaded guilty to bribing Toy and Miserendino, and he was sentenced on July 9, 2014, to 96 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $144,000. On Feb. 19, 2014, Michael P. McPhail pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on Aug. 5, 2014, to 36 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000. On March 5, 2014, Smith, the co-founder and former president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on June 23, 2014, to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $175,000. On April 4, 2014, White, a former vice president of Company A, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, and he was sentenced on July 11, 2014, to 24 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $57,000.

The remaining defendant, Timothy S. Miller, a businessman who sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery. Miller’s t rial is scheduled for Sept. 30, 2014, before Chief Judge Smith.

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS, and DCIS. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Wasseem Shamoun pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today, announced the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). On July 16, 2013, a superseding indictment was unsealed charging Shamoun and six other individuals with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, multiple counts of bank fraud and other fraud charges relating to a mortgage loan scheme.

Court documents allege that from approximately January 2006 to December 2008, Shamoun and his co-defendants conspired to defraud lending institutions by obtaining mortgage loans using fraudulent information. Shamoun and others devised a scheme wherein they purchased property for approximately $5,000 to $40,000 per home, then recruited straw buyers to submit fraudulent loan applications for home mortgages in exchange for a fee. According to documents submitted to the court, Shamoun assisted in executing the scheme by selling properties to straw buyers and was personally responsible for a loss of approximately $394,000.

For the conspiracy charge, Shamoun faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman scheduled s entencing for Shamoun on Dec. 2.

This case was investigated by the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Corey Smith and Trial Attorney Mark McDonald of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Fourteen individuals were charged in three indictments in Puerto Rico with conspiracy to commit identification fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and passport fraud in connection with their alleged roles in a scheme to traffic the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez for the District of Puerto Rico, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas Winkowski of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Criminal Investigation Division (IRSCID) and Director Bill Miller of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) made the announcement.

The multi-count indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on Aug. 6, 2014. Since that time, five of the defendants have been found and arrested (four in Puerto Rico and one in Florida). They will be arraigned in federal court this week. Arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining defendants, who will make their initial appearances in federal court in the districts in which they are arrested.

According to the indictments, from at least July 2008 through April 2014, conspirators in the mainland United States and in Puerto Rico sold the identities and corresponding Social Security cards, Puerto Rico birth certificates and other identification documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens to undocumented aliens and others residing in the mainland United States.

Specifically, the indictments allege that individuals located in the Caguas, Rio Piedras and San Juan areas of Puerto Rico (suppliers) obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents, and conspirators in various locations in the United States (identity brokers) solicited customers for those identities and documents. The identity brokers allegedly sold the identities and documents to the customers for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set of Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates.

According to the indictment, the identity brokers ordered the identity documents from the suppliers by making coded telephone calls, including using terms such as “shirts,” “uniforms” or “clothes” to refer to identity documents. The suppliers generally requested that the identity brokers send payment for the documents through a money transfer service to names provided by the suppliers. The conspirators frequently confirmed payee names and addresses, money transfer control numbers and trafficked identities via text messaging. The suppliers allegedly retrieved the payments from the money transfer service and sent the identity documents to the brokers using express, priority or regular U.S. Mail.

According to the indictments, once the identity brokers received the identity documents, they delivered the documents to the customers and obtained the remaining payment from the customers. The brokers generally kept the second payment for themselves as profit. Some identity brokers allegedly assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation.

As alleged in the indictments, the customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and obtain additional identification documents, such as state driver’s licenses. Some customers allegedly obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and others attempted to obtain U.S. passports.

The indictments alleges that various identity brokers were operating in Indianapolis, Columbus and Seymour, Indiana; Aurora, Illinois; Bartow, Florida; Lawrenceville, Jonesboro and Norcross, Georgia; Salisbury, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; Lawrence and Springfield, Massachusetts; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Guymon, Oklahoma; Huron, South Dakota and Albertville, Alabama.

The charges announced today are the result of Operation Island Express II, an ongoing, nationally-coordinated investigation led by the ICE-HSI Chicago Office and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CID offices in Chicago, in coordination with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office. The Illinois Secretary of State Police provided substantial assistance. The ICE-HSI Attaché office in the Dominican Republic, National Drug Intelligence Center - Document and Media Exploitation Branch and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) provided invaluable assistance, as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS CI offices around the country.

The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section, and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.

Anyone who believes that their identity may have been compromised by the crimes that are the subject of to this investigation may contact the ICE toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) and its online tip form at www.ice.gov/tipline . Anyone who may have information about particular crimes in this case should report it to the ICE tip line or website.

Anyone who believes that they have been a victim of identity theft, or wants information about preventing identity theft, may obtain helpful information and complaint forms on various government websites including the Federal Trade Commission ID theft website, www.ftc.gov/idtheft . Additional resources regarding identity theft can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/pubs/I D_theft/idtheft.html ; http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html ; http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/identity_theft ; and http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=186436,00.html .

An indictment is merely a formal accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement Monday regarding the shooting incident that took place Saturday afternoon in Ferguson, Missouri:

“The shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri this weekend deserves a fulsome review. In addition to the local investigation already underway, FBI agents from the St. Louis field office, working together with attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and US Attorney's Office, have opened a concurrent, federal inquiry. The federal investigation will supplement, rather than supplant, the inquiry by local authorities. At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right. I will continue to receive regular updates on this matter in the coming days. Aggressively pursuing investigations such as this is critical for preserving trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

A federal jury returned a verdict today convicting Shahid Hassan Muslim, aka “Sharp,” of two counts of sex trafficking, one count of kidnapping, one count of production of child pornography, one count of witness tampering and five counts of promoting a prostitution business enterprise. The verdict was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins for the Western District of North Carolina, Special Agent in Charge John A. Strong of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Charlotte Division and Special Agent in Charge Brock Nicholson of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Division.

Evidence presented during the four-day trial, including the testimony of five victims, revealed that Muslim had operated an extensive sex trafficking enterprise in Charlotte, North Carolina and other cities between at least 2010 and the time of his arrest in November 2013. Muslim recruited young women and girls from the Charlotte area, some as young as 16 years old, and advertised them for prostitution on the internet. He recruited them using the idea that they would be part of a family when they had none. Muslim demanded all of their money and used extreme violence to control the young women and girls. As one witness explained, Muslim never hit the victims in the face because it would damage his “merchandise.”

The evidence further showed that Muslim kidnapped one of the victims and brutally beat her after she left and reported him to the police. Witnesses testified that he lured her to a hotel pretending to be a prostitution customer. When she arrived, Muslim attacked her while dressed in black and wearing a mask in the shape of a skull. He shoved her into a trunk and had her transported to his house, where he handcuffed her and bound her feet and continued to beat her. Muslim then put the victim in the shower, while still handcuffed, turned on the cold water, and left her overnight. Ultimately, she managed to escape and flee to a neighbor’s home for help.

Muslim’s control over the women and girls extended to when he was in custody on both state and federal charges. He convinced the victim involved in the kidnapping to submit a false affidavit declaring his innocence to state authorities, which resulted in the dismissal of those charges. He further harassed a victim in the federal case to submit a false affidavit taking ownership of a sexually explicit video that he produced of her when she was only 16 years old.

“This defendant targeted vulnerable young women and girls and exploited them for his own profit, using a brutal scheme of power and control” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Moran. “This disregard of the rights and dignity of some of the most vulnerable members of our community is intolerable in a nation founded on freedom and individual rights, and the Civil Rights Division is committed to bringing human traffickers to justice.”

“Muslim preyed upon young and vulnerable women, and with the promise of a better life, he lured them into his criminal enterprise,” said U.S. Attorney Tompkins. “Once in, Muslim used unspeakable violence to control and exploit these women and girls for his financial gain. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who engage in this illegal business that dehumanizes women and strips them of their dignity.”

“Shahid Hassan Muslim promised his victims the loving support of a family, instead he controlled them through beatings, fear, and intimidation,” said Special Agent in Charge Strong. “Sex trafficking victims are traumatized and may be unsure of where to turn for help. The FBI devotes a significant amount of resources to recovery efforts and to hold those accountable who sacrifice another person’s civil rights and freedom for their own profit.”

“This defendant is one of the most violent and inhumane human traffickers we have ever encountered in North Carolina,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta. “Thankfully, by working with the FBI we were able to get this monster off of the streets and begin the process of repairing the damage he has inflicted on these victims’ lives.”

After deliberating for two and a half hours the jury found the defendant guilty on all counts. The defendant faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimlani M. Ford for the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Benjamin J. Hawk of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Victor Manuel Contreras, 29, of Manassas, Virginia, was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for obstructing and interfering with the enforcement of federal child sex trafficking laws.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Clark E. Settle of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents and statements made at his plea hearing, in July 2011, Contreras engaged in chats via Facebook with a minor female. In those chats, she indicated a desire to run away from home, and Contreras told her that he would help her if she did so. Once the girl ran away from home, Contreras arranged for her to stay with other MS-13 gang members, who subsequently coerced her into prostitution. When law enforcement officers interviewed Contreras during their search for the girl, Contreras lied about his relationship with her, and then called other MS-13 gang members to warn them that law enforcement officers were looking for her.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.

The case was investigated by HSI, and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Alicia Yass of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary K. Daly of the Eastern District of Virginia.

FRESNO, Calif. — Bonnie Lynn Recinos, también conocida como Bonnie Farr, 54, de Mesa, Ariz., fue declarada culpable hoy de conspirar para cometer estafa electrónica y por correo, anunció el procurador federal Benjamin B. Wagner.

De acuerdo con los documentos del tribunal, desde abril de 2006 hasta agosto de 2009, Recinos y otros solicitaron a individuos que invirtieran en varios negocios y proyectos inmobiliarios, prometiéndoles una ganancia de entre 3 a 5 por ciento. Aseguró a los inversionistas que su inversión estaba asegurada por los activos de Farr y Asociados y del Grupo Financiero Farr, de los cuales aseguraba ser la “socia gerente”.

Los conspiradores enviaron declaraciones fraudulentas mostrando el progreso de las inversiones y de los pretendidos intereses ganados hasta el momento. Se hicieron pagos periódicos a los inversionistas utilizando el dinero de nuevos inversionistas. Esto fue realizado para tentar a nuevos inversionistas, para asegurar a los inversionistas que su dinero estaba seguro, y para evitar que los inversionistas acudieran a los agentes de cumplimiento de la ley.

Como resultado de este fraude, Recinos obtuvo al menos $1.7 millones de los inversionistas, pero en lugar de invertir ese dinero, lo usó para su propio negocio y sus gastos personales.

Este caso es el producto de una investigación realizada por la Agencia Federal de Investigación (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés). Los procuradores federales auxiliares Henry Z. Carbajal III y Megan A. S. Richards están procesando el caso.

Está programado que Recinos sea sentenciada por el Juez Federal de Distrito Anthony W. Ishii el 05 de enero 2015. La pena máxima establecida por conspiración para cometer estafa electrónica y por correo es de 20 años de prisión. Sin embargo, la sentencia efectiva será determinada a discreción de la corte, luego de la consideración de todos los factores legales aplicables y de las Pautas Federales de Sentencias, las cuales tienen en cuenta una serie de variables.

A civil complaint was filed today in federal court in Michigan against S. Serra Cheese Company of Clinton Township, Michigan, and its owners, Stefano and Fina Serra, to prevent the distribution of adulterated cheese, announced Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

S. Serra Cheese Company manufactures and distributes several varieties of Italian cheeses, such as ricotta, provolone, mozzarella and primo sale. The complaint alleges that the company’s Italian cheeses are manufactured in insanitary conditions, and that the company’s procedures are inadequate to ensure the safety of its products. The department filed the injunction action in the Eastern District of Michigan at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“The presence of potentially harmful pathogens in food and processing facilities poses a serious risk to the public health,” said Assistant Attorney General Delery. “The Department of Justice will continue to bring enforcement actions against food manufacturers who do not follow the necessary procedures to comply with food safety laws.”

According to the complaint, two FDA inspections performed in 2013 revealed that the company’s cheese is adulterated within the meaning of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act because it is prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions in which it may have become contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health. The complaint alleges, for example, that the company repeatedly failed to reduce the risk of contamination from two potentially dangerous types of bacteria: Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Listeria innocua (L. innocua).

Although the strains of E. coli found in cheese samples collected from the company’s facility were n on-pathogenic, their presence indicates that the facility is insanitary and contaminated with filth. In addition, t he presence of L. innocua indicates insanitary conditions and a work environment that could support the growth of L. monocytogenes, an organism that poses a life-threatening health hazard because it is the causal agent for the disease listeriosis, a serious encephalitic disease. The presence of L. innocua in the company’s facility demonstrates the potential for the presence of L. monocytogenes in the same processing environment.

According to the complaint, the FDA’s most recent inspection in November 2013 revealed insanitary conditions, including the presence of generic, non-pathogenic E. coli and L. innocua and the absence of effective monitoring and sanitation controls in accordance with the current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements for food under federal law. For example, cleaning and sanitizing operations for utensils and equipment were not performed in a manner that protects against contamination of food and food contact surfaces.

FDA previously inspected the facility in January 2013. According to the complaint, at that time, FDA inspectors discovered a number of Good Manufacturing Practice deficiencies. For example, FDA inspectors noted that the facility was not constructed in such a manner as to allow floors to be adequately cleaned and to be kept clean and in good repair. The FDA inspectors also observed that the company failed to store raw materials in a manner that protects against contamination.

The government is represented by Trial Attorney Dan Baeza of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Caplan for the Eastern District of Michigan, with the assistance of Assistant Chief Counsel for Enforcement Christopher Fanelli of the Food and Drug Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services.

A complaint is merely a set of allegations that, if the case were to proceed to trial, the government would need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence.

WASHINGTON - An investigation spearheaded by the U.S. Marshals International Investigations Branch and the Fugitive Division of Interpol Washington, U.S. National Central Bureau, resulted in the arrest of Gerardo Francisco Mejia Coto, a member of  a vicious group of kidnappers, assailants, and bank robbers known as  the “Tacoma Cabrera” gang, in California.

“The arrest of Gerardo Francisco Mejia Coto clearly demonstrates the commitment of the United States Marshals Service to pursue those wanted on an international level,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Stacia Hylton. “The capture of this dangerous individual in the United States sends a strong message to criminals around the globe that domestic and international law enforcement cooperation and resources are substantial, and that crossing global boundaries to avoid apprehension for heinous crimes committed elsewhere, is no longer a viable option.”

Tuesday, Aug. 5, members of the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, which includes officers from the Department of Homeland Security Enforcement Removal Operations as well as several other federal, state, and local authorities, alongside the Redwood City Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, took Mejia Coto into custody without incident. He is being detained pending review. In addition to any charges Mejia Coto may face in the United States, he is also looking at the possibility life imprisonment in El Salvador for the crimes of murder, attempted murder, aggravated theft, and aggravated robbery.

In July 2007, El Salvador issued an Interpol Red Notice indicating that Mejia Coto was a key figure in the gang, helping to organize and execute numerous bank robberies and armored car hijackings, that ultimately resulted in the death of two persons and the injuring of numerous others.

Mejia Coto’s involvement with the Tacoma Cabrera gang dates back several years, as he is believed to be a founding member. Between 2000 and 2001 alone, Mejia Coto and others allegedly committed no less than 15 armored car and bank robberies. Additionally, the gang frequently hijacked arms and weapons shipments destined for the El Salvadorian Military and Police, the contents of which were later used to facilitate the robberies. Documented press releases in Central America of the previous crimes, describe how Mejia Coto was known for his “safe-cracking and high speed getaway driving skills.” It was not uncommon for the gang to execute the robberies with maximum force to insure a successful heist by utilizing hand grenades, AK-47 and M-16 automatic rifles, in addition to other similar high powered weaponry.

After being actively sought by El Salvadorian authorities for his participation in the crimes, Mejia Coto fled the jurisdiction. Over the course of the several years, he assumed multiple identities and aliases in order to evade capture.

The fugitive investigation gained significant momentum when a criminal investigator from the USMS Northern District of California, who was working on a detail at Interpol Washington, was able to use resources available to him to further the hunt. Familiar with the previous unsuccessful attempts to locate the fugitive, and armed with new information, the investigator was able to determine Mejia Coto's possible location in California in a very short period of time, which ultimately led to his arrest.

“The U.S. Marshals fugitive task force in the San Francisco Bay Area brings a wide mix of specialties and expertise to the table, as demonstrated time and again with the quality of arrests made by our officers,” said U.S. Marshal of the Northern District of California Don O’Keefe. “We have and will continue to tirelessly pursue wanted and dangerous individuals. No matter where they go or what border they cross, rest assured that we will track them down and return them to justice, wherever that may be.”

“Mejia Coto’s arrest illustrates how powerful and effective the working relationships between Interpol Washington and its partner agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and ICE/ERO, can be when combatting transnational crime and terrorism,” said Interpol Washington Director Shawn A. Bray.  “In support of our partners, we continue to leverage the Interpol Notice Program and resources to share critical law enforcement information with foreign counterparts that is vital to the success of these international investigations and arrests.”

The efforts of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the Redwood City Police Department, the San Mateo Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security ICE-ERO National Fugitive Operations Program, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force participating member agencies all contributed to Mejia Coto arrest.

To find information on fugitives currently being sought by the U.S. Marshals in Northern California, or to submit a tip on the whereabouts of a fugitive, please visit: http://northerncaliforniamostwanted.org.

A Russian national indicted for hacking into point of sale systems at retailers throughout the United States and operating websites that distributed credit card data of thousands of credit card holders appeared today for arraignment in U.S. federal court, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“Cyber-criminals should take heed: distance will not protect you from the reach of justice. We will investigate, we will locate, and we will bring foreign hackers to stand trial,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. “This defendant is presumed innocent, and will be afforded the full protections of our system of justice. But he will do so in our courthouse, in the community where harm was done.”

“Cyber-criminals have caused enormous financial damage and innumerable invasions of Americans’ privacy, often from halfway around the world,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The alleged crimes in this case harmed thousands of U.S. citizens, and thanks to our law enforcement partners throughout the world, we will have the opportunity to seek justice in a U.S. courtroom.”

Roman Valerevich Seleznev, aka “Track2,” 30, of Vladivostok, Russia, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Washington on March 3, 2011, and the indictment was unsealed on July 7, 2014. Seleznev is charged in connection with operating several carding forums, which are websites where criminals gather to sell stolen credit card numbers, and hacking into retail point of sale systems and installing malicious software on the systems to steal credit card numbers. Seleznev was transferred to Seattle, Washington, from Guam, where he made his initial appearance on July 7, 2014. Today, Seleznev entered pleas of “not guilty” to the charges in the indictment. Trial is scheduled for October 6, 2014.

According to the allegations in the indictment, Seleznev hacked into retail point of sale systems to steal credit card numbers between October 2009 and February 2011. Seleznev also created and operated infrastructure using servers located all over the world to facilitate the theft and sale of credit card data and host carding forums. Seleznev is charged with 29 counts: five counts of bank fraud, eight counts of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer, eight counts of obtaining information from a protected computer without authorization, one count of possession with intent to defraud of 15 or more unauthorized access devices (stolen credit card numbers), two counts of trafficking in unauthorized access devices and five counts of aggravated identity theft.

“This case will no doubt serve as a serious warning to cyber criminals. The Secret Service will partner with law enforcement worldwide and will not relent in the pursuit of transnational cyber criminals that try to exploit the U.S. financial payment systems” said Secret Service Assistant Director Paul Morrissey of the Office of Investigations.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, which includes detectives from the Seattle Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Norman M. Barbosa of the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Ethan Arenson of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Guam provided substantial assistance.

Seleznev has also been charged in an indictment filed in the District of Nevada that was returned on Jan. 10, 2012, and unsealed on Nov. 13, 2013, alleging that he participated in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization, conspired to engage in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization, and possessed counterfeit access devices. Seleznev, referenced as “Track2” in the indictment, and 54 others are charged with being members of the “Carder.su” organization, which allegedly trafficked in compromised credit card account data and counterfeit identifications and committed money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and various types of computer crime. Seleznev allegedly operated a website that sold stolen card information to members of the Carder.su organization. Thus far, at least 25 of the defendants have been convicted, and several others are fugitives.

The Nevada investigation is being handled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Secret Service. The Nevada case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly M. Frayn and Andrew W. Duncan of the District of Nevada and Trial Attorney Jonathan Ophardt of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section.

The charges contained in the indictments are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

McKesson Corporation has agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that it improperly set temperature monitors used in shipping vaccines under its contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Justice Department announced today. McKesson is a pharmaceutical distributor with corporate headquarters in San Francisco.

“Companies must comply with the requirements they agree to when they contract with the government to provide products that protect the public,” said Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “If a contractor does not adhere to the terms it negotiated, its conduct not only hurts taxpayers but also could jeopardize the integrity of products, like vaccines, that Americans count on to be safe.”

The government alleged that McKesson failed to comply with the shipping and handling requirements of its vaccine distribution contract with the CDC. Under the contract, McKesson provided distribution services, receiving vaccines purchased by the government from manufacturers and then distributing the vaccines to health care providers. The government alleged that the contract required McKesson to ensure that during shipping, the vaccines were maintained at proper temperatures by, among other things, including electronic temperature monitors set to detect when the air temperature in the box reached two degrees Celsius and below or eight degrees Celsius and above. The government alleged that, from approximately April 2007 to November 2007, McKesson failed to set the monitors to the appropriate range, and as a result, knowingly submitted false claims to the CDC for shipping and handling services that did not satisfy its contractual obligations.

According to the CDC, redundant measures were and are used to ensure vaccines are kept at appropriate temperatures during shipping. The most important of these were validated packing procedures used to maintain proper vaccine temperatures. Temperature monitors provided a secondary safeguard. For more information about vaccine storage and handling, please visit the CDC website or contact the CDCs press office at 404-639-3286 and [email protected] .

“Ensuring the integrity and performance of government contracts is paramount, especially when they impact programs intended to protect young children” said Derrick L. Jackson, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) in Atlanta. “Holding accountable those who fail to meet their obligations – thereby violating the trust of the American taxpayer -- continues to be a top OIG priority.”

The allegations resolved by today’s settlement were originally raised in a lawsuit filed against McKesson by Terrell Fox, a former finance director at McKesson Specialty Distribution LLC, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private citizens with knowledge of false claims to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. Fox’s share of the settlement has not been determined.

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 $20.2 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $14 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The case was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, with assistance from HHS-OIG and Office of General Counsel.

The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. The lawsuit is captioned United States ex rel. Fox v. McKesson Corp., No. 3:12-cv-00766 (M.D. Tenn.).

Nureni Abayomi Baruwa, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud today, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

According to the plea agreement and statement of facts, Baruwa operated a car detailing business called NAB International Group of Companies Inc. This business was incorporated by Baruwa in 1993 in the commonwealth of Virginia and he served as the president. Baruwa was in charge of withholding employment taxes from his employees’ wages, paying over the withheld amount to the IRS and reporting these amounts to the IRS by filing quarterly employment tax returns.

According to court documents, in all but three quarters, beginning with the first quarter of 2003 through the last quarter of 2010, Baruwa failed to timely collect, account for and pay the IRS the taxes withheld from his employees’ paychecks, as well as the employer’s portion of the employment taxes. Furthermore, in all but five quarters during the same period, Baruwa failed to file NAB’s quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS in a timely manner. Additionally, since at least 2006, Baruwa has failed to file an individual income tax return in a timely manner, despite the fact that he was legally required to do so annually. According to court documents, the tax loss is between $200,000 and $400,000, which will be determined by the court at Baruwa’s Oct. 24 sentencing.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Caryn Finley of the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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

The Department of Justice has forfeited more than $480 million in corruption proceeds hidden in bank accounts around the world by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after a judgment was entered on Aug. 6, 2014, by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of the District of Columbia.

“Rather than serve his county, General Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars, engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “With this judgment, we have forfeited $480 million in corruption proceeds that can be used for the benefit of the Nigerian people. Through the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division denies kleptocrats like Abacha the fruits of their crimes, and protects the U.S. financial system from money laundering. In coordination with our partners in Jersey, France and the United Kingdom, we are helping to end this chapter of corruption and flagrant abuse of office.”

“We remain steadfast in protecting the U.S. banking system from becoming a tool for dictators to hide their criminal proceeds,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. “This court order bolsters the FBI’s ability to combat international corruption and money laundering by seizing the assets of those involved. I want to thank the special agents, financial analysts and prosecutors whose hard work over the years resulted in today’s announcement.”

The forfeited assets represent the proceeds of corruption during and after the military regime of General Abacha, who assumed the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a military coup on Nov. 17, 1993, and held that position until his death on June 8, 1998. The complaint alleges that General Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions of dollars from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through U.S. financial institutions and the purchase of bonds backed by the United States.

The judgment is the result of a civil forfeiture complaint the department filed in November 2013 against more than $625 million in the largest kleptocracy forfeiture action brought in the department’s history. The forfeiture judgment includes approximately $303 million in two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey, $144 million in two bank accounts in France, and three bank accounts in the United Kingdom and Ireland with an expected value of at least $27 million. The ultimate disposition of the funds will follow the execution of the judgment in each of these jurisdictions. Claims to an additional approximately $148 million in four investment portfolios in the United Kingdom are pending.

As alleged in the complaint, General Abacha and others systematically embezzled billions of dollars in public funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the false pretense that the funds were necessary for national security. The conspirators withdrew the funds in cash and then moved the money overseas through U.S. financial institutions. General Abacha and his finance minister also allegedly caused the government of Nigeria to purchase Nigerian government bonds at vastly inflated prices from a company controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha, generating an illegal windfall of more than $282 million. In addition, General Abacha and his associates allegedly extorted more than $11 million from a French company and its Nigerian affiliate in connection with payments on government contracts. Funds involved in each of these schemes were allegedly laundered through the United States.

This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, working in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered assets to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to [email protected].

The investigation was conducted by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Elizabeth Aloi and Assistant Deputy Chief Daniel Claman of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with substantial support from the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. The department appreciates the extensive assistance provided by the governments of Jersey, France and the United Kingdom in this investigation.

Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tucson yesterday, becoming the seventh man charged in connection with the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, announced Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California.

“When Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry lost his life in the line of duty, in 2010, our nation incurred a tremendous debt to this American hero – and his family – that we can never fully repay. But with these charges, we are taking another important step to keep our commitment to bring those responsible for his murder to justice,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “We will continue to be aggressive in our pursuit of anyone – anywhere – who commits an act of violence against an American law enforcement official. And we will do everything in our power to ensure that they will face justice in an American courtroom. This is our solemn obligation.”

Agent Terry was fatally shot on Dec. 14, 2010, when he and other Border Patrol agents encountered armed robbers in a rural area north of Nogales, Arizona. Of the defendants charged so far, two have pleaded guilty, three are awaiting trial and two are fugitives.

Burboa-Alvarez, 30, is described in the indictment as the recruiter who assembled the crew of armed robbers to travel from Mexico to the United States and forcibly take marijuana from smugglers through threats or actual violence.

The crew members were identified in the indictment as Manuel Osorio Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, Lionel Portillo-Meza and Rito Osorio-Arellanes.

The indictment charges Burboa-Alvarez and others with first degree murder, second degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and attempted interference with commerce by robbery. Other crew members are also charged with use and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer. In addition to the murder of Agent Terry, the indictment alleges that the defendants assaulted Border Patrol Agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza, and Timothy Keller, who were with Agent Terry during the firefight.

Burboa-Alvarez was already in custody in Tucson for immigration-related crimes. He is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Tucson at 1:45 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo P. Velasco.

Portillo-Meza was captured in Mexico in September 2012 and extradited to the U.S. on June 17, 2014. Soto-Barraza was captured in Mexico in September 2013 and was extradited to the U.S. on July 31, 2014. Favela-Astorga and Osorio-Arellanes are fugitives.

Another defendant, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in February 2014. Another defendant, Rito Osorio-Arellanes, who was in custody at the time of Agent Terry’s murder, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013.

This case is being prosecuted in federal court in Tucson by attorneys from the Southern District of California. They are Special Assistant United States Attorneys Todd W. Robinson, David D. Leshner and Fred Sheppard. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is recused. This case is being investigated by the FBI. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance with the extraditions.

The public is reminded that an indictment is a formal charging document and defendants are presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Travel Management Company, a private airplane charter company based in Elkhart, Indiana, resolving claims that the company engaged in citizenship status discrimination in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Under the INA, employers may not discriminate in hiring on the basis of citizenship status unless required by law, regulation, executive order or government contract. However, the department’s investigation concluded that Travel Management Company had a U.S. citizenship requirement in its job postings for commercial pilot positions, despite the fact that no law, regulation, executive order or government contract authorized the company to restrict employment in this manner. The investigation further established that non-U.S. citizens who applied for the position were eliminated from consideration on the basis of their citizenship status.

Under the settlement agreement, Travel Management Company will pay $22,000 in civil penalties to the United States. The company further agreed to revise its hiring and recruiting procedures, train its human resources personnel to ensure compliance with the INA, and be subject to reporting requirements for a period of two years.

“Employers must give all eligible candidates an equal opportunity to compete for employment and cannot create unlawful discriminatory barriers to work,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “The department is committed to ensuring that employers do not unlawfully discriminate against U.S. citizens and other work-authorized individuals based on their citizenship status.”

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

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

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

The Department of Justice filed a settlement today with Fifth Third Mortgage Company to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of disability and receipt of public assistance in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Under the settlement, Fifth Third has agreed to maintain revised policies, conduct employee training and pay over $1.5 million to compensate victims.

This lawsuit arose as a result of a complaint filed by loan applicants with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The loan applicants elected to have the case heard in federal court and the Secretary of HUD referred the case to the Department of Justice.

The settlement, which is subject to court approval, was filed today in Macon, Georgia with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia where one of the affected borrowers is located. The terms of the settlement require Fifth Third to establish a settlement fund of $1,522,000 to compensate eligible mortgage loan applicants who were asked to provide a letter from their doctor to document the income they received from Social Security Disability Insurance. Under the settlement, Fifth Third will also conduct training of its underwriters and loan officers and will monitor loan applications to insure that applicants with disabilities are not asked for a letter from a doctor.

A second defendant in the case, mortgage broker Cranbrook Mortgage Corporation, has revised its underwriting practices, will train its loan officers and will pay $2,000 to compensate the loan applicants who filed the HUD complaint. The Department of Justice does not allege that Cranbrook Mortgage Corporation discriminated against other loan applicants.

“Today’s settlement continues the shift away from an industry practice that violates the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division.

“A person’s medical information is often some of the most personal information in and about their life,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia. “My office is proud to have participated with our fellow attorneys from the Department of Justice in reaching a resolution of this matter that protects those with disabilities from having this unnecessary, inappropriate and illegal intrusion into the most private of their affairs.”

“Today’s announcement holds lending institutions accountable for their actions, and is a reminder that every American has the right to apply for a home loan and live in the community of their choice,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Gustavo Velazquez.

The settlement comes after an investigation by the Department of Justice. Fifth Third cooperated fully with the department’s investigation into its lending practices and agreed to settle this matter without contested litigation. The lawsuit was developed and filed by the Fair Lending Unit of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in the department’s Civil Rights Division. Since the Fair Lending Unit was established in February 2010, it has filed or resolved 35 lending matters under the Fair Housing Act, ECOA and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The settlements in these matters provide for more than $1 billion in monetary relief for impacted communities and individual borrowers.

The Civil Rights Division and HUD are members of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit www.StopFraud.gov .

A copy of the complaint, as well as additional information about fair lending enforcement by the department can be obtained from the department’s website at www.justice.gov/fairhousing .

The former chief executive officer (CEO) and a former trader of ConvergEx Global Markets Limited (CGM Limited) — a former broker-dealer registered in Bermuda — were indicted late yesterday in federal court in the District of New Jersey for allegedly concealing additional fees, which they referred to as “trading profits,” fraudulently charged to clients in connection with orders to buy and sell securities.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Inspector in Charge Philip R. Bartlett of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) made the announcement.

“The former CEO and a senior vice president of ConvergEx Global Markets Limited have been charged in connection with a scheme to bilk millions of dollars from clients, then conceal the fraud from their client victims,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “The Justice Department’s Criminal Division will bring to justice those who fleece investors in the financial markets, particularly high-level executives and sophisticated traders.”

“Securities fraud schemes undermine investor confidence and damage the integrity of our global trading market,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. “Today’s indictment underscores the FBI’s ability to work with our partners to investigate complex international financial crimes and sends a clear message to the brokerage community that providing anything less than complete transparency will not go unnoticed.”

“This indictment demonstrates Postal Inspectors’ commitment to pursuing those in the financial services industry who have chosen to defraud its customers,” stated Inspector in Charge Bartlett. “We will continue to investigate the criminals who use the mail to further their criminal activity.”

Anthony Blumberg, 49, of New Jersey, and Craig Marshall, 47, of Bermuda, were, respectively, the CEO and a senior vice president involved in trading at CGM Limited. Blumberg was also an executive managing director of ConvergEx Group LLC, the parent company of CGM Limited. A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging both Blumberg and Marshall with securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. In a separate action, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced civil charges against Blumberg.

According to the allegations in the indictment, certain ConvergEx Group broker-dealers regularly routed securities orders to CGM Limited in Bermuda so that it could take a mark-up (an additional amount paid for the purchase of a security) or mark-down (a reduction of the amount received for the sale of a security) when executing the orders. Employees throughout ConvergEx Group and its subsidiaries referred to such mark-ups and mark-downs as “spread,” “trading profits” or “TP.” T o hide the fact that spread had been taken on trades, from 2007 to 2011, Blumberg, Marshall and others sent false transaction reports to clients with fabricated details regarding the transactions, or “fills,” executed during the course of a day to complete a client’s orders. These reports falsified details including the number of shares involved in a fill, the time at which the fill was executed and the price at which shares were either purchased or sold.

According to previously-filed court documents, CGM Limited traders, including Marshall, created these false reports using exchange data from transactions entered into by others on the same trade date as the trades that had been executed by CGM Limited on behalf of its clients. Clients who received these reports had approximately $5.2 million in spread taken on their trades.

According to the indictment, Blumberg, Marshall and others agreed to violate a client’s instructions to provide real-time transactional data through an immediate data feed with details of trades that CGM Limited executed for the client. According to previously-filed court documents, instead of providing such real-time data, CGM Limited traders turned off the real-time data feed for certain portions of the client’s orders and took spread while the real-time data feed was turned off. On several occasions, when the client asked why the feed was not receiving real-time data, the client was told that various “IT” issues were to blame.

On Dec. 18, 2013, Jonathan Daspin, the head trader at CGM Limited, Thomas Lekargeren, a sales trader at a different ConvergEx subsidiary, and CGM Limited each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in the District of New Jersey. On the same day, ConvergEx Group entered into a deferred prosecution agreement. Collectively, the two ConvergEx entities paid $43.8 million in criminal penalties and restitution.

The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Washington, D.C. and New York offices of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Justin Goodyear, Jason Linder and Patrick Pericak of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and by Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Schwartz for the District of New Jersey. Fraud Section Assistant Chief Robert Zink and former Trial Attorney Charles Reed also assisted with the investigation. The department appreciates the substantial assistance of the SEC.

El Departamento de Justicia llegó a un acuerdo hoy con Travel Management Company, una empresa de alquiler de aviones privados con sede en Elkhart, Indiana, en el cual se resuelven los reclamos de que la empresa discriminó por causa del estatus de ciudadanía de sus empleados en violación de la Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA por sus siglas en inglés).

Según la INA, los empleadores no pueden discriminar en las contrataciones por causa de la ciudadanía del solicitante a menos que lo requiera la ley, un reglamento, una orden ejecutiva o un contrato con el gobierno. Sin embargo, la investigación del departamento reveló que Travel Management Company requería ciudadanía estadounidense en sus anuncios de trabajo para puestos de piloto comercial, a pesar de que ninguna ley, reglamento, orden ejecutiva o contrato gubernamental autoriza a la empresa a restringir el empleo de esta manera. La investigación determinó, además, que los ciudadanos no estadounidenses quienes solicitaron la posición no fueron considerados por causa de su estatus de ciudadanía.

Bajo el acuerdo, Travel Management Company pagará $22,000 en sanciones civiles a los Estados Unidos. La compañía también acordó cambiar sus procedimientos de contratación y selección de personal, capacitar a su personal de recursos humanos para garantizar el cumplimiento de la INA y someterse a los requisitos de informaciόn por un período de dos años.

"Los empleadores deben dar a todos los candidatos elegibles oportunidades iguales para competir por el empleo y no pueden erigir barreras discriminatorias ilegales para trabajar," dijo Molly Moran, Subprocuradora General Interina para la División de Derechos Civiles. "El Departamento está comprometido a garantizar que los empleadores no discriminen ilegalmente en contra de ciudadanos estadounidenses u otras personas autorizadas a trabajar en base a su estatus de ciudadanía."

La Oficina del Consejero Especial para Prácticas Injustas en el Empleo Relacionadas con Inmigración (OSC por sus siglas en inglés) es la oficina responsable por hacer cumplir con la provisión anti-discriminación de la INA. La ley prohíbe, entre otras cosas, discriminación basada en estatus de ciudadanía o en origen nacional en la contratación, el despido, o el reclutamiento o la referencia por comisiόn, las prácticas injustas de documentación, y represalia e intimidación.

Para obtener más información acerca de la protección contra la discriminación en el empleo según las leyes de inmigración, o para registrarse para un seminario sin costo ofrecido a través del Internet, llame a la línea directa de la OSC para trabajadores al 1-800-255-7688 1-800-237-2515, TTY (para personas con problemas de audición); llame a la línea directa de la OSC para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con problemas de audición); o visite el sitio web de la OSC en www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

Solicitantes o trabajadores que creen que fueron sometidos a: (1) requisitos diferentes de documentación o discriminación por causa de su estatus de ciudadanía, estatus migratorio o su origen nacional; o (2) discriminación por causa de su estatus de ciudadanía, estatus migratorio o el origen nacional en la contratación, el despido o el reclutamiento o referencia por comisiόn, deben comunicarse a la línea del trabajador de la OSC para obtener ayuda.

A disbarred Florida attorney was sentenced in federal court in Tampa, Florida today to serve 70 months in prison in connection with her role in a $28.3 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for physical and occupational therapy services.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III for the Middle District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge Reginald France of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) region including all of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office made the announcement. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the Middle District of Florida.

Margarita Grishkoff, 60, of Charlotte, North Carolina, formerly of southwest Florida, pleaded guilty on Jan. 24, 2014, to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In addition to serving a prison term of 70 months, Grishkoff was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $14,424,856 in restitution, jointly and severally with her co-conspirators.

Grishkoff admitted as part of her guilty plea that she and her co-conspirators submitted approximately $28.3 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare through physical therapy clinics throughout Florida from 2005 through 2009. Medicare paid approximately $14.4 million on those claims.

According to court documents, Grishkoff, a former attorney who was disbarred in Florida in 1997, was vice president and director for a Delaware holding company known as Ulysses Acquisitions Inc. Through Ulysses Acquisitions, Grishkoff purchased comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities and outpatient physical therapy providers, including West Coast Rehab Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida; Rehab Dynamics Inc. in Venice, Florida; Polk Rehabilitation Inc. in Lake Wales, Florida and Renew Therapy Center of Port St. Lucie LLC in Port St. Lucie, Florida, to gain control of these clinics’ Medicare provider numbers.

Grishkoff and her co-conspirators paid kickbacks to patient recruiters and clinic owners to obtain identifying information of Medicare beneficiaries and physicians. Grishkoff and her co-conspirators then used this information to create and submit false claims to Medicare through the clinics Ulysses Acquisitions purchased. These claims sought reimbursement for therapy services that were not legitimately prescribed and not actually provided.

Also according to court documents, Grishkoff and her co-conspirators used the clinics they controlled to submit false reimbursement claims to Medicare on behalf of clinics owned by others, in exchange for a percentage of the Medicare reimbursement received. These Miami-based therapy clinics included Hallandale Rehabilitation Inc., Tropical Physical Therapy Corporation, American Wellness Centers Inc. and West Regional Center Inc. Grishkoff and her co-conspirators kept approximately 20 percent of the money Medicare paid on these claims and paid the other 80 percent of the fraud proceeds to the co-conspirator clinic owners.

Grishkoff further admitted that after falsely billing Medicare through Ulysses Acquisitions, and in order to disassociate herself from the clinics, Grishkoff and her co-conspirators arranged sham sales of the clinics to nominee or straw owners, all of whom were recent immigrants to the United States with no background or experience in the health care industry.

The case is being investigated by HHS-OIG and the FBI and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Christopher J. Hunter and Andrew H. Warren of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Simon A. Gaugush of the Middle District of Florida.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 1,900 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

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

A CEO of an Atlanta-area hospital and the co-owner and chief operating officer of an Atlanta-based medical clinic chain pleaded guilty in connection with the payment of illegal kickbacks to clinics in exchange for Medicaid patient referrals to hospitals in the Atlanta area and on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Marshall L. Miller of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia, Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the Atlanta Region of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Assistant Director in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office made the announcement. The guilty pleas were entered by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg of the Northern District of Georgia.

“These medical executives enriched themselves by using uninsured pregnant women and newborn babies as commodities, whose health care could be bought and sold for kickbacks and bribes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Miller. “Unlawful payments for patient referrals can lead to increased Medicaid costs, corrupt medical decision-making, overutilization of medical services, and unfair competition – and most importantly, insufficient or inadequate care for patients. The Justice Department is committed to investigating and prosecuting those who illegally pay for patients.”

“Our federal health care programs depend on providers exercising independent judgment in the best interests of patients,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “These illegal referral arrangements resulted in women being steered to deliver their babies at hospitals on the basis of Clinica’s and the hospitals’ financial self-interest, regardless of whether it was in the women’s best interest.”

“It is outrageous that health care providers would scheme to refer uninsured mothers about to deliver their babies to hospitals based on a kickback agreement designed to boost profits rather than based on who would provide the best health care to the mothers and newborns,” said Special Agent in Charge Jackson. “Our agency is dedicated to unearthing such corrosive and illegal kickback schemes, which undermine the public’s trust in the medical profession,"

“Today’s guilty pleas will hold two individuals who were in positions of trust and authority accountable for their participation in a criminal scheme in which decisions on patient care were driven by illegal monetary gain instead of the patients’ best interest,” said Special Agent in Charge Johnson. “The FBI will continue to partner with HHS-OIG and the Department of Justice to ensure that the many facets of the health care industry operate as intended and are free from those who seek opportunity to illegally profit by manipulating federal programs designed to aid those in need.”

Tracey Cota, 50, pleaded guilty on Aug. 6, 2014, and Gary Lang, 58, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7, 2014. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying and receiving illegal remuneration in exchange for Medicaid patient referrals to hospitals in the Atlanta area and on Hilton Head Island.

According to the charges and other information presented in court, Lang was the Chief Executive Officer of an Atlanta-area hospital that was enrolled as a provider in the Georgia Medicaid program. Cota was the co-owner and chief operating officer of Hispanic Medical Management, Inc. dba Clinica de la Mama (Clinica), a Georgia corporation that operated several medical clinics in the Atlanta area and on Hilton Head Island. These clinics specialized in providing prenatal care services to primarily undocumented Hispanic women. The women typically did not have medical insurance, and they were ineligible for Medicaid because of their immigration status. Georgia and South Carolina Medicaid, however, covered and paid certain costs associated with the women’s labor and delivery and the care of their newborns at hospitals, as well as the professional fees of the physicians providing labor and delivery services.

Between July 2000 and July 2012, Cota conspired with Lang and other executives from Atlanta-area hospitals and from a hospital on Hilton Head Island to pay kickbacks to Clinica for the referral of Clinica’s patients to the hospitals. The hospitals disguised the kickbacks using contracts with Clinica to provide certain services, including translation services and Medicaid eligibility determination services, but the true purpose of the arrangements was to pay Clinica for patient referrals. These referrals ultimately resulted in Medicaid reimbursements of over $100 million to the hospitals.

Cota and Lang were charged in separate criminal informations on June 28, 2014. Both are scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 15, 2015.

This case is being investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Chiefs Benton Curtis and Robert Zink of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sally B. Molloy of the Northern District of Georgia.

A California investment manager was found guilty in federal district court in Salt Lake City, Utah for his role in a $33 million investment fraud scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen for the District of Utah, Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and Special Agent in Charge John Collins of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.

Robert L. Holloway, 55, was found guilty after a 7-day trial by a federal jury in the District of Utah of four counts of wire fraud and one count of making and subscribing a false income tax return.

Evidence presented at trial established that Holloway operated an investment entity called US Ventures LC, which was founded in 1999. Holloway served as the chief executive officer and managing partner of US Ventures. From October 2005 until at least April 2007, Holloway recruited investors for US Ventures by making false representations about the company, including that US Ventures used proprietary trading software that was consistently profitable, US Ventures generated returns of 0.8 percent per trading day and US Ventures would retain a 30 percent share of investors’ profits as a management fee.

Additionally, during the course of US Ventures’ existence, Holloway generated and distributed reports to investors showing false daily returns on their investments. The evidence introduced at trial showed that between October 2005 and April 2007, contrary to the returns shown on the reports Holloway distributed, US Ventures in fact lost more than $10 million in trading and the “profit” figures on the investor reports were entirely fabricated. Holloway and US Ventures also made “profit distributions” to investors that consisted of funds solicited from new investors, not actual profits. US Ventures raised more than $33 million from investors for its trading activities.

Evidence at trial also showed that Holloway misappropriated investors’ funds for a variety of personal expenses, including supporting his then-wife’s eBay business and purchasing hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry. During 2006 alone, Holloway diverted more than $1.2 million in investor funds to a “business” account that Holloway used for as a personal account, despite the fact that he falsely claimed a gross income of only $27,500 on his personal tax return for 2006.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby, who presided over the trial, set sentencing for October 20, 2014.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office and the IRS-CI’s Las Vegas Field Office. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Thomas B.W. Hall of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason R. Burt and Mark Y. Hirata for the District of Utah. The department thanks the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission for their assistance.

A former foreign program director of International Adoption Guides Inc. (IAG), an adoption agency, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to defraud the United States by paying bribes to foreign officials and submitting fraudulent documents to the State Department for adoptions from Ethiopia.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles for the District of South Carolina made the announcement. The guilty plea was entered by U.S. District Court Judge Sol Blatt Jr. of the District of South Carolina.

Alisa Bivens, 42, admitted as part of her plea that she and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent documents to the State Department to facilitate adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents from 2006 until 2009. In support of U.S. visa applications for the Ethiopian children, Bivens and others submitted false documentation, including contracts of adoption signed by orphanages that could not properly give the children up for adoption because, for example, the child in question was never cared for or never resided at the orphanage.

In entering her guilty plea, Bivens also admitted that she and others paid bribes to two Ethiopian officials so that those officials would help with the fraudulent adoptions. The first of these two foreign officials, an audiologist and teacher at a government school, accepted money and other valuables in exchange for providing non-public medical information and social history information for potential adoptees to the conspirators. The second foreign official, the head of a regional ministry for women’s and children’s affairs, received money and all-expenses-paid travel in exchange for approving IAG’s applications for intercountry adoptions and for ignoring IAG’s failure to maintain a properly licensed adoption facility. Sentencing for Bivens will be scheduled at a later date.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Lea Schoen for the District of South Carolina.

Today, a federal grand jury in Milwaukee returned a 15-count superseding indictment charging two Milwaukee men, Paul Carter aka “Pimpin’ Paul” and David Moore aka “King David” with conspiracy, sex trafficking and related offenses spanning from the years 2007 to 2013.

Carter, 44, and Moore, 46, both of Milwaukee, were each previously indicted, Carter for two counts of sex trafficking and Moore for sex trafficking, conspiracy and solicitation of a crime of violence. The 15-count indictment returned today charges the two defendants jointly in four additional counts of conspiracy, sex trafficking, and labor trafficking, and charges each defendant with additional sex trafficking offenses, for a total of six additional counts against defendant Carter and eight additional counts against defendant Moore. Both defendants are charged with sex trafficking of both adults and minors.

If convicted, Carter and Moore each face a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Human Trafficking Task Force for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which includes law enforcement officers from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the Milwaukee Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karine Moreno-Taxman of the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Trial Attorney Daniel H. Weiss of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Isabella Geriatric Center (IGC), a nursing home located in New York City, resolving a claim that IGC engaged in a pattern or practice of citizenship discrimination during the employment eligibility reverification process in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The department’s investigation found that IGC required lawful permanent resident employees to present a new Permanent Resident Card when their prior card expired, even though the Form I-9 and E-Verify rules prohibit this practice. Lawful permanent residents have permanent work authorization in the United States, even after their Permanent Resident Cards expire. The investigation also found that IGC required lawful permanent residents to provide proof of U.S. citizenship if they became naturalized citizens. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on work-authorized employees during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status.

“The INA protects authorized workers from discrimination in the employment eligibility verification and reverification processes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that employers follow the law and that they do not impose discriminatory obstacles that prevent work-authorized individuals from working.”

Under the settlement agreement, IGC will pay $14,500 in civil penalties to the United States; undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA; establish a back pay fund to compensate potential economic victims; revise its employment eligibility reverification policies; and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for two years.

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

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

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to: (1) different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status, or national origin; or (2) discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.

A former employee of a government contracting company was sentenced today to 36 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to bribe public officials at the United States Navy Military Sealift Command in exchange for favorable treatment in connection with U.S. government contract work.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement today after McPhail’s sentencing before United States Chief District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Michael P. McPhail, 49, pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery on Feb. 19 2014. According to his plea documents, McPhail is a former employee of a Chesapeake, Virginia, government contracting company, referred to as Company A, which sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command, the leading provider of transportation for the United States Navy. At his plea hearing, McPhail admitted that from March 2005 to January 2007, he contributed approximately $45,000 of his salary toward bribe payments made to two public officials working for the Military Sealift Command to influence them to provide favorable treatment to Company A in connection with United States government contracting work.

Specifically, McPhail and other Company A employees, including Roderic J. Smith, the former president of Company A; Dwayne A. Hardman, the co-founder of Company A; and Adam C. White, a former vice president at Company A provided monthly cash bribes to two Military Sealift Command public officials. The bribery conspiracy resulted in the payment of more than $265,000 in cash bribes, among other things of value, to Kenny E. Toy, the former Afloat Programs Manager for the Military Sealift Command’s N6 Command, Control, Communication, and Computer Systems Directorate, and Scott B. Miserendino, Sr., a former government contractor who performed work for the Military Sealift Command. In addition his prison sentence, McPhail was ordered to forfeit $57,000.

Earlier this year, four other individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the bribery scheme. On Feb. 12, 2014, Toy pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Company A employees. On Feb. 18, 2014, Hardman pleaded guilty to providing bribes to Toy and Miserendino. On March 5, 2014, Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials. On April 4, 2014, White pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.

On June 23, 2014, United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan sentenced Smith to 48 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $175,000. On July 9, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced Hardman to 96 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $144,000. On July 11, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced White to 24 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $57,000. On July 29, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced Toy to 96 months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $100,000.

On May 23, 2014, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted Miserendino and Timothy S. Miller, a businessman whose company sought contracting business from the Military Sealift Command. The indictment charges Miserendino with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of criminal investigations and to commit tampering with a witness, and one count of obstruction of criminal investigations. The indictment charges Miller with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and two counts of bribery. Trial is set for Sept. 30, 2014, before Judge Smith.

Charges contained in an indictment are merely allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the FBI, NCIS, and DCIS. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Emily Rae Woods of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie of the Eastern District of Virginia.

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que llegó a un acuerdo con Isabella Geriatric Center (IGC), un asilo de ancianos en la ciudad de Nueva York, por medio del cual se resuelve una acusación que la compañía discriminó por causa del estatus de ciudadanía de empleados durante el proceso de reverificación de elegibilidad de empleo en violación de la Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad (INA por sus siglas en inglés).

La investigación del departamento reveló que IGC requería que sus empleados que eran residentes permanentes legales presentaran una nueva Tarjeta de Residente Permanente cuando sus tarjetas anteriores se les vencían, aunque esta práctica está prohibida según las reglas del Formulario I-9 y de E-Verify. Los residentes permanentes legales cuentan con autorización permanente en los Estados Unidos aún cuando se les vencen sus Tarjetas de Residente Permanente. La investigación también descubrió que IGC requería que los residentes permanentes legales proporcionaran evidencia de su ciudadanía estadounidense si es que se nacionalizaban. La provisiόn antidiscriminaciόn de la INA prohíbe que los empleadores impongan cargas documentales adicionales a los trabajadores con autorizaciόn de trabajo durante el proceso de verificación de elegibilidad de empleo basado en el estatus de ciudadanía del individuo.

"La INA protege a los individuos de discriminaciόn en los procesos de verificaciόn y reverificaciόn de elegibilidad de empleo," dijo Molly Moran, Sub-Procuradora General Interina para la Divisiόn de Derechos Civiles. "El departamento se compromete a asegurar que los empleadores respeten la ley, y que no impongan obstáculos discriminatorios que impiden el trabajo de los empleados con autorizaciόn."

Según el acuerdo, IGC le pagará $14,500 en sanciones civiles a los Estados Unidos; participará en adiestramiento sobre la provisión antidiscriminaciόn de la INA; establecerá un fondo para compensar a las víctimas que sufrieron daños econόmicos; revisará sus políticas de reverificaciόn de elegibilidad de empleo; y estará sujeto a un período de monitoreo de sus prácticas de verificación de elegibilidad de empleo por dos años.

La Oficina del Consejero Especial para Prácticas Injustas en el Empleo Relacionadas con Inmigración es la oficina responsable por hacer cumplir con la provisión antidiscriminaciόn de la INA. Entre otras cosas, la ley prohíbe discriminación por estatus de ciudadanía o del origen nacional durante la contrataciόn, el despido, el reclutamiento o la referencia por comisiόn, las prácticas injustas de documentación, represalias, e intimidación.

Para más información sobre las protecciones contra discriminación en el empleo según las leyes migratorias, llame a la línea directa de OSC para trabajadores al 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidad auditiva), llame a la línea directa de OSC para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidad auditiva), o para registrarse para un seminario sin costo ofrecido a través de Internet visite www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php, envíe un correo electrónico al [email protected], o visite el sitio de Internet www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.

Los solicitantes o empleados que consideren que fueron sujetos a (1) diferentes requisitos de verificación por su estatus de ciudadanía, estatus migratorio u origen nacional, o (2) discriminación por estatus de ciudadanía, estatus migratorio, u origen nacional con relación a la contratación, el despido y el reclutamiento o la referencia por comisión, deberán comunicarse a la línea dedicada a los trabajadores anteriormente citada para poderlos ayudar.

ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), was invited to speak at the 4th Annual Micronesia Non-Profit Congress ("Congress") which was held March 31, 2014 to April2, 2014. The theme ofthis year's Congress was 'justice for all."

The Congress was sponsored by Payu-Ta, Inc., "Guam's Umbrella Association of Non-Profit Organizations."  Payu-Ta's mission is to promote and strengthen member organizations' capacity and advocate for a progressive and sustainable Guam community.  Payu-Ta's reach spans between Micronesia, Hawaii, and American Samoa.

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 of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Districts of Guam and the NMI, the National District Attorneys Association, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department ofthe Interior, 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, as well as prevention and enforcement efforts in the Pacific region.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco explained that 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.  She discussed the Initiative's emphasis on 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.  She also remarked that the Initiative 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 the Pacific region island communities.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco also discussed the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood Initiative (PSC) and child sexual exploitation in the Pacific region islands.  She stressed that the threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well­ known and serious and that the danger of perpetrators who produce, distribute and possess child pornography is equally widespread.  Both forms of child sexual exploitation have a devastating and destructive effect in our communities.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco explained that PSC, launched in 2006, aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, PSC coordinates efforts to protect our children by investigating and prosecuting online sexual predators.  U.S. Attorney Limtiaco closed by emphasizing  that the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney Office are committed to the safety and well-being of every child and have placed combatting sexual exploitation of minors the highest priority.

Front Row L-R: Alicia Limtiaco, U.S. Attorney, District of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; Diana Calvo,  Executive  Director,  Catholic  Social  Services, Guam;  Lolita  Munoz, Project  Coordinator, WestCare Pacific  Islands, Guam;  Emele Duituturaga,  Executive  Director, Pacific  Islands Association  of Non Governmental Organizations    (PIANGO),   Fiji;   Cathy   Wasem,    Region   IX,   Honolulu,   Hawaii;    Berni Grajek,    Executive Director, Guma   Mami,  Inc.  and  Board  Chair,  Payu-Ta,  Inc.,  Guam;  Sandra   King  Young,  American  Samoa; Marstella Jack, Pohnpei  Women's  Council,  Pohnpei,  FSM;  Liliu Maliu,  Coalition   Against  Sexual  Assault  and Domestic Violence, American Samoa.

Back  Row  L-R: Rosendo  Primo,  Administrative   Officer, Center  for  Micronesian  Empowerment, Guam;  Julian Aguon, attorney, Guam; James Sablan, Guam; Neal Palafox, University of Hawaii; Dick Steinberg, CEO, Westcare Foundation, Nevada; Larry Raegital, Yap, FSM; Sarah Thomas-Nededog, Vice President, WestCare Pacific Islands, Guam;  Frances  Sablan,  Marianas  Association  of  Non  Governmental  Organizations  (MANGO), Saipan,  CNMI; Cathy  Flores, Guam Humanities Council, Guam;  John O. Gonzales, MANGO, Saipan, CNMI; Shirley Lee Untalan, WestCare Pacific Islands, Guam; Kelly Jensen, WestCare Pacific Islands, Guam; Kathleen Tolosa, WestCare Pacific Islands, Guam; Alson Kelen, President, Marshall  Islands Council of Non-Governmental Marshall Islands.

John Gonzales, Executive Director of the Joeten-Kiyu Public  Library  in  Saipan; U.S.  Attorney  Alicia Limtiaco; and  Emele  Duituturaga,  Executive  Director of the Secretariat for the Pacific Islands Association of Non Governmental  Organizations  (PIANGO) based in Suva, Fiji.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco at the 4111 Annual Micronesia Non Profit Congress.

Attorney General Eric Holder and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced today the completion of the Justice Department’s multi-year civil investigation pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (“CRIPA”) into the conditions of confinement of adolescent male inmates on Rikers Island. The investigation, which focused on use of force by staff, inmate-on-inmate violence, and use of punitive segregation during the period 2011-2013, concluded that there is a pattern and practice of conduct at Rikers Island that violates the rights of adolescents protected by the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The investigation found that adolescent inmates are not adequately protected from physical harm due to the rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force by New York City Department of Correction (“DOC”) staff and violence inflicted by other inmates. In addition, the investigation found that DOC relies too heavily on punitive segregation as a disciplinary measure, placing adolescent inmates in what amounts to solitary confinement at an alarming rate and for excessive periods of time. Many of the adolescent inmates are particularly vulnerable because they suffer from mental illness.

Attorney General Eric Holder said: “The extremely high rates of violence and excessive use of solitary confinement for adolescent males uncovered by this investigation are inappropriate and unacceptable. The Department of Justice is dedicated to ensuring the effectiveness, safety and integrity of our criminal justice systems. Going forward, we will work with the City of New York to make good on our commitment to reform practices that are unfair and unjust, and to ensure that – in all circumstances, and particularly when it comes to our young people – incarceration is used to deter, punish, and ultimately rehabilitate, not merely to warehouse and forget.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As our investigation has shown, for adolescents, Rikers Island is a broken institution. It is a place where brute force is the first impulse rather than the last resort; where verbal insults are repaid with physical injuries; where beatings are routine while accountability is rare; and where a culture of violence endures even while a code of silence prevails. The adolescents in Rikers are walled off from the public, but they are not walled off from the Constitution. Indeed most of these young men are pre-trial detainees who are innocent until proven guilty, but whether they are pre-trial or convicted, they are entitled to be detained safely and in accordance with their constitutional rights – not consigned to a corrections crucible that seems more inspired by Lord of the Flies than any legitimate philosophy of humane detention. These young men, automatically charged as adults despite their age under New York law, may be on an island and out of sight, but they can no longer remain out of mind. Attention must be paid immediately to their rights, their safety and their mental well-being, and in the wake of this report we will make sure that happens one way or another.”

In its report to the City of New York, made public today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office notes that “a deep-seated culture of violence is pervasive throughout the adolescent facilities at Rikers, and DOC staff routinely utilize force not as a last resort, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior.”

The following statistics are illustrative:

· In FY 2012, there were 517 reported staff use of force incidents in an average daily adolescent population of 791 in the Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC) and Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC), the two facilities that house the most adolescents. These incidents resulted in 1,059 injuries.

· In FY 2013, there were 565 reported staff use of force incidents in an average daily population at these same two facilities of 682, resulting in 1,057 injuries.

· In FY 2013, there were 845 reported inmate-on-inmate fights involving adolescents in the RNDC and EMTC. This marked an increase from the 795 reported fights in FY 2012.

· During the period April 2012 through April 2013, adolescents sustained a total of 754 visible injuries, according to Department of Health and Mental Health (DOHMH) data.

· Adolescents in RNDC and EMTC sustained a total of 96 suspected fractures from September 2011 through August 2012, according to DOHMH data.

· In FY 2013, adolescents were taken to get emergency medical services 459 times.

· In FY 2013, there were 1,118 emergency alarms in the RNDC and EMTC adolescent housing areas, or on average more than three alarms each day.

The report makes the following specific factual determinations:

· Force is used against adolescents at an alarming rate and violent inmate-on-inmate fights and assaults are commonplace, resulting in a striking number of serious injuries, including broken bones and lacerations requiring stitches;

· Correction officers resort to “headshots,” meaning blows to an inmate’s head or facial area;

· Force is used as punishment or retribution;

· Force is used in response to inmates’ verbal altercations with officers;

· Use of force by specialized response teams within the jails is particularly brutal;

· Correction officers attempt to justify use of force by yelling “stop resisting” even when the adolescent has been completely subdued or was never resisting in the first place; and

· Use of force is particularly common in areas without video surveillance cameras.

The report further identifies the following systemic deficiencies that are largely responsible for the excessive and unnecessary use of force by DOC staff. Many of these systemic deficiencies also lead to the high levels of inmate-on-inmate violence. These deficiencies include:

· Inadequate reporting by staff of the use of force, including false reporting;

· Inadequate investigations into the use of force;

· Inadequate staff discipline for inappropriate use of force;

· An inadequate classification system for adolescent inmates;

· An inadequate inmate grievance system;

· Inadequate supervision of inmates by staff;

· Inadequate training both on use of force and on managing adolescents; and

· General failures by management to adequately address the extraordinarily high levels of violence perpetrated against and among the adolescent population.

Finally, DOC’s use of prolonged punitive segregation for adolescent inmates is excessive and inappropriate. Adolescent inmates, many of whom have mental illnesses, are routinely placed in what amounts to solitary confinement for weeks and sometimes months at a time. On any given day in 2013, 15-25 percent of the adolescent population were in punitive segregation, often for infractions involving non-violent conduct. According to census data for December 16, 2013, well over half the adolescents in punitive segregation on that day were serving sentences for rule infractions of 60 days or more.

The report also sets forth the following 10 categories of remedial measures necessary to address the constitutional violations identified:

1. House adolescent inmates separately in a DOC jail not physically located on Rikers Island;

2. Increase the number of cameras in adolescent areas;

3. Revise use of force policy to clarify prohibited conduct;

4. Ensure that staff submit complete, accurate, and prompt use of force reports, and institute a zero-tolerance policy for failing to report;

5. Ensure that use of force incidents are investigated thoroughly and promptly, and hold staff accountable for biased or incomplete reports and investigations;

6. Ensure that inmates are adequately supervised, intervene to de-escalate fights, and transfer vulnerable or otherwise at risk inmates to alternative housing units;

7. Improve officer training programs on use of force, conflict resolution, reporting use of force, and handling of the adolescent population;

8. Ensure that staff are held accountable and disciplined for the use of excessive and unnecessary force;

9. Develop alternative disciplinary strategies that do not involve lengthy isolation, and prohibit the placement of adolescents with mental health disorders in solitary confinement;

10. Develop and implement a strategic plan to create an institutional culture that does not tolerate violence and holds staff accountable for excessive or unnecessary use of force.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York looks forward to engaging in discussions with the City to make system-wide changes that will safeguard the constitutional rights of adolescents, and prevent them from continuing to suffer unnecessary harm while in City custody.

U.S. Attorney Bharara thanks the Board of Correction for the assistance it provided in connection with the Office’s investigation.

This case is being handled by the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily E. Daughtry and Jeffrey K. Powell are in charge of the case.

A North Carolina couple pleaded guilty for leading a Costa Rican sweepstakes fraud scheme that defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina made the announcement.

Jessica Anne Brown, 39, of Greensboro, North Carolina, pleaded today in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her husband, Jason Dean Brown, 41, formerly of Burleson, Texas, pleaded guilty on July 30, 2014. The Browns pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to the plea agreement, from November 2004 through March 2013, Jessica and Jason Brown owned, operated and worked in sweepstakes call centers located in Costa Rica. The Browns and their co-conspirators placed telephone calls to U.S. residents, many of whom were elderly, and falsely informed them that they had won a substantial cash prize in a sweepstakes. The victims were told that in order to receive the prize, they had to send money to Costa Rica for a purported refundable insurance fee. After receiving the fee, the Browns and their co-conspirators contacted the victims again, and falsely informed them that the prize amount had increased, either because of a clerical error or because another prize winner was disqualified, and therefore the victims had to send additional money to pay for new purported fees, duties and insurance to receive the now larger sweepstakes prize. The attempts to collect additional money from the victims continued until a victim either ran out of money or discovered the fraudulent nature of the scheme. To mask that they were calling from Costa Rica, the Browns and their co-conspirators utilized VoIP phones that displayed a (202) area code, giving victims the false impression that the calls were coming from Washington, D.C. The Browns often falsely claimed that they were calling on behalf of a U.S. federal agency to lure victims into a false sense of security.

The defendants admitted that, along with their co-conspirators, they were responsible for causing more than $840,000 in losses to hundreds of United States citizens.

Jason and Jessica Browns were indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 15, 2012. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Miami Office. This case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Donley and Trial Attorney William Bowne of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Five alleged members of the violent Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation gang have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida for their roles in multiple murders. A sixth alleged gang member was indicted for unlawfully possessing a firearm.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement.

“According to charges unsealed today, members of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation committed multiple murders and racketeering crimes, injecting violence and chaos into communities in Chicago, Miami and Indiana,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Gang violence is a serious, nationwide problem, and the Department pursues a nationwide strategy, working with federal, state, and local law enforcement to dismantle the gangs and stop the bloodshed.”

The indictment returned by a federal grand jury on July 31, 2014, and unsealed today charges Jose Herrera, aka “Spyro,” 27, Leonel Carrera, aka “Leo,” 25, Victor Lopez, aka “Magic,” 28, Ramon Madruga, aka “Porky,” 28 and Alex Enrique Somarriba, aka “A-Rock,” 27, all of Miami, with conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, including murder. Brandon Foeman, aka “Drama,” 28, of Weston, Florida, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The six defendants are in custody.

According to the indictment, Herrera, Carrera, Lopez, Madruga and Somarriba are members of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation, which is a nationally-known organized street gang that originated in the northwest side of Chicago and spread to other regions of the United States, including South Florida. Members and associates of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters Nation allegedly engaged in acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, battery, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault, as well as narcotics distribution and other criminal activities. Specifically, the indictment charges that the gang is responsible for three murders in Miami, one in Chicago and one East Chicago, Indiana, including the murders of Rivky Josma on Aug. 4, 2006,Hockynson Sanchez on Nov. 20, 2007, and Mauricio Waikay on Feb. 25, 2011.

This case is being investigated by the FBI field offices in Miami and Chicago, and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field offices in Merrillville, Indiana, along with the Miami-Dade Police Department, the City of Miami Police Department, the Chicago Police Department, the Franklin Park, Illinois, Police Department, and the East Chicago Police Department. The Florida Department of Corrections and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office assisted with this case.

The case is being prosecuted by Joseph A. Cooley and Rebecca A. Staton of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, as well as the Forfeiture Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana and the State Attorneys’ Offices for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

A federal jury in Omaha, Nebraska, found Donna Marie Kozak guilty on Friday of conspiracy to file and filing false liens against two U.S. District Court judges, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska, two Assistant U.S. Attorneys and an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) special agent, the Justice Department announced.

The federal jury also convicted Kozak of filing a false claim against the United States for $660,000 and for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the due administration of the internal revenue laws. Kozak was remanded into custody pending sentencing. The maximum prison term for each false lien charge is 10 years, five years for the false claim charge and three years for the obstructing the IRS charge. Many of the offenses have an additional 10 years of potential imprisonment because they were committed while Kozak was on pretrial release.

Based on the evidence introduced at trial and court filings, Kozak, a former member of the so-called sovereign citizen group “Republic for the united States of America,” engaged in a conspiracy to retaliate against federal officials involved in the criminal investigation and prosecution of David and Bernita Kleensang, associates of Kozak who were convicted of federal tax crimes in 2012. Kozak initially retaliated against the federal judge who presided over the Kleensang trial by filing a false lien against her for $19 million with the Boyd County, Nebraska, clerk’s office. After a federal grand jury indicted Kozak for filing the false lien and for federal tax crimes, she filed five $18 million false liens against federal officials at the Washington County, Nebraska, register of deeds office while on pretrial release.

The evidence introduced at trial and court filings also showed that since the late 1990s, Kozak has engaged in a long series of fraudulent schemes to obstruct the internal revenue laws. These included placing her property in sham trusts, establishing a sham charitable foundation, sending harassing correspondence to IRS employees and filing bogus tax returns, trust returns, private-foundation returns and other false documents with the IRS. In 2008, she filed a tax return based on fictitious income and tax withholdings on Form 1099-OID statements that claimed a refund of $660,000.

This case was investigated by special agents of the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Brian Bailey and Matthew Hoffman of the department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

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

A Beverly Hills, California man was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to serve six months in prison and one year of home confinement for filing a false federal income tax return for tax year 2007, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

According to court documents, Monajem Hakimijoo aka Manny Hakimi, a U.S. citizen, and his brother maintained an undeclared bank account at Mizrahi Bank in Israel in the name of Kalamar Enterprises, a Turks and Caicos entity that was used to conceal their ownership of the account. Hakimijoo and his brother used the funds in the Kalamar account as collateral for back-to-back loans obtained from the Los Angeles branch of Mizrahi Bank. Although Hakimijoo and his brother claimed the interest paid on the back-to-back loans as a business deduction for federal tax purposes, they failed to report the interest income earned in their undeclared account in Israel as income on their tax returns. In total, Hakimijoo failed to report interest income of approximately $282,000. The highest balance in the Kalamar Enterprises account was approximately $4.03 million. Hakimijoo has agreed to pay a civil penalty to the IRS in the amount of 50 percent of the highest balance of his one-half interest in the Kalamar account. Hakimijoo is also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.

According to court documents, in March 2013, Hakimijoo was scheduled to be interviewed by Justice Department attorneys and IRS special agents. Prior to the interview, Hakimijoo, through counsel, provided the attorneys and special agents with copies of his amended tax returns for 2004 and 2005. When asked if the amended tax returns had been filed with the IRS, Hakimijoo indicated that the returns had been filed. Shortly thereafter, the IRS determined there was no record of the amended returns being filed with the IRS. When Hakimijoo was asked to provide copies of cancelled checks to prove that the taxes reflected on the amended returns had been paid, none were provided.

U.S. citizens and residents who have an interest in, or other authority over, a financial account in a foreign country with assets in excess of $10,000 are required to disclose the existence of such account(s) on Schedule B, Part III, of their individual income tax returns. They must also file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Reports with the U.S. Treasury disclosing the aforementioned financial account(s).

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ronald A. Cimino of the department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr.for the Central District of California thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, Senior Litigation Counsel John E. Sullivan and Assistant Chief Elizabeth C. Hadden for the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra A. Brown for the Central District of California, who assisted with the prosecution.

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

The Justice Department announced today that Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS), the nation’s largest operator of acute care hospitals, has agreed to pay $98.15 million to resolve multiple lawsuits alleging that the company knowingly billed government health care programs for inpatient services that should have been billed as outpatient or observation services. The settlement also resolves allegations that one of the company’s affiliated hospitals, Laredo Medical Center (LMC), improperly billed the Medicare program for certain inpatient procedures and for services rendered to patients referred in violation of the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law. CHS is based in Franklin, Tennessee, and has 206 affiliated hospitals in 29 states.

“Charging the government for higher cost inpatient services that patients do not need wastes the country’s health care resources,” said Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “In addition, providing physicians with financial incentives to refer patients compromises medical judgment and risks depriving patients of the most appropriate health care available. This department will continue its work to stop this type of abuse of the nation’s health care resources and to ensure patients receive the most appropriate care.”

The United States alleged that from 2005 through 2010, CHS engaged in a deliberate corporate-driven scheme to increase inpatient admissions of Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) TRICARE program beneficiaries over the age of 65 who originally presented to the emergency departments at 119 CHS hospitals. The government further alleged that the inpatient admission of these beneficiaries was not medically necessary, and that the care needed by, and provided to, these beneficiaries should have been provided in a less costly outpatient or observation setting. CHS agreed to pay $89.15 million to resolve these allegations. The settlement does not include hospitals that CHS acquired from Health Management Associates (HMA) in January 2014.

In addition, the government alleged that from 2005 through 2010, one of CHS’s affiliated hospitals, LMC in Laredo, Texas, presented false claims to the Medicare program for certain cardiac and hemodialysis procedures performed on a higher cost inpatient basis that should have been performed on a lower cost outpatient basis. The government also alleged that from 2007 through 2012, LMC improperly billed Medicare for services referred to LMC by a physician who was offered a medical directorship at LMC, in violation of the Stark Law. The Stark Law prohibits a hospital from submitting claims for patient referrals made by a physician with whom the hospital has an improper financial relationship, and is intended to ensure that a physician’s medical judgment is not compromised by improper financial incentives, and is instead based on the best interests of the patient. CHS agreed to pay $9 million to resolve the allegations involving LMC.

“This is the largest False Claims Act settlement in this district and it reaffirms this office’s commitment to investigate and pursue health care fraud that compromises the integrity of our health care system,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera for the Middle District of Tennessee. “This office is committed to ensuring that all companies billing government healthcare programs are responsible corporate citizens and that hospital providers do not engage in schemes to increase medically unnecessary in-patient admissions of government healthcare program beneficiaries in order to increase profits.”

“This settlement demonstrates our commitment to working with our law enforcement partners and with the Department of Justice to protect the integrity of our nation’s health care system,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas. “Put simply, these types of fraudulent practices will not be tolerated and the investigation and resolution of such claims will continue to be a high priority of this office.”

“Health care providers should make treatment decisions based on patients’ medical needs, not profit margins,” said U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins for the Western District of North Carolina. “We will not allow this type of misconduct to compromise the integrity of our health care system.”

As part of today’s agreement, CHS entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), requiring the company to engage in significant compliance efforts over the next five years. Under the agreement, CHS is required to retain independent review organizations to review the accuracy of the company’s claims for inpatient services furnished to federal health care program beneficiaries.

“In an effort to ensure the company’s fraudulent past is not its future, CHS agreed to a rigorous multi-year Corporate Integrity Agreement requiring that the company commit to compliance with the law,” said Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “The dedicated work of OIG’s investigators, auditors, and attorneys, in concert with our law enforcement partners, has again resulted in the recovery of taxpayer dollars and better protection against fraud in the future.”

The settlement resolves lawsuits filed by several whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to file suit on behalf of the government and obtain a portion of the government’s recovery. Those relators are Kathleen Bryant, former Director of Health Information Management at CHS’s Heritage Medical Center in Shelbyville, Tennessee; Rachel Bryant, former nurse at CHS’s Dyersburg Hospital in Dyersburg, Tennessee; Bryan Carnithan, former Emergency Medical Services Coordinator at CHS’ Heartland Hospital in Marion, Illinois; Amy Cook-Reska, former coder for CHS’ LMC in Laredo; Sheree Cook, former nurse at CHS’s Heritage Medical Center in Shelbyville; James Doghramji, former internal medicine and emergency room physician at CHS’s Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia; Thomas Mason, former emergency room physician at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville, North Carolina; Scott Plantz, former emergency room physician at CHS’s Longview Regional Medical Center in Longview, Texas; and Nancy Reuille, former nurse and Supervisor of Case Management at CHS’s Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The relators’ share of the settlement has not yet been determined.

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 Attorney General Eric Holder 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 $20.2 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $14 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Middle District of Tennessee, Southern District of Texas, Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, Northern District of Indiana and Western District of North Carolina; the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch; HHS-OIG; DOD’s Defense Health Agency - Program Integrity Office and the FBI.

The lawsuits are captioned United States ex rel. Bryant v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 10-2695 (S.D. Tex.); United States ex rel. Carnithan v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 11-cv-312 (S.D. Ill.); United States ex rel. Cook-Reska v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 4:09-cv01565 (S.D. Tex.); United States ex rel. James Doghramji; Sheree Cook; and Rachel Bryant v. Community Health Systems Inc., et al., Case No. 3-11-cv-00442 (M.D. Tenn.); United States ex rel. Mason v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:12-cv-817 (W.D.N.C.); United States ex rel. Plantz v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 10C-0959 (N.D. Ill.); United States ex rel. Reuille v. Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:09-cv-007RL (N.D. Ind.). The claims resolved by this agreement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

Michael D. Hayden, 41, and William J. Lednum, 42, both of Tilghman Island, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and to defraud the United States through their illegal harvesting and sale of striped bass, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division Sam Hirsch, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Superintendent of the Maryland Natural Resources Police Colonel George F. Johnson IV and Regional Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Honora Gordon.

“These defendants admitted to systematically plundering the Chesapeake Bay of an important and protected natural resource, and at the expense of the many honest fishermen who play by the rules,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Hirsch. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing environmental laws that protect our shared natural resources and sustain the vital marine life of the Chesapeake Bay for future generations.”

According to their plea agreements, Hayden and Lednum were “captains” on fishing vessels owned by them, William J. Lednum Fisheries d/b/a Michael D. Hayden Jr. and Michael D. Hayden, Jr., Inc. The defendants also employed numerous “helpers” as part of this scheme, including co-defendant Kent Sadler.

From at least 2007 to 2011, Hayden and Lednum illegally harvested, possessed, falsely labeled and/or sold at least 185,925 pounds of striped bass. They used illegally weighted and/or anchored gill nets, left the nets in the water overnight, and set the nets during times when the commercial striped bass gill-netting season was closed. The defendants exceeded their maximum daily vessel limit of striped bass and either unloaded the surplus onto an anchored vessel or paid others a fee to check-in fish for them. Hayden and Lednum falsified the permit allocation cards and daily catch records for their striped bass fishing trips to over-report the numbers of striped bass caught and under-report the weights. This allowed them to request additional state tags under false pretenses and therefore harvest additional striped bass illegally.

Hayden and Lednum shipped and sold $498,293 worth of striped bass to wholesalers in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. None of the fish was properly reported at check-in stations or on the permit allocation cards of daily catch records submitted to the state of Maryland. Maryland in turn submits such paperwork to numerous federal and interstate agencies responsible for setting harvest levels all along the eastern seaboard.

The investigation in this case started in February 2011 when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found tens of thousands of pounds of striped bass snagged in illegal, anchored nets before the season officially reopened. The conspirators were seen on the water in the vicinity of the illegal nets. The subsequent investigation unveiled a wider criminal enterprise to which Hayden and Lednum pleaded guilty today. Co-defendant Kent Conley Sadler, 31, also of Tilghman Island, previously pleaded guilty to his participation in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 21, 2014.

Hayden and Lednum face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The defendants have agreed to pay restitution to the state of Maryland of between $498,293 and $929,625. The defendants have further agreed to forfeit the monetary equivalent of 80 percent of the value of the vessel primarily used during the conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett scheduled sentencing for Hayden and Lednum on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, 2014 respectively.

This case was investigated by investigators from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and special agents with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham, of the District of Maryland, and Todd W. Gleason and Shennie Patel of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Justice Department announced today that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has agreed to pay $32.5 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that HP overcharged the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for products between October 2001 and December 2010. HP is a manufacturer and vendor of information technology products and services headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

“Protecting the federal procurement process from false claims is central to the mission of the Department of Justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to ensure that when the government purchases commercial products, it receives the prices to which it is entitled.”

The United States alleged that under a contract between HP and the USPS, HP overcharged USPS by failing to comply with pricing terms of the contract, including a requirement that HP provide prices that were no greater than those offered to HP customers with comparable contracts. The United States also alleged that HP made misrepresentations during the negotiation of the contract regarding its pricing and its plans to ensure it would provide the required most favored customer pricing.

“The Major Fraud Investigations Division (MFID) within the Postal Service Office of Inspector General fully investigates those contractors who wrongly take advantage of the Postal Service,” said Thomas Frost, MFID's Special Agent in Charge. “The Postal Service and the public must have complete confidence in the procurement process and MFID will continue to work diligently to make that happen.”

This matter was jointly investigated by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

On July 31, 2014, a federal jury in Los Angeles found that the former owner of a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company located in Carson, California, was guilty of health care fraud charges relating a 10-year scheme in which Medicare was fraudulently billed more than $8 million for DME that was not medically necessary.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California, Special Agent in Charge Glenn R. Ferry of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Los Angeles Region, Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.

Olufunke Ibiyemi Fadojutimi, 42, of Carson, California, is a registered nurse and the former owner of Lutemi Medical Supply. He was found guilty after trial of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of health care fraud and one count of money laundering. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

The trial evidence showed that between September 2003 and January 2013, Fadojutimi and others paid cash kickbacks to patient recruiters and physicians for fraudulent prescriptions for DME, such as power wheelchairs, that the Medicare patients did not actually need. Fadojutimi and others then used these prescriptions to bill Medicare for the power wheelchairs and other DME. Approximately $8.3 million in false and fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare, and Medicare paid almost $4.3 million on those claims.

The case is being investigated by HHS-OIG Los Angeles Region, the FBI and IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Fred Medick and Blanca Quintero of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and was previously prosecuted by the Fraud Section’s Jonathan T. Baum.

The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009, between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,900 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG , are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers. To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .

Marcellus Williams, aka “Math,” “P-Shooter” and “Manny,” 27, of Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for engaging in numerous gang-related crimes as a ranking member of the Black P-Stones, including shootings of rival gang members, robberies and drug dealing.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Royce E. Curtin of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office made the announcement after sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.

According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Williams was a “First Superior” in the Black P-Stones, a violent street gang also referred to as the P-Stone Bloods and Cobra Stones. The Black P-Stones operated primarily in the Beechmont, Courthouse Green and Woodview neighborhoods in the Denbigh area of Newport News, Virginia, and its members engaged in various criminal activities including murders, robberies, drug trafficking and obstruction of justice. As a First Superior, Williams directed and participated in the gang’s criminal activities, including robberies, attempted murder and marijuana sales.

According to the statement of facts, on April 27, 2008, Williams and other Black P-Stones members participated in a broad-daylight shooting on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News targeting a rival gang member. The rival was shot twice and injured in his mouth, neck and shoulder.

Additionally, on Dec. 10, 2008, Williams and other Black P-Stones members retaliated against a rival gang member who exhibited disrespect toward Williams’s girlfriend. Approximately seven to eight bullets were fired at the rival gang member’s home in Williamsburg, Virginia, with bullets ripping through the living room and front door while two people were inside.

Further, on March 9, 2009, Williams and other Black P-Stones members shot at the home of a rival gang member in retaliation for a previous altercation. The rival gang member and another individual were inside of the home during the shooting, and one bullet nearly struck one of the people inside.

Williams was charged in a superseding indictment on Dec. 9, 2013, and pleaded guilty on April 15, 2014, to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of possessing and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Safe Streets Peninsula Task Force, with the assistance of the Newport News Police Department, James City County Police Department, and the Virginia State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Louis A. Crisostomo and Marianne Shelvey of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Hurt of the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that a Durham, North Carolina, woman was sentenced today to serve 30 months in federal prison for conspiring to defraud the IRS.

Tasha Renee Smith was sentenced in Greensboro, North Carolina, by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles, who ordered her to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $375,578. Smith pleaded guilty on April 8 to the conspiracy charge.

According to court documents, Smith was employed by Nothing But Taxes (NBT), a tax return preparation business with branches throughout North Carolina, for parts of the filing seasons for tax years 2005, 2006 and 2007. While working at NBT’s Durham location, Smith intentionally falsified tax returns for many clients. Common techniques she employed include the addition of false dependents to tax returns and inflating the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income clients by adding additional, fictitious income.

According to court documents, during her second and third seasons preparing returns at NBT, Smith made extensive efforts to solicit and purchase the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of individuals in the community. Smith used the identities she purchased as false dependents on returns she prepared at NBT later that tax year. Smith charged clients a side cash payment in exchange for a false dependent, in addition to the flat return preparation fee charged by NBT.

According to court documents, during the 2008 tax filing season, Smith and two business partners opened their own tax return preparation business, Tax Wizards, with branches in Durham and Roxboro, North Carolina. Smith owned and operated the business, and hired her own return preparers. Like NBT, Tax Wizards became a center of tax fraud. Smith encouraged return preparers she hired at Tax Wizards to keep any falsifications on tax returns they prepared modest, in the $1,200 to $1,500 range, to avoid IRS scrutiny. Smith knew that return preparers she employed at Tax Wizards were falsifying returns for clients because she had cautioned the return preparers to keep any falsifications modest and because she witnessed some falsifications occur on the premises. Smith intentionally tried to avoid being physically present at Tax Wizards, in part to avoid the hassle of day-to-day management, but also because she did not want to be present while she knew fraud was occurring.

Court documents state that Smith and another person opened a tax return preparation business during the 2009 tax filing season called Keystone Tax Services, also in Durham. Keystone also became a hotbed of tax fraud. Smith also intentionally tried to avoid being physically present at Keystone for the same reasons as with Tax Wizards. Around April 2011, Smith closed down Tax Wizards and Keystone. Smith became aware that return preparers at her businesses were falsifying returns by creating fictitious Form W-2’s ostensibly issued by non-existent businesses. The falsification was so rampant and involved so much money that Smith feared IRS detection, so she shuttered Tax Wizards and Keystone.

According to court documents, during filing season for tax year 2011, in January to April 2012, Smith and other investors opened a business called Tax Solutions. Tax Solutions had four branches throughout North Carolina, specifically, in Roxboro, Durham, Burlington and Kinston. Smith was hired in exchange for a share of the business’s profits and was charged with hiring managers for the various Tax Solutions branches. She hired at least one manager whom she knew to be complicit in the fraudulent practices at Tax Wizards and Keystone. Return preparers at Tax Solutions also falsified numerous tax returns for their clients.

The case against Smith was investigated by Special Agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Chut for the Middle District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Jonathan Marx of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

A former Northfield, New Hampshire, man was indicted on three counts of tax evasion for tax years 2008, 2009 and 2010, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Ronald W. Martin was indicted July 23 by a federal grand jury in the District of New Hampshire. The indictment was unsealed today.

The indictment alleges that Martin evaded federal income taxes from 2008 through 2010 on approximately $400,000 of income by directing earned income to be paid to a third party and depositing only a fraction of his income into his business bank account in an effort to conceal the source of this income. According to the indictment, Martin operates the company Martin Construction.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Zuckerman and Senior Litigation Counsel Corey J. Smith of the department’s Tax Division.

Gregory King, 28, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today in connection with contacting a 13-year-old girl over the Internet and traveling across state lines to engage in sexual activity with her.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the FBI’s Baltimore Division made the announcement.

King pleaded guilty to one count of coercion of a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor. He was initially charged by indictment on Feb. 14, 2014.

According to King’s plea agreement, on Oct. 9, 2013, he initiated a chat with a girl on a social networking site whose profile indicated that she was 13 years old. Throughout October and November 2013, King and the victim exchanged sexually explicit photographs and engaged in sexually explicit conversations. On Oct. 30, 2013, King chatted with the victim about coming to her house in Maryland, telling her that he would take a bus from Washington, D.C. The victim provided King with her address, but King was not able to get to the victim’s house that night. King continued to chat with the victim and on Nov. 21, 2013, shortly after the victim’s 14 th birthday, again discussed coming to her home. King took a bus from Washington, D.C. on the same date and met the victim at her home, where he spent the night. King was arrested on Jan. 19, 2014.

As part of his plea agreement, King must register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Laurel Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi O’Malley of the District of Maryland.