District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Murder-for-hire Charge for Attempting to HireKu Klux Klan to Kill NeighborRead the Press Release
A Talladega County, Ala., man pleaded guilty today in federal court to attempting to hire a member of the Ku Klux Klan to murder an African-American neighbor, the Justice Department announced today.
Allen Wayne Densen Morgan, 29, of Munford, Ala., entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre to one count of using and causing someone else to use interstate facilities and travel -- a telephone and a motor vehicle -- with the intent to commit a murder-for hire. Morgan's sentencing is scheduled Feb. 27, 2014, and he faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Federal officials arrested Morgan in August of 2013 after he told FBI agents posing as members of the KKK that he would pay them to murder his neighbor. Morgan admitted he offered a watch, a necklace and a gun as payment for the murder and gave explicit details for the man's torture and murder.
Morgan's efforts to arrange the paid murder of his neighbor unfolded as follows, according to his plea:
Morgan talked to an undercover FBI agent by telephone on Aug. 22, 2013, who identified himself as a KKK member. The men arranged to meet three days later at an Oxford motel to discuss payment for the murder. In that phone conversation, Morgan used a racial slur to describe the man he wanted killed and bragged that he had just fired several shots toward the man to intimidate him. Morgan also described, in detail, how he wanted the man to be “hung from a tree like a deer and gutted," to have body parts cut off and to "die a slow, painful death."
“The defendant attempted to arrange the brutal murder of his neighbor as vengeance for a perceived wrong,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. “The Justice Department will prosecute with vigor those who seek violent vigilantism.”
“This defendant’s effort to solicit a murder for hire is a federal crime,” Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama said. “The prosecution here was swift and the punishment will be in a federal penitentiary. Future wrongdoers are on notice that we vigorously prosecute these crimes."
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pat Meadows and John B. Felton of the Northern District of Alabama and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney David Reese are prosecuting the case.
Louisiana Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Assault of DetaineeRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced that former Jefferson Parish, La. Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Gary J. Shine pleaded guilty today before Federal District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to assaulting a detainee at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, La., thereby depriving the detainee of his civil rights.
During the plea hearing, Shine admitted that on Oct. 21, 2012, while he was working as a sergeant, he struck an inmate with his knee, while the inmate’s hands were cuffed behind his back. Shine admitted that he also punched the inmate in the head. Shine’s actions caused bruising. Shine acknowledged that the inmate did not pose a threat to Shine or any other person, and that there was no legal justification for Shine to strike the inmate.
“It is a federal crime for law enforcement officers to willfully use excessive force,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that official misconduct is addressed fully and fairly.”
“The vast majority of our law enforcement officials serve with honor and integrity,” said Kenneth Polite, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “However, when someone abuses the power and privileges of his office, as Gary Shine did here, he will be held accountable.”
At sentencing, which is set for Jan. 22, 2014, Shine faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years of incarceration.
This case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Christine M. Siscaretti of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen C. Parker for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Administrator and Employee of Two Miami Home Health Companies Sentenced for Role in $74 Million Health Care Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
The administrator and employee of two Miami health care companies was sentenced today to serve 60 months in prison for her participation in a $74 million home health Medicare fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.
Myriam Acevedo, 63, of Miami, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida. In May 2013, Acevedo pleaded guilty, without a plea agreement, to one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks and two counts of payment of health care kickbacks.
According to court documents, Acevedo was an administrator of LTC Professional Consultants Inc. (LTC) and an employee of Professional Home Care Solutions Inc. (Professional), Miami home health care agencies that purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. Acevedo and her co-conspirators agreed to and actually did operate LTC and Professional for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary and/or were not provided.
Acevedo’s primary role in the scheme was to pay kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters of LTC and Professional. As part of this role, Acevedo and others would distribute cash to patient recruiters in exchange for providing patients to LTC and Professional, as well as prescriptions, plans of care (POCs) and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services for Medicare beneficiaries. Acevedo and her co-conspirators would use these prescriptions, POCs and medical certifications to fraudulently bill the Medicare program for home health care services, which Acevedo knew was in violation of federal criminal laws.
From approximately September 2007 through June 2012, LTC and Professional submitted approximately $41 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided. Medicare actually paid approximately $27 million for these fraudulent claims. Acevedo was part of an overall scheme that fraudulently billed Medicare more than $74 million.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG 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 Southern District of Florida. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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 Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Cole and Panamanian Attorney General <br /> Belfon Sign Agreement to Share Forfeited AssetsRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole and Panamanian Attorney General Ana Belfon today signed an agreement in Panama City, Panama, to share more than $36 million in forfeited criminal assets with the Government of Panama. The asset sharing is based on the extensive and wide-ranging assistance provided by the Government of Panama in connection with a 2000 money laundering case brought involving Panama-based jewelry stores. The agreement acknowledges the first time the Department of Justice has shared forfeited assets with the Government of Panama and is the second largest sum ever shared by the Department of Justice with a foreign government.
“Today’s agreement marks the Department of Justice’s recognition, through asset sharing, of the remarkable assistance that the Panamanian authorities have provided,” Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said. “For more than 12 years, the assistance of the Panamanian authorities has been consistent, reliable, and broad-ranging. As we see, in this case, how much can be accomplished through international cooperation, let us resolve to continue this same high level of cooperation in future cases.”
The asset sharing results from an investigation that United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and Panamanian authorities began in 1998 into Speed Joyeros S.A., which operated in the Colon Free Trade Zone in Panama. The owners were found to be laundering massive sums of narcotics, trafficking proceeds through Speed Joyeros and another jewelry business, Argento Vivo S.A.
In 2000, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York indicted the businesses and their owners on charges of money laundering and money laundering conspiracy. At the request of the United States, Panamanian authorities restrained the assets of the businesses and extradited their owners to the United States for trial. The owners pleaded guilty in April 2002, and the U.S. court issued a final order of forfeiture in May 2006 for all corporate assets of Speed Joyeros and Argento Vivo. In October 2008, the Panamanian Supreme Court ordered enforcement of the U.S. forfeiture order and in April 2010 authorized the transfer to the United States of 468 boxes filled with 10 tons of gold and silver jewelry, gem stones and watches for liquidation by the U.S. Marshals Service. In May 2011, more than $52 million in proceeds from the liquidation was deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund.
In recognition of Panama’s assistance in the case, the Department of Justice relied on statutory authority to share 70 percent of the net forfeited assets with the Government of Panama. The Deputy Attorney General approved the sharing in August 2010, and the Department of State concurred with the decision in March 2012, contingent upon the conclusion of an agreement with the Government of Panama to implement the transfer of the funds. United States law requires that international asset sharing must be authorized by an international agreement between the United States and the recipient country.
Because of the large sum of money being shared, the agreement establishes a six-member Executive Sharing Committee to oversee the sharing process. The agreement authorizes the committee to approve the selection of programs, projects and other expenditures consistent with the goal of strengthening the capacity of the Republic of Panama to combat money laundering and forfeit illicit assets in criminal investigations and prosecutions. The agreement provides for representation on the committee from the United States Departments of Justice, Treasury, and State, and from the Panamanian Attorney General’s Office and Ministries of Public Security and Foreign Affairs. The signing of the case-specific agreement will enable the Executive Sharing Committee to solicit and consider specific proposals for funding.
Other Central American countries that have received asset sharing from the United States in connection with other U.S. forfeitures include Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. The largest recipient to date has been Guatemala, having received nearly $1 million in sharing stemming from five separate forfeiture cases. Over the past 24 years, the United States has shared more than $277 in forfeited criminal assets with 54 countries in recognition of their assistance to United States forfeiture investigations and proceedings.
Two Army National Guard Soldiers Plead Guilty to Schemes to Defraud U.s. Army National Guard BureauRead the Press Release
Two current U.S. Army National Guard soldiers have pleaded guilty for their role in bribery and fraud schemes that caused a total of at least $70,000 in losses to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.
Sergeant Annika Chambers, 28, of Houston, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery. Specialist Elisha Ceja, 27, of Barboursville, W.V., previously pleaded guilty to the same charge on Oct. 1, 2013. The cases against both defendants arise from an investigation involving allegations that former and current military recruiters and U.S. soldiers in the San Antonio and Houston areas engaged in a wide-ranging corruption scheme to illegally obtain fraudulent recruiting bonuses. To date, the investigation has led to charges against 25 individuals, 17 of whom have pleaded guilty.
According to court documents filed in both cases, in approximately September 2005, the National Guard Bureau entered into a contract with Document and Packaging Broker, Inc. (Docupak) to administer the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP). The G-RAP was a recruiting program that offered monetary incentives to soldiers of the Army National Guard who referred others to join the Army National Guard. Through this program, a participating soldier could receive up to $3,000 in bonus payments for referring another individual to join. Based on certain milestones achieved by the referred soldier, a participating soldier would receive payment through direct deposit into the participating soldier’s designated bank account. To participate in the program, soldiers were required to create online recruiting assistant accounts.
Ceja and Chambers both admitted that they paid Army National Guard recruiters for the names and Social Security numbers of potential Army National Guard soldiers. They further admitted that they used the personal identifying information for these potential soldiers to falsely claim that they were responsible for referring the potential soldiers to join the Army National Guard.
As a result of these fraudulent representations, Ceja collected approximately $12,000 in fraudulent bonuses, and Chambers collected approximately $17,000 in fraudulent bonuses.
The charge of bribery carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss. The charge of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss.Ceja and Chambers are scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston on Dec. 19, 2013, and March 11, 2013, respectively.
These cases are being investigated by Special Agents from the San Antonio Fraud Resident Agency of Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit. The cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Sean F. Mulryne, Mark J. Cipolletti, and Heidi Boutros Gesch of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pearson of the Southern District of Texas.
Las Vegas Street Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison_for Racketeering, Murder, Firearm, and Drug ChargesRead the Press Release
A member of the Playboy Bloods street gang was sentenced today to life in prison for the retaliation murder of a man in November 2004 and the armed robbery of a Henderson, Nev., casino in 2002, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada.
Jacorey Taylor, aka “Mo-B,” 30, who was convicted by a jury in May 2013, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones. Taylor was convicted of engaging in a racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, committing violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity, using a firearm during a crime of violence, participating in a drug conspiracy, and possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute. He is the ninth gang member to be convicted out of 10 charged in a RICO indictment filed in 2008. The remaining defendant, Markette Tillman, 31, is awaiting trial.
Taylor and co-defendants Reginald Dunlap, aka “Bowlie,” and Steven Booth, aka “Stevie-P,” were convicted of participating in the murder of Billy Ray Thomas, who was shot multiple times in the back on the morning of Nov. 1, 2004, as he worked on a car in the parking lot of the Pecos Terrace Apartments while waiting to take his girlfriend to work. The defendants murdered Thomas due to their mistaken belief that Thomas was a member of a rival street gang. According to evidence presented at trial, two car loads of Playboy Bloods members and associates, including Taylor, Dunlap, Booth and others, drove through known Crip neighborhoods searching for rivals to retaliate against for the murder of Quaza Burns, a leader of the Playboy Bloods. The victim, Billy Ray Thomas, had no gang affiliation.
Evidence produced at trial also showed that on March 21, 2002, Taylor, armed with an AR-15 style assault rifle, and another man armed with an handgun entered the Klondike Casino in Henderson, forced their way behind the casino cage, and robbed the casino of over $7,000 in currency.
Dunlap and Booth pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges during Taylor’s trial and were each sentenced in April 2013 to 20 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system.
According to court documents and evidence produced at trial, the Bloods are a nationally known criminal street gang whose members engage in drug trafficking and acts of violence. The Playboy Bloods is a local “set” or affiliate of the Bloods, with local control and operation within the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Other Bloods sets within the Las Vegas metropolitan area include the Piru Bloods and the West Coast Bloods. A subset of the Playboy Bloods is the Full Throttle Clique, a group made up of Playboy Bloods members who engage in acts of violence, including murder. According to evidence presented at trial, Taylor, Dunlap, and Booth were all members of the “Full Throttle Clique” of the Playboy Bloods. Taylor, along with other Playboy Bloods enterprise members, operated drug houses in the Sherman Gardens Annex (also known as “The Jets”) and the surrounding areas.
Eight other defendants who have been convicted and sentenced, as follows:
• Steven Booth, aka “Stevie-P,” 27, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 10, 2013
• Reginald Dunlap, aka “Bowlie,” 30, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 9, 2013
• Demichael Burks, aka “Mikey P,” 29, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and was sentenced to 6½ years in prison on Dec. 3, 2010
• Anthony Mabry, aka “Akim Slim,” 43, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Oct. 20, 2010
• Delvin Ward, aka “D-Luv,” 37, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Sept. 17, 2010
• Terrence Thomas, aka “Seven,” 40, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 16, 2010
• Sebastian Wigg, aka “Rock,” 36, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and was sentenced to five years in prison on March 29, 2010
• Fred Nix, aka “June P,” 36, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and was sentenced to five years in prison on March 29, 2010
The cases were investigated by the FBI’s Las Vegas Safe Streets Gang Task Force, which includes officers from the North Las Vegas Police Department and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicholas D. Dickinson, and Phillip N. Smith, Jr., and Kevin L. Rosenberg, Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime and Gang Section.
Georgia Real Estate Investment Company and Owner Plead Guilty to Conspiracies to Rig Bids and Commit Mail Fraud for the Purchase of Real Estate at Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
A Georgia real estate investor and his company pleaded guilty today for their role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Georgia, the Department of Justice announced.
Separate felony charges were filed on Sept. 25, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, against Penguin Properties LLC and its owner, Seth D. Lynn.
According to court documents, from at least as early as Feb. 6, 2007 until at least Jan. 3, 2012, Penguin Properties and Lynn conspired with others not to bid against one another, but instead to designate a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Fulton County, Ga. Penguin Properties and Lynn were also charged with a conspiracy to use the mail to carry out a scheme to fraudulently acquire title to selected Fulton County properties sold at public auctions, to make and receive payoffs and to divert money to co-conspirators that would have gone to mortgage holders and others by holding second, private auctions open only to members of the conspiracy. The department said that the selected properties were then awarded to the conspirators who submitted the highest bids in the second, private auctions.
Charges were also brought against Penguin Properties and Lynn for their involvement in similar conspiracies in DeKalb County, Ga., from at least as early as July 6, 2004 until at least Jan. 3, 2012.
“Today’s charges are the first to be filed in the state of Georgia in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into anticompetitive conduct in real estate foreclosure auctions,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The division’s investigation has already resulted in dozens of guilty pleas in other states, and the division remains committed to eliminating anticompetitive practices at foreclosure auctions.”
The department said that the primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress and restrain competition and to conceal payoffs in order to obtain selected real estate offered at Fulton and DeKalb County public foreclosure auctions at non-competitive prices. When real estate properties are sold at these auctions, the proceeds are used to pay off the mortgage and other debt attached to the property, with remaining proceeds, if any, paid to the homeowner. According to court documents, these conspirators paid and received money that otherwise would have gone to pay off the mortgage and other holders of debt secured by the properties, and, in some cases, the defaulting homeowner.
“The core of this case was about an unlevel field and one of unfairness with regard to the auction/bidding process of foreclosed properties,” said Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. “The FBI remains committed in providing investigative resources to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust effort to address such matters.”
A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals and a $100 million fine for corporations. The maximum fine for a Sherman Act charge may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for an individual, and a fine of $500,000 for a corporation. The respective maximum fines for the conspiracy to commit mail fraud charge may be increased to twice the gross gain the conspirators derived from the crime or twice the gross loss caused to the victims of the crime by the conspirators.
The investigation is being conducted by Antitrust Division attorneys in Atlanta and the FBI’s Atlanta Division, with the assistance of the Atlanta Field Office of the Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should call 404-331-7113 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.
Today’s charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
Diebold Incorporated Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay $25.2 Million Criminal PenaltyRead the Press Release
Diebold Inc. (Diebold), the Ohio-based provider of integrated self-service delivery and security systems, including automated teller machines (ATMs), has agreed to pay a $25.2 million penalty to resolve allegations that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing government officials in China and Indonesia and falsifying records in Russia in order to obtain and retain contracts to provide ATMs to state-owned and private banks in those countries.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement.
The department today filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio a criminal information and a deferred prosecution agreement. The two-count information charges Diebold with conspiring to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery and books and records provisions and violating the FCPA’s books and records provisions.
“In China, Indonesia and Russia, Diebold chose to pay bribes for business and falsify documents to cover its tracks,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “Through its corrupt business practices, Diebold undermined the sense of fair play that is critical for the rule of law to prevail. Today’s action – which holds Diebold accountable for its criminal conduct, while also recognizing its cooperation and voluntary disclosure to the government of its conduct – underscores that fighting global corruption is and will remain a mainstay of the Criminal Division’s mission.”
“Companies that pay bribes to public officials, whether those officials are in Cleveland, in Ohio or overseas, violate the law,” said U.S. Attorney Dettelbach. “Corporate earnings cannot be placed above the rule of law, and today’s penalties – nearly $50 million in all – send the message again, loud and clear, that such conduct is unacceptable. We hope that Diebold will use this opportunity, including the internal controls and compliance monitor required by today’s agreement, to turn the page to a newer and more ethical corporate culture.”
According to court documents, Diebold paid bribes and falsified documents in connection with the sale of ATMs to bank customers in China, Indonesia, and Russia. With respect to China and Indonesia, the court documents allege that from 2005 to 2010, in order to secure and retain business with bank customers, including state-owned and -controlled banks, Diebold repeatedly provided things of value, including payments, gifts, and non-business travel for employees of the banks, totaling approximately $1.75 million. Diebold attempted to disguise the payments and benefits through various means, including by making payments through third parties designated by the banks and by inaccurately recording leisure trips for bank employees as “training.” The court documents also allege that from 2005 to 2009, Diebold created and entered into false contracts with a distributor in Russia for services that the distributor was not performing. The distributor, in turn, used the money that Diebold paid to it, in part, to pay bribes to employees of Diebold’s privately-owned bank customers in Russia in order to obtain and retain ATM-related contracts with those customers.
In addition to the monetary penalty, Diebold agreed to implement rigorous internal controls, cooperate fully with the department, and retain a compliance monitor for at least 18 months. The department agreed to defer prosecution for three years and, if Diebold abides by the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement, the department will dismiss the criminal information when the agreement’s term expires. The agreement acknowledges Diebold’s voluntary disclosure and extensive internal investigation and cooperation.
In a related matter, Diebold reached a settlement with the SEC and agreed to pay approximately $22.97 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. The SEC settlement was filed today.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Daniel S. Kahn of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin J. Roberts of the Northern District of Ohio. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office. The department acknowledges and expresses its appreciation for the assistance provided by the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.
Vietnamese National Charged in Widespread International Scheme to Steal and Sell Hundreds of Thousands of U.s. Persons’ Personally Identifiable InformationRead the Press Release
A Vietnamese national has been indicted in the District of New Hampshire for allegedly participating in an international scheme to steal and sell hundreds of thousands of Americans’ personally identifiable information (PII) through various underground websites that he operated.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas of the District of New Hampshire, and Resident Agent in Charge Holly Fraumeni of the U.S. Secret Service’s Manchester Field Office made the announcement after the indictment was unsealed.
Hieu Minh Ngo, 24, a Vietnamese national, was charged in a 15-count indictment filed under seal in November 2012, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, substantive wire fraud, conspiracy to commit identity fraud, substantive identity fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and substantive access device fraud. Ngo was arrested upon his entry into the United States in February 2013. The statutory maximum penalties are five years on the identity fraud and identity fraud conspiracy counts, two years each on the aggravated identity theft counts, 20 years on the wire fraud count and wire fraud conspiracy counts, 10 years on the substantive access device fraud count and five years on the conspiracy to commit access device fraud count.
According to the indictment, from 2007 through 2012, Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others packages of PII for more than 500,000 individuals. These packages, known as “fullz,” typically included a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number. During this same time, Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others stolen payment card data, which typically included the victim account holder’s payment card number, expiration date, card verification value number, account holder name, account holder address and phone number.
The indictment alleges that Ngo operated one or more online marketplaces for various carding activities, known as carder forums, where he stored and offered for sale “fullz” and other PII, including “fullz” of individuals located in the District of New Hampshire. On two carder forums, Ngo and his co-conspirators offered buyers the option to obtain a specified quantity of “fullz” or to submit a query of a particular name to obtain that person’s associated PII. Ngo and his co-conspirators allegedly offered several categories of PII, depending on how recently the data had been acquired, and charged higher prices for more recent data. Ngo allegedly made arrangements with others who, after paying a fee, could access and then and re-sell the stolen payment card data, “fullz” and other PII. Ngo and his co-conspirators created one or more accounts with a digital currency service and used those accounts to receive funds for the stolen payment card data, “fullz” and other PII that they sold.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.
The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Operators of Michigan Adult Day Care Centers Convicted in $3.2 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A federal jury in Detroit today convicted the owner and the program coordinator of two Flint, Mich., adult day care centers for their participation in a $3.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan; Acting Special Agent in Charge John Robert Shoup of the FBI Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Detroit Office made the announcement.
Glenn English, 53, was found guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and seven counts of health care fraud for directing a psychotherapy fraud scheme through New Century Adult Day Program Services LLC and New Century Adult Day Treatment Inc. (collectively known as New Century).
Richard Hogan, 67, an unlicensed social worker who worked as a program coordinator at New Century, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
The defendants were charged in a superseding indictment returned Dec. 11, 2012. Another individual charged in the superseding indictment, Donald Berry, awaits trial at a later date.
According to evidence presented at trial, English owned and operated New Century as an adult day care center through which he billed Medicare for individual and group psychotherapy services. As shown at trial, New Century brought in mentally disabled residents of Flint-area adult foster care homes (AFCs), as well as people seeking narcotic drugs, and used their names to bill Medicare for psychotherapy that was not provided. The evidence showed that English and Hogan lured drug seekers to New Century with the promise that they could see a doctor there who would prescribe for them the narcotics they wanted if they signed up for the psychotherapy program. New Century used the signatures and Medicare information of these AFC residents and drug seekers to claim that it was providing them psychotherapy, when in fact it was not.
The evidence also showed that English directed New Century employees to fabricate patient records to give the false impression that psychotherapy was being provided. Social workers and untrained employees wrote fake progress notes for therapy sessions that never occurred. Further, English and New Century employees directed New Century clients to pre-sign sign-in sheets for months at a time, and used these signatures to claim to Medicare they had provided services. On multiple occasions, New Century billed Medicare as if its social workers had provided over 24 hours of care in a single day.From March 2010 through April 2012, New Century billed approximately $3.2 million and received more than $988,000 from Medicare.
The health care fraud conspiracy count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison; each count of health care fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for Feb. 27, 2014.
The investigation was led by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is 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.
Missouri Man Charged with Attempted Arson of Planned Parenthood FacilityRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that Jedediah Stout, 30, of Joplin, Mo., was charged today in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., with the attempted arson of a Planned Parenthood facility.
As stated in the complaint affidavit, on Oct. 3, 2013, and Oct. 4, 2013, Stout made consecutive attempts to set fire to the Planned Parenthood facility in Joplin. In both instances he threw items containing an accelerant onto the roof of the facility, and then ignited material attached to the accelerant. Stout will have his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Oct. 21, 2013.
Today’s charge is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobaco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Joplin Police Department. Prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Kelleher in conjunction with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Justice Department Sues to Shut Down Mississippi Tax Return Preparer for Alledgedly Overstating Tax RefundsRead the Press Release
The United States has requested that the federal district court in Jackson, Miss., permanently bar Danee Aikens from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
According to the complaint, Aikens prepares federal income tax returns under the name “Comprotax Service” from an office in Durant, Miss. The complaint alleges that Aikens prepared returns that overstated income, including by reporting fictitious household help income, in order to increase the amount of her customers' claim to the Earned Income Tax Credit.
The complaint further alleges that Aikens prepared returns that falsely claimed a refundable education credit on behalf of her clients.
As alleged in the complaint, the loss to the government from Aikens’ return preparation from 2009 through 2012 could exceed $7 million.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service's Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013 which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dozen-Tax-Scams-for-2013 . In the past ten years the Justice Department's Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax-return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm .
Related Materials:
United States v. Danee Aikens
Complaint for Permanent Injunction
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Arapahoe, Colo., Sheriff’s Office to Resolve Immigration-Related Unfair Employment PracticesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Arapahoe County, Colo. Office of the Sheriff resolving allegations that the Office of the Sheriff violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The investigation was initiated based on information obtained in the course of a lawsuit filed by a former employee against the Sheriff’s Office alleging discriminatory termination. The Department’s investigation established that the Office of the Sheriff improperly restricted law enforcement positions to U.S. citizens notwithstanding the fact that no law, regulation, executive order or government contract authorized it to restrict employment in this manner. The former employee who filed the lawsuit was in fact a U.S. citizen and had documentation that showed her work authorization but not her citizenship. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits certain discriminatory hiring practices against work-authorized individuals and permits employers to limit jobs to U.S. citizens only where the employer is required to do so by law, regulation, executive order, or government contract.
Under the settlement agreement, the Office of the Sheriff’s employment eligibility verification practices will be subject to monitoring by the Justice Department and reporting requirements for a period of three years. The Sheriff’s Office also agreed to pay $500 in civil penalties to the United States. The Office of the Sheriff had already addressed the identified victim’s back pay claims through an earlier agreement based on her private lawsuit. In addition, the Office of the Sheriff informed other affected non-U.S. citizen applicants that they could re-apply for available law enforcement positions. The Sheriff’s Office denied that it committed any violation of the anti-discrimination provision but fully cooperated with the investigation and agreed to revise its hiring policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the INA’s anti-discrimination provision.
“Employers must ensure that their hiring practices do not violate the anti-discrimination provision of the INA,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Any restrictions in hiring based on citizenship status must be pursuant to requirements established by law or government contract, not internal policies. The Office of the Sheriff’s cooperation and its efforts to reach out to non-citizens affected by its past policies reflect its commitment to address the issues raised in this investigation in a meaningful manner.”
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TTY for hearing impaired), call the OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, TTY for hearing impaired), sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/about/osc/webinars.php , email [email protected] or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc .
Columbus, Ohio, Tax Return Preparation Firmwith Large Portion of Elderly Customers Shut DownRead the Press Release
A federal court in Columbus, Ohio, has permanently barred Tobias Elsass and his companies, “Fraud Recovery Group Inc.” and “Sensible Tax Services Inc.,” from preparing federal tax returns, promoting the availability of theft loss deductions, or engaging in any other tax-related business in the future. The Court found that Elsass and Fraud Recovery Group have continually and repeatedly promoted a nationwide scheme falsely informing their customers that they were entitled to claim large theft loss tax deductions, and then preparing the tax returns that improperly claimed such deductions. The civil injunction order was signed yesterday by Judge Peter C. Economus of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Elsass serves as president and founder of Fraud Recovery Group and Sensible Tax Services. The district court found that Elsass and his companies promoted a scheme that preyed largely on elderly investors across the United States who had suffered financial losses. Elsass and his companies told the investors that they could deduct their financial losses on their federal income tax returns in an advantaged way and receive large refunds. Under federal tax law, victims of truly fraudulent investment schemes, such as a Ponzi scheme, may properly deduct their financial losses as thefts only if they can substantiate that the losses were, among other things, the product of criminal conduct.
In its opinion, the court concluded that Elsass misled his elderly investor customers into believing that they had valid theft loss deductions, thereby inducing them to pay him and his companies to prepare and file amended tax returns. The opinion notes that hundreds of theft loss deductions claimed on tax returns prepared by Elsass and his companies were improper, because the financial losses they sought to deduct were merely the result of company mismanagement instead of criminal conduct – as Elsass knew. Elsass and his companies were also aware that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was disallowing such claims, but filed similar claims for other investor customers in any event, in the hope that the later filings would escape IRS scrutiny. The court found that, as a result of such egregious conduct, Elsass and his companies potentially left their investor customers subject “to audits and scrutiny from the IRS.”
The court also determined that Elsass had intentionally engaged in “incompetent or disreputable” behavior not becoming a tax professional. Based on the record before it, the court found that Elsass seemed “perfectly willing to lie and deceive, even to the extent of possibly committing perjury, in order to advance his own interests.” Accordingly, the “sheer magnitude and variety of the Defendants’ transgressions” made permanent injunctive relief appropriate.
The court directed that FRG be closed and its operations terminated. The court’s injunction order permanently bars Elsass from engaging in any business relating to providing tax advice or the preparation of tax returns. Elsass and his companies are also prohibited from owning any interest in, operating, incorporating, working for or having any other association with any tax-related business in the future, and they must immediately divest any ownership interest they presently have with any such entities. The court’s order also requires Elsass and his companies to advise their existing customers of the injunction’s terms, and to provide the Government with a list of all current customers.
In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 500 injunctions to stop tax fraud promoters and tax return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm .
Related Materials:
United States v. Tobias H. Elsass, et. al.
Complaint for Permanent Injunction
Opinion and OrderAdditional Charges Brought Against Tax Return Preparers Previously Charged with Helping Clients Hide Millions in Offshore Israeli BanksRead the Press Release
David Kalai and Nadav Kalai face additional charges after a federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned a second superseding indictment yesterday. The superseding indictment charged each with two counts of willfully failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). In June 2012, the grand jury charged David Kalai, Nadav Kalai, and David Almog with conspiring to defraud the United States, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
As alleged in the June 2012 superseding indictment, David Kalai and Nadav Kalai were principals of United Revenue Service Inc. (URS), a tax preparation business with 12 offices located throughout the United States. David Kalai worked primarily at URS’ former headquarters in Newport Beach, Calif., and later at URS’ location in Costa Mesa, Calif. Nadav Kalai, who is David Kalai’s son, worked out of URS’ headquarters in Bethesda, Md., as well as URS locations in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. David Almog was the branch manager of the New York office of URS and supervised tax return preparers for URS East Coast locations.
U.S. citizens, resident aliens and legal permanent residents have an obligation to report to the IRS on Schedule B of the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040, whether they had a financial interest in, or signature authority over, a financial account in a foreign country in a particular year by checking “Yes” or “No” in the appropriate box and identifying the country where the account was maintained. They further have an obligation to report all income earned from the foreign financial account on the tax returns. Separately, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and permanent legal residents with a foreign financial interest in, or signatory authority over, a foreign financial account worth more than $10,000 in a particular year, must also file a FBAR with the Treasury disclosing such an account by June 30 of the following year.
The superseding indictment further alleged that the co-conspirators prepared false individual income tax returns which did not disclose the clients’ foreign financial accounts nor report the income earned from those accounts. In order to conceal the clients’ ownership and control of assets and conceal the clients’ income from the IRS, the co-conspirators incorporated offshore companies in Belize and elsewhere and helped clients open secret bank accounts at the Luxembourg locations of two Israeli banks referred to as Bank A and Bank B in court documents. Bank A is a large financial institution headquartered in Tel-Aviv, Israel, with branches worldwide. Bank B is a mid-size financial institution headquartered in Tel-Aviv, with a worldwide presence on four continents.
The indictment also alleged, the co-conspirators incorporated offshore companies in Belize and elsewhere to act as named account holders on the secret accounts at the Israeli banks. The co-conspirators then facilitated the transfer of client funds to the secret accounts and prepared and filed tax returns that falsely reported the money sent offshore as a false investment loss or a false business expense. The co-conspirators also failed to disclose the existence of, and the clients’ financial interest in, and authority over, the clients’ secret accounts and caused the clients to fail to file FBARs with the Department of the Treasury.
In addition to the earlier charges, yesterday’s superseding indictment alleges that David Kalai and Nadav Kalai each failed to file a FBAR for calendar years 2008 and 2009 concerning a foreign account held at Bank A in Luxembourg. The second superseding indictment alleges that both David Kalai and Nadav Kalai had a financial interest, signature or other authority over a foreign financial account that had an aggregate value of more than $10,000 during 2008 and 2009.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each count and a maximum fine of $250,000 for each count. The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent and it is the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked Tax Division Trial Attorneys Christopher S. Strauss and Ellen M. Quattrucci, who prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra A. Brown of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, who assisted with the prosecution. The case was investigated by special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation.
Two Compton Men Plead Guilty to Federal Hate Crime Charges Resulting from New Year's Eve Attack on African-American YouthsRead the Press Release
Two Latino men associated with the Compton 155 street gang pleaded guilty today to federal hate crime charges related to a racially motivated attack on African-American juveniles at a residence in Compton, Calif. on New Year’s Eve.
Jeffrey Aguilar, 20, who uses the moniker “Terco,” and Efren Marquez Jr., 22, who is also known as “Stretch” and “Junior,” each pleaded guilty to violating the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act.
Appearing before United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., Aguilar admitted that on Dec. 31, 2012, he and another individual physically attacked a 17-year-old African-American, who was walking down a street in the City of Compton. Aguilar chased down and struck the victim in the head with a metal pipe. During the incident, Marquez threatened to shoot another African-American juvenile who was present. Both Aguilar and Marquez admitted that the attack on the 17-year-old victim was substantially motivated by his race and color.
“These juvenile victims were threatened and assaulted because of their race,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Such intimidation and violence has no place in our society. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who commit such acts of hate.”
“The perpetrators of hate crimes hurt not only the individuals who are attacked, but also society as a whole,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “For this reason, we are dedicated to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that justice is brought to those who choose to commit such heinous crimes.”
“Finding justice for victims of civil rights violations is among the most important responsibilities of FBI agents,” said Bill Lewis, Assistant Director for the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. “The success of this case is due to the shared goals and long-term cooperation between the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the FBI, and prosecutors at the Department of Justice.”
“Hate crimes affect not only the victims, they also destroy our society’s democratic principles” said Sheriff Lee Baca of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. “Law enforcement is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all members of our community. The success of this joint investigation sends a message that racially motivated crimes will not be tolerated.”
Aguilar and Marquez are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Hatter on Jan. 6, 2014. At sentencing, each defendant will face a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Reema El-Amamy of the Violent and Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Saeed Mody of the Civil Rights Division.
Former Town Creek, Ala., Police Officer Sentencedfor Assaulting ArresteeRead the Press Release
Brandon Shane Mundy, a former police officer of numerous law enforcement agencies, the most recent being the Town Creek, Ala., Police Department was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor to serve five years in prison and three years of supervised release, and to pay $3,745 in restitution for violating the civil rights of a man during the course of an arrest. Mundy previously pleaded guilty on April 25, 2013, to one count of willfully depriving the man of his constitutional right to be free from excessive force by a law enforcement officer acting under color of law. According to information presented to the court, on Nov. 22, 2009, Mundy was involved in a vehicle pursuit and fired shots at a man’s vehicle before later ramming the vehicle and causing it to wreck in a ditch. While another police officer reached the man and placed him under arrest without resistance, Mundy arrived and unjustifiably and repeatedly beat the man in the head with an object that was either a baton or a flashlight causing the man to suffer physical injury. After Mundy lost control of the object, he continued to strike the man in the head with his fist.
“When law enforcement officers abuse their power and violate the civil rights of those in custody, they will be held accountable,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who cross the line to engage in acts of criminal misconduct.”
“Every police officer is sworn to serve and protect, and virtually all of them take that oath seriously. This officer did not, and assaulted a citizen in violation of his oath,” said Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. “My office continues to aggressively prosecute police misconduct and takes a zero tolerance policy in this regard.”
This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Holt of the Northern District of Alabama and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Daniel H. Weiss.
Former Los Angeles-area Pastor Sentenced for Role in $11 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A pastor and owner of a Los Angeles-area medical supply company was sentenced today for his role in a power wheelchair fraud scheme that defrauded Medicare out of more than $11 million.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman 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 Los Angeles Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Joseph Fendrick of the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse made the announcement.
Charles Agbu, 58, of Carson, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu to serve 87 months in prison and was ordered to pay $5,788,725 in restitution to Medicare. In December 2012, Agbu pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges based on his role as owner and operator of Bonfee Inc., a fraudulent durable medical equipment (DME) supply company that Agbu operated with his daughter and co-defendant, Obiageli Agbu, and members of his family from a nondescript office building in Carson. Agbu admitted that he paid patient recruiters and doctors to provide him with fraudulent prescriptions for expensive, highly specialized power wheelchairs and other DME that he, Obiageli Agbu and their co-conspirators used in submitting more than $11 million false claims to Medicare. Agbu billed the power wheelchairs to Medicare at a rate of approximately $6,000 per wheelchair even though he paid approximately $900 wholesale per wheelchair. In many cases, the Medicare beneficiaries to whom Agbu and his co-conspirators claimed they supplied the power wheelchairs and DME did not have any legitimate medical need for the medical equipment, and, in some cases, never received the medical equipment from Agbu’s company. At the time Agbu engaged in this fraud, he was a pastor at Pilgrim Congregational Church in South Central Los Angeles.
On Sept. 30, 2013, and Oct. 2, 2013, Agbu’s co-defendants, Alejandro Maciel, 43, of Huntington Park, Calif., and Dr. Emmanuel Ayodele, 65, of Los Angeles, were sentenced to serve 41 and 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,388,755 and $6,355,949 in restitution to Medicare, respectively. Two other co-defendants, Dr. Juan Van Putten and Candelaria Estrada, have pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud charges and are scheduled for sentencing on Dec.12, 2013, and Oct. 31, 2013, respectively. Obiageli Agbu was convicted by a jury on nine counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud on July 19, 2013. Her sentencing date has not been set.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG and the California Department of Justice 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 Central District of California. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jonathan T. Baum and Alexander Porter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
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 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is 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.
Boston Scientific and Subsidiaries to Pay $30 Million for Guidant’s Sale of Defective Heart Devices for Use in Medicare PatientsRead the Press Release
Boston Scientific Corp. and its subsidiaries, Guidant LLC, Guidant Sales LLC and Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (Guidant), have agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations that, between 2002 and 2005, Guidant knowingly sold defective heart devices to health care facilities that in turn implanted the devices into Medicare patients, the Justice Department announced today. Boston Scientific acquired Guidant, a medical device manufacturer, in 2006.
“Medicare patients who depend on cardiac defibrillators should not have to worry about whether their devices will work when they are needed,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This settlement, along with the prior criminal prosecution of Guidant, demonstrates that there will be significant consequences when companies engage in conduct that threatens health and safety and violates the law.”
The Guidant devices at issue are implantable defibrillators, used in patients at risk of cardiac arrest due to an irregular heartbeat. The devices are surgically implanted into patients’ chests, and when the devices detect an irregular heartbeat, they send an electrical pulse to the heart to “shock” it back to its normal rhythm. The government’s complaint alleged that two lines of implantable cardiac devices manufactured and sold by Guidant, known as the Prizm 2 and the Renewal 1 and 2, contained a defect that resulted in “arcing.” Arcing occurs when the device detects the irregular heartbeat and delivers a shock, but instead of the current traveling to the heart, the current “arcs” back to the device itself. This causes the device to short circuit, rendering the device ineffective.
The government alleged that Guidant learned as early as April 2002 that the Prizm was defective, and as early as November 2003 that the Renewal 1 and 2 were similarly defective. Nevertheless, although Guidant took corrective action to fix the defects, the company continued to sell its remaining stock of the old, defective versions of the devices. The government alleged further that, as Guidant learned about the cause of the defect, it took steps to hide the problem from patients, doctors and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead of disclosing the problem, Guidant issued a misleading communication to doctors regarding the nature of the defect and did not fully disclose the problem with the devices to doctors and the FDA until May 2005, after first being contacted by a New York Times reporter. Subsequently, the company recalled the devices after a front-page article about the defects appeared in The New York Times.
“The United States is fortunate that innovative health care companies regularly develop and market remarkable medical devices that improve patients’ lives,” said John R. Marti, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. “But in this case, Guidant valued profits more than patient safety by selling defective cardiac defibrillators. This office, along with several other components within the U.S. Department of Justice, will continue to vigorously investigate and take appropriate action against health care companies that place public safety at risk.”
In February 2010, Guidant pleaded guilty to criminal charges of misleading the FDA and failing to submit a labeling change to the FDA relating to the defective devices. In 2011, the government joined a lawsuit filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by James Allen, who had received one of the defective devices. Under the Act, a private citizen, known as a “relator,” can sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. As part of the resolution, Allen will receive $2.25 million.
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 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. 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 $16.7 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $11.9 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.
This matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and Office of General Counsel and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and Office of Chief Counsel.
Except for the conduct admitted in connection with the criminal plea, the claims resolved today are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. The civil case is United States ex rel. Allen v. Guidant LLC et al., No. 11-CV-22 (D. Minn.).
Leader of Canada Based Debit Card Skimming Ring Sentenced to 5 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
A Canadian caught with more than 2600 stolen debit card numbers on his laptop computer was sentenced to five years in prison for access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. DENNIS NGUYEN, of Vancouver, B.C. Canada was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman on October 4, 2013. NGUYEN was arrested in February 2013, after he traveled to Seattle to meet with some of the conspirators he used to make cash withdrawals using the stolen debit card numbers. The investigation revealed the numbers had been stolen using “skimming” devices surreptitiously attached to point of sale machines in coffee shops in Vancouver, BC.
The investigation revealed that NGUYEN directed various co-conspirators who would take the debit cards he manufactured with the stolen information and conduct rapid cash withdrawals from customer accounts at various ATMs in and around Seattle and Everett. When two of the co-conspirators were arrested, law enforcement seized a bag containing $77,140 in cash, 460 counterfeit cards, seven burner cell phones, a cash counting machine, a magnetic card strip encoder, a label printer, and miscellaneous supplies associated with the mass card skimming operation. When NGUYEN was arrested, his laptop computer, which he brought from British Columbia, contained over 2,600 bank card numbers linked to approximately 100 different financial institutions, both foreign and American. Of those card numbers, approximately 463 were connected to fraudulent cards previously recovered in the case.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven Masada.
Two New Jersey Investors Plead Guilty for Their Roles in Bid-rigging Schemes at Municipal Tax Lien AuctionsRead the Press Release
Two financial investors who purchased municipal tax liens pleaded guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions conducted by New Jersey municipalities for the sale of those tax liens, the Department of Justice announced.
A felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Robert U. Del Vecchio Sr., of Hawthorne, N.J. According to the charge, from in or about 2000 until approximately December 2008, Del Vecchio Sr. participated in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions for the sale of municipal tax liens in New Jersey by agreeing to allocate among certain bidders which liens each would bid on. Additionally, a felony charge was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Michael Mastellone, of Cedar Knolls, N.J. for participating in a similar conspiracy from in or about 2000 until approximately February 2009. The department said that Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone proceeded to submit bids in accordance with the agreements and purchased tax liens at collusive and non-competitive interest rates.
“By conspiring to rig the bids of municipal tax liens, the conspirators profited at the expense of those already struggling financially,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Protecting Americans from these types of bid-rigging schemes remains a high priority for the division.”
The department said the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition in order to obtain selected municipal tax liens offered at public auctions at non-competitive interest rates. When the owner of real property fails to pay taxes on that property, the municipality in which the property is located may attach a lien for the amount of the unpaid taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid after a waiting period, the lien may be sold at auction. State law requires that investors bid on the interest rate delinquent property owners will pay upon redemption. By law, the bid opens at 18 percent interest and, through a competitive bidding process, can be driven down to zero percent. If a lien remains unpaid after a certain period of time, the investor who purchased the lien may begin foreclosure proceedings against the property to which the lien is attached.
According to the court documents, Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone were involved in the conspiracy with others not to bid against one another at municipal tax lien auctions in New Jersey. Since the conspiracy permitted the conspirators to purchase tax liens with limited competition, each conspirator was able to obtain liens which earned a higher interest rate. Property owners were therefore made to pay higher interest on their tax debts than they would have paid had their liens been purchased in open and honest competition, the department said.
A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for a Sherman Act violation may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than the $1 million statutory maximum.
Today’s pleas are the 13th and 14th guilty pleas resulting from an ongoing investigation into bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions. Nine individuals – Isadore H. May, Richard J. Pisciotta Jr., William A. Collins, Robert W. Stein, David M. Farber, Robert E. Rothman, Stephen E. Hruby, David Butler and Norman T. Remick – and three companies – DSBD LLC, Crusader Servicing Corp. and Mercer S.M.E. Inc. – have previously pleaded guilty as part of this investigation.
Today’s charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York Office and the FBI’s Atlantic City, N.J., office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s New York Office at 212-335-8000, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm or contact the Atlantic City Resident Agency of the FBI at 609-677-6400.
Pennsylvania Man Admits Conspiring with Alleged Members of Organized Crime Family and Others in Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A Pennsylvania man today admitted he conspired to defraud FIRSTPLUS Financial Group Inc. (FPFG), a Texas-based financial services company allegedly targeted for extortionate takeover and looting by a group led by alleged Lucchese organized crime family member Nicodemo S. Scarfo.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey made the announcement.
Cory Leshner, 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in a federal court in Camden, N.J., to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces a maximum of five years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 17, 2014.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Leshner and 12 others – including Scarfo, an alleged member of the Lucchese La Cosa Nostra (LCN) crime family, and Salvatore Pelullo, an alleged associate of the Lucchese and Philadelphia LCN families – were variously charged in a November 2011 indictment with a racketeering conspiracy that included acts of securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The indictment charged that FPFG was targeted for extortionate takeover and looting by a group of the conspirators. A substantial part of the enterprise’s activities occurred in New Jersey, including communications and the transfer of money into and out of the state. Cory Leshner admitted that he joined the conspiracy in April 2007.Leshner admitted that he assisted Scarfo and Pelullo in managing family trusts and limited liability companies as part of the scheme to defraud FPFG. Pelullo directed Leshner in the use of various bank accounts through which Pelullo received hundreds of thousands of dollars between July 2007 and April 2008 as part of the scheme. The money involved proceeds of the fraud that Pelullo allegedly received as part of a fraudulent “consulting” agreement between his shell company, Seven Hills Management, and codefendant William Maxwell, a Texas attorney who served as “special counsel” to FPFG as part of the scheme. The money also involved proceeds received from the fraudulent sale of Scarfo and Pelullo’s worthless companies to FPFG in 2007. The receipt of the fraudulent proceeds often occurred in the form of wire transfers from accounts in Pennsylvania to accounts in New Jersey.
According to his court statements, Leshner was a law student during the scheme. Leshner graduated from law school in 2009 and became an attorney in Pennsylvania in 2011. As part of his plea agreement, Leshner agreed to notify the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of his guilty plea and to accept any disciplinary action brought by disciplinary officials as a result of the guilty plea and sentence. Leshner also agreed to not seek the reinstatement of his license to practice law while serving any sentence of imprisonment imposed in the case.
Scarfo, Pelullo, and five other defendants charged in November 2011 – including attorneys William Maxwell, David Adler, Gary McCarthy, and Donald Manno, as well as John Maxwell – are scheduled for trial beginning Oct. 28, 2013. Todd Stark, also charged in the indictment, previously pleaded guilty to providing ammunition to Scarfo and Pelullo, convicted felons.
This case was investigated by the FBI; the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Adam Small of the Organized Crime and Gang Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven D’Aguanno and Howard Wiener of the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit and Criminal Division in Camden.
With respect to the defendants awaiting trial, the charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
North Carolina Businessman Sentenced for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
William Robert Hupman Jr., of Mebane, N.C., was sentenced to serve 17 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for tax fraud today, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Hupman was also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of $103,420.
Hupman pleaded guilty on May 31, 2013, to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct or impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws. According to court documents and court proceedings, Hupman managed and controlled Security Concepts LLC (SC), a security alarm company based in Mebane, N.C. Instead of receiving a salary from SC, Hupman received income by using an SC debit card to pay his expenses. Despite receiving over $770,000 in such fees between 2007 and 2011, Hupman has not filed an individual income tax return since tax year 2006.
Court documents indicate that in addition to his failure to comply with his personal income tax responsibilities, Hupman also failed to comply with his employment tax responsibilities at SC. As the person who managed and controlled SC, Hupman was responsible for withholding employment taxes and paying them over to the IRS on a periodic basis. SC last paid over employment taxes and filed the required tax form for the third quarter of 2009, despite the fact that employment taxes were actually withheld from the wages of SC employees. Hupman did not pay employment taxes or file the required tax form for the fourth quarter of 2009 or any of the quarters in 2010 and 2011. He also has not paid the federal unemployment taxes owed or filed the required tax form for years 2009, 2010 or 2011. According to court documents and court proceedings, the criminal tax loss was $103,420.
Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked Special Agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Todd Ellinwood and Kevin Lombardi for prosecuting the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/tax .
Justice Department to File Lawsuit Against the State of North Carolina to Stop Discriminatory Changes to Voting LawRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it intends to file a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and the Executive Director for the State Board of Elections over recent voting changes made by North Carolina House Bill 589, which was signed into law in August 2013. The United States’ complaint challenges provisions of House Bill 589 under the non-discrimination requirements of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
"By restricting access and ease of voter participation, this new law would shrink, rather than expand, access to the franchise,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Allowing limits on voting rights that disproportionately exclude minority voters would be inconsistent with our ideals as a nation. Whenever warranted by the facts and the law, the department will not hesitate to use the tools and legal authorities at our disposal to fight against racial discrimination, to stand against disenfranchisement, and to safeguard the right of every eligible American to cast a ballot."
The United States’ complaint contends that at least four provisions of House Bill 589 were adopted with the purpose, and will have the result, of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. The complaint asks the court to prohibit North Carolina from enforcing these requirements, and also requests that the court order bail-in relief under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act. If granted, this would subject North Carolina to a new preclearance requirement.
House Bill 589 imposes a number of restrictions on voting that will deny or abridge the right of minority voters to participate in the political process. Over the years, voter participation rates in North Carolina have steadily increased as the state adopted election practices and procedures that made voting more accessible to more voters. In the November 2008 and November 2012 general elections, for example, African-American voters dramatically increased their participation rates and heavily relied on early voting in North Carolina. In the November 2008 and November 2012 general elections, about 71 percent of all African Americans who cast ballots in North Carolina during those elections voted during the early voting period.
Although the prior system encouraged expanded voter participation, the state legislature chose in 2013 to adopt numerous barriers to voting and to eliminate voter-friendly practices. Additionally, the state waited to adopt many of these changes until after the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which held that certain jurisdictions, including 40 counties in North Carolina, were no longer required to obtain preclearance of voting changes prior to their implementation.
The complaint cites several provisions of House Bill 589. In particular, it cites: the elimination of the first week of early voting, which reduces the total number of days of early voting (from 17 days to 10 days); the elimination of same-day voter registration during the early voting period; the prohibition on counting certain provisional ballots; and the failure to provide adequate safeguards for voters who lack the limited types of acceptable photo identification cards that will be required in future elections. The first three changes are scheduled to take effect in 2014, and the last change will take effect in 2016.
Based on the state’s own data, all four changes will have a discriminatory impact on minority voters, who disproportionately have relied on the first seven days of early voting, the same-day registration process and past practices regarding the counting of certain provisional ballots in order to participate in the elections process. In addition, the State Board of Elections released a report earlier this year showing that African-Americans disproportionately lacked photo identification cards issued by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Despite knowledge of this report, the legislature adopted a strict photo identification requirement that lacks the types of protections for voters without identification that are common in other states that require voter identification. Minority voters will disproportionately face obstacles and barriers to obtaining certain permitted photo identification cards that are now required to vote, and the State has failed to provide adequate protections to ensure that these voters will not be disenfranchised by the new law.
“The right to vote is one of the sacred rights that we hold dear as a nation,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will use all the tools it has available to ensure that each citizen can cast a ballot free from discrimination. North Carolina adopted these changes in a rushed process, despite evidence before the legislators that a number of these changes will harm minority voters.”
“The United States Attorneys for all three districts in North Carolina support today’s action to protect the rights of all eligible North Carolinians to exercise the right to vote free from discrimination,” said United States Attorney Ripley Rand of the Middle District of North Carolina. “Anne Tompkins of the Western District, Thomas Walker of the Eastern District and I will ensure that our respective offices provide whatever support and assistance is needed to pursue this important voting rights case.”
If the federal court in this case finds that the State of North Carolina should be covered by Section 3(c), then the state would be required to submit voting changes to the U.S. Attorney General or to the federal court for review prior to implementation, to ensure that the changes do not have a discriminatory effect or a discriminatory purpose.
More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot. Complaints about discriminatory voting practices may be reported to the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.
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Complaint
Justice Department Sues Cleveland Landlord for Discriminating Against Families with ChildrenRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the manager and owner of the Linden House Apartments in Cleveland for refusing to rent apartments to families with children in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio names the management company responsible for Linden House Apartments, Zaremba Management Company Inc., the manager of Linden House Apartments, Katrina Ivanskis and the owner of the property, Linden Apartment Company. It alleges that Zaremba and Ivanskis maintained a policy of refusing to rent units at Linden House to families with children. It also alleges that the Linden House has a policy of evicting tenants or asking tenants to relocate if they have children while living at Linden House.
“Fighting illegal discrimination in housing is a top priority of the Justice Department,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “We will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act to ensure families are not denied the home of their choice because they have children.”
The lawsuit seeks an order prohibiting the defendants from engaging in future unlawful discrimination. It also seeks the payment of a civil penalty and monetary damages for the persons who were refused the opportunity to rent at Linden House because of familial status, or who were asked to leave Linden House because of familial status.
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 at Linden House or have other information related to this lawsuit can call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743 or e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected]. Individuals who believe they have experienced housing discrimination elsewhere can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743 or [email protected] or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must be proven in federal court.
Justice Department Settles with South Carolina Department of Corrections to End Discrimination Against Inmates with HIVRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) and its director, to resolve alleged violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). The agreement, filed today along with a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, resolves the department’s investigation of SCDC policies and practices of segregating inmates with HIV/AIDS (HIV) and denying them the opportunity to participate equally in services, programs and activities.
The department’s investigation found that, under policies implemented in the late 1990s, SCDC unnecessarily segregates all inmates with HIV in two of SCDC’s highest security prisons, regardless of their individual security classification. There are currently approximately 350 male and female inmates with HIV who are segregated in SCDC’s highest security prisons solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status. SCDC further segregates inmates with HIV to “HIV-only” dorms in these two high security prisons and the inmates are required to wear clothing and badges that identify their dorms and effectively disclose their HIV status to other inmates, correctional staff and visitors. Because certain programs are not provided at the two prisons, inmates with HIV are unable to participate in a variety of SCDC’s programs, such as drug treatment, work release, pre-release preparation, intermediate psychiatric care and SCDC jobs that are available to other inmates without HIV.
“With this consent decree, SCDC joins 49 other state correctional systems that recognize that individuals with HIV are entitled to equal treatment under the law. Science and longstanding experience have demonstrated that HIV, alone, is not a basis for segregation from the general population without an individualized assessment of the inmate’s circumstances,” said Jocelyn Samuels Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, “We applaud SCDC’s efforts to close this final chapter of illegal segregation of inmates based on HIV and, to instead commit to the integration of current and future inmates with HIV, based on their individual circumstances, individualized assessment and classification level.”
“I am proud that this office had the opportunity to work with the Department of Justice and the state of South Carolina in addressing this issue,” said William Nettles, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. “This consent decree will put us all on the right side of history.”
Title II of the ADA and Section 504 prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities, including people with HIV. Discrimination includes unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities as well as excluding people with disabilities from programs or providing unequal access to people with disabilities. While Title II of the ADA provides that public entities, such as correctional institutions, may impose legitimate safety requirements necessary for the safe operation of their services, programs or activities, the requirements must be based on actual risks, not on mere speculation, stereotypes, or generalizations about people with disabilities. The Department of Justice found that SCDC’s segregation policies were based on generalizations and stereotypes about HIV, not on actual risks. No other U.S. state prison system continues to segregate inmates based solely on their HIV positive status; in fact, a court recently invalidated an Alabama policy that, similar to that of South Carolina, segregated inmates with HIV from the general population.
Under the terms of the consent decree, SCDC and its director will implement policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, including HIV in particular. SCDC will revoke all policies that separate or segregate inmates with HIV, solely on the basis of HIV and regardless of security classification status. Additionally, inmates with HIV who are currently housed in the SCDC’s two high security prisons will have an opportunity to choose new housing options based on the SCDC’s classification system and without regard to HIV.
SCDC inmates with HIV will also have the opportunity to participate in any programs for which they are otherwise qualified such as drug treatment, work release, pre-release preparation, intermediate psychiatric care, youthful offender programs, re-entry and food service jobs in the cafeteria and canteen. Inmates with HIV who have already been segregated and denied such opportunities will be given priority access to those programs under a plan to be developed by SCDC.
To read the consent decree and complaint or for more information on the ADA and HIV, visit www.ada.gov/aids . Those interested in finding out more about this settlement or the obligations of public entities under the ADA may call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov . ADA complaints may be filed by email to [email protected] .
Justice Department Reaches Fair Lending Settlement with Chevy Chase Bank Resulting in $2.85 Million in Relief for HomeownersRead the Press Release
The Justice Department filed a settlement agreement and order today that resolved allegations that Chevy Chase Bank F.S.B. engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in its home mortgage lending from 2006 through 2009.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, was filed in conjunction with the Justice Department’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The complaint alleges that Chevy Chase Bank charged elevated prices on mortgage loans made to African-American and Hispanic borrowers in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Chevy Chase Bank was purchased in 2009 by Capital One, N.A. and Capital One is its successor in interest. The United States’ claims relate solely to loans originated by Chevy Chase Bank and do not relate to any mortgage lending practices of Capital One.
“This settlement ensures that African-American and Hispanic borrowers who paid more for their mortgages as a result of Chevy Chase Bank’s actions will be properly compensated,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend Capital One for working cooperatively with the Justice Department to reach this agreement.”
The lawsuit originated from a 2010 referral by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Every loan applicant should be evaluated on objective factors, and not on the basis of the color of their skin, so we are pleased that these illegal loan pricing practices are being remedied,” said Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry. “The OCC is committed to continuing to work with the Department of Justice and our other federal partners on an interagency basis to ensure fair treatment for everyone in the credit markets.”
Under the proposed settlement, Capital One will pay $2.85 million to approximately 3,100 African-American and Hispanic victims of discrimination. The settlement requires borrowers who are eligible for compensation to be notified and provides for monitoring of the compensation process by the department.
“Our office stands committed to ensuring justice and compensation to those who are victims of unfair lending practices,” said Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Through our partnership with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and our membership on the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, we remain steadfastly committed to engaging in this important work.”
The Justice Department’s enforcement of fair lending laws is conducted by the Fair Lending Unit of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in the Civil Right Division. Since the Fair Lending Unit was established in February 2010, it has filed or resolved 28 lending matters under the Fair Housing Act, ECOA, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The settlements in these matters provide for a minimum of $660 million in monetary relief for impacted communities and more than 300,000 individual borrowers. The Attorney General’s annual reports to Congress subject to ECOA highlight the department’s accomplishments in fair lending and are available at www.justice.gov/crt/publications .
The Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the OCC 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 Justice Department, can be obtained from the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov/fairhousing .
Justice Department Files Sexual Harassment Lawsuit in Michigan Against Owners and Property Manager of Alger Meadow ApartmentsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced it has filed a lawsuit today in the federal district court for the Western District of Michigan against the owners and manager of Alger Meadow Apartments in Grand Rapids, Mich., alleging that the manager has sexually harassed tenants in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit alleges that Dale VanderVennen, manager at Alger Meadow Apartments, has sexually harassed female residents at the complex. The complaint alleges that such harassment has included unwelcome sexual advances, touching female residents without their consent, entering the apartments of female residents without permission and notice, granting and denying tangible housing benefits based on sex; and taking adverse actions against female tenants when they refused his sexual advances.
"No person should be subject to sexual harassment in their own home, especially when that harassment comes from someone who holds the key to the front door," said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
“This office is committed to addressing civil rights violations and enforcing federal civil rights law” said Patrick A. Miles, Jr. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. “Women should not face this type of discrimination and harassment when making housing choices.”
The suit also names as defendants the owners and/or managers of Alger Meadow Apartments: Jack VanderVennen, Linda VanderVennen, DDJ Rental Real Estate LLC, Calcutta Associates LLC, and LLJ LLC .
The suit seeks monetary damages to compensate the victims, a civil penalty and a court order barring future discrimination.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination at Alger Meadows or have other information about this matter can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, option 5, or e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected] . Persons who believe that they have experienced unlawful housing discrimination elsewhere can contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, or e-mail [email protected] , or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.
The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must be proven in federal court.
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Ruston, La.Public Housing Authority Alleging Race Discrimination in Housing PracticesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that it has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Housing Authority for the City of Ruston, La., has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American tenants, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act. The Ruston Housing Authority is a public housing authority that provides housing for persons of low income in Ruston. Currently, the Ruston Housing Authority owns and maintains five housing complexes in Ruston.
The complaint alleges that the Ruston Housing Authority maintained a racially segregated housing authority by steering and assigning applicants to its five complexes based on race, rather than in order of their placement on the Ruston Housing Authority’s waiting list. The complaint also alleges that the Ruston Housing Authority’s discriminatory assignment practices have harmed dozens of applicants and tenants who were assigned to segregated housing or delayed housing because of their race.
“Access to housing free from racial discrimination is everyone’s right, including those who seek public housing assistance,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The department will continue its vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.”
“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to addressing unlawful discriminatory practices and enforcing anti-discrimination laws,” said Stephanie A. Finley, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. “Today’s filing is an example of our continuing efforts to end discrimination.”
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line 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.
Former Project Manager Convicted for Role in Conspiracy Schemes Involving Two EPA Superfund Sites in New JerseyRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON — A New Jersey jury convicted a former project manager for his central role in conspiracies that spanned seven years and involved kickbacks in excess of $1.5 million at two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. The jury returned guilty verdicts on 10 counts charged in the indictment against Gordon D. McDonald, which was filed on Aug. 31, 2009.
In addition to today’s conviction, to date, eight individuals and three companies have pleaded guilty to charges arising out of this investigation.
After a two-week trial, McDonald, a former project manager for a prime contractor, was convicted of engaging in separate bid-rigging, kickback and/or fraud conspiracies with three subcontractors at two New Jersey Superfund sites – Federal Creosote in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali in Newark, N.J. He was also convicted of engaging in an international money laundering scheme, major fraud against the United States, accepting illegal kickbacks, committing two tax violations and obstruction of justice. The various conspiracies took place at different time periods from approximately December 2000 until approximately April 2007. McDonald was acquitted on counts eight and nine involving certain fraud and kickback charges.
“Today’s guilty verdict sends a clear message that corrupt purchasing officials will be held accountable for engaging in fraudulent schemes designed to undermine the government’s competitive contracting practices,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division is committed to ensuring there is fair play and competition in our markets.”
As part of the conspiracies, McDonald and co-conspirators at his former company accepted kickbacks from sub-contractors in exchange for the award of sub-contracts at Federal Creosote. McDonald provided co-conspirators at Bennett Environmental Inc., a Canadian-based company that treats and disposes of contaminated soil, with bid prices of their competitors, which allowed them to submit higher bid prices and still be awarded the sub-contracts. In exchange for McDonald’s assistance, Bennett Environmental, Inc. provided him with over $1.5 million in kickback payments.
According to court documents, McDonald also accepted kickbacks in exchange for the award of sub-contracts at the Federal Creosote and Diamond Alkali sites from the owner of JMJ Environmental Inc., a wastewater treatment and chemical supply company, and the co-owner of National Industrial Supply LLC, an industrial pipes supplier. He participated in a conspiracy with the owner of JMJ and co-conspirators to rig bids and allocate sub-contracts at inflated prices for wastewater treatment supplies and services at Federal Creosote.
The cleanup at Federal Creosote was primarily funded by the EPA. An interagency agreement between the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designated that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hire the prime contractors at Federal Creosote. According to a settlement with the EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Tierra Solutions was required to fund remedial action and maintenance of Diamond Alkali. Tierra Solutions hired the prime contractor for the remedial action and maintenance of Diamond Alkali.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2014, before Judge Susan D. Wigenton. To date, more than $6 million in criminal fines and restitution have been imposed, and five individuals have been sentenced to serve more than 10 years in total prison time.
Today’s conviction is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York Office, the EPA Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, kickbacks, tax offenses or fraud relating to subcontracts awarded at the Federal Creosote Superfund site or Diamond Alkali Superfund site should contact the Antitrust Division’s New York Office at 212-335-8000 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.Former Owner of Los Angeles Medical Equipment Supply Company Indicted in $4 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A former owner of a Los Angeles medical equipment supply company has been indicted for allegedly engaging in a $4 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman 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 Los Angeles Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
Valery Bogomolny, 41, of Los Angeles, Calif., was indicted in the Central District of California on six counts of health care fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon conviction. Bogomolny was taken into custody on Sept. 27, 2013, and the indictment was unsealed following his initial appearance in federal court that afternoon.
According to court documents, Bogomolny was the owner and president of Royal Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company located in Los Angeles. From approximately January 2006 through October 2009, he allegedly engaged in a scheme to commit health care fraud through the operation of Royal by providing medically unnecessary power wheelchairs and other DME to Medicare beneficiaries and submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. Court documents allege that Bogomolny knew the prescriptions and medical documents were fraudulent and that some of the beneficiaries did not receive the DME, yet he certified to Medicare with the submission of each claim that the DME was received and was medically necessary.
Bogomolny, through Royal, allegedly submitted approximately $4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for power wheelchairs and related services, and Medicare paid Royal approximately $2.7 million on those claims.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG 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 Central District of California. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Fred Medick of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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.
Former Owner of Los Angeles Medical Clinic Management Company Indicted in $13 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
The former owner of a Los Angeles medical clinic management company has been indicted for his role in a $13 million scheme to defraud Medicare.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California, and Assistant Director in Charge Bill L. Lewis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
Mikran “Mike” Meguerian, 36, of Glendale, Calif., was indicted in the Central District of California on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and five counts of health care fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon conviction. Meguerian was arrested on Sept. 26, 2013, and the indictment was unsealed following his initial appearance in federal court on Sept. 27, 2013.
According to court documents, Meguerian owned Med Serve Management, a medical clinic management company located in Van Nuys, Calif. From approximately 2006 through February 2009, he allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in part through the operation of Med Serve. According to court documents, Meguerian oversaw several medical clinics that generated prescriptions and other medical documents for medically unnecessary power wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment (DME). Meguerian and his co-conspirators then sold the prescriptions to DME supply companies, knowing that the prescriptions were fraudulent. Court documents allege that, based on these fraudulent prescriptions, the DME supply companies then submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Court documents allege that fraudulent prescriptions from Meguerian’s clinics were instrumental in generating approximately $13.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid approximately $7.6 on those claims.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by 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 Central District of California. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Fred Medick and Blanca Quintero of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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.
Former Employee of Florida Property Management Company Sentenced to Serve Time in Prison for Wire FraudRead the Press Release
A former residential sales manager of a Florida property management company was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in Orlando, for his participation in a wire fraud scheme involving housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Justice announced.
Ryan J. Piana pleaded guilty on July 16, 2013, to two wire fraud counts of a 10-count indictment. In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. also sentenced Piana to pay $147,285 in restitution to the VA.
The indictment, originally filed in January 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in Rockford, charged Piana, Ronald B. Hurst and Bryant A. Carbonell with conspiring to commit bribery and wire fraud from beginning at least as early as January 2006 continuing until as late as September 2007. Piana, Hurst and Carbonell were also charged with bribery and wire fraud. As part of the plea agreement, the United States agreed to dismiss the remaining counts against Piana at the time of his sentencing.“Steering contracts to a company in return for kickbacks distorts the competitive process and harms consumers,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division will not tolerate anticompetitive activity that defrauds the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Piana is a former residential sales manager at West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, and Hurst and Carbonell are former contractors for Ocwen. According to court documents, Ocwen managed foreclosed properties under contract with the VA, which guaranteed qualifying residential mortgages for veterans. Under the contract between the VA and Ocwen, if a veteran defaulted, Ocwen completed necessary repairs and re-sold the property. Proceeds from the re-sale of VA-acquired properties directly benefit the VA by reducing the cost of guaranteeing residential mortgages to veterans.
According to the charges, Hurst and Carbonell paid Piana to steer housing repair work to companies affiliated with Hurst and Carbonell. Piana recruited other Ocwen employees into the scheme and paid them on behalf of himself and the other conspirators. The department said in order to execute the scheme, the conspirators sent, or caused to be sent, various transmissions via wire communication.
Carbonell pleaded guilty to the wire fraud counts on Sept. 21, 2012. Hurst pleaded guilty to the same counts on Feb. 15, 2013. Both Hurst and Carbonell entered their guilty pleas in the U.S. District Court in Rockford. Their sentencing dates are scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6, 2013, respectively.
This is the third case involving properties managed by Ocwen under contract with the VA. On Dec. 3, 2010, Benjamin K. Graves, also a former Ocwen employee, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Orlando to wire fraud in connection with the VA contract. On Jan. 25, 2012, Joshua R. Nusbaum, another a former Ocwen employee, and Andrew J. Nusbaum, a former Ocwen contractor, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Orlando to wire fraud in connection with the same VA contract.
The sentence announced today resulted from an ongoing federal investigation of housing repair contracts performed under contract with the VA. The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the Central Field Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigations Division, located in Hines, Ill. Anyone with information concerning suspicious activity relating to housing repairs performed under a contract with the VA should contact the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office at 312-353-7530 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.Departamento de Justicia Llega a Acuerdo Conciliatorio Sobre Otorgamiento Justo de Préstamos Con Chevy Chase Bank que Genera 2.85 Millones de Dólares en Remedio Judicial para los Propietarios de ViviendasRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia presentó un acuerdo conciliatorio y orden hoy que resolvieron alegatos de que Chevy Chase Bank F.S.B. exhibió un patrón o práctica de discriminación contra prestatarios calificados afroestadounidenses o hispanos en sus préstamos hipotecarios para la vivienda desde el 2006 hasta el 2009.
El acuerdo conciliatorio, que está sujeto a aprobación del tribunal, fue presentado junto con la demanda del Departamento de Justicia en el Tribunal Federal de Distrito del Distrito Este de Virginia. La demanda alega que Chevy Chase Bank cobró precios elevados en préstamos hipotecarios hechos a prestatarios afroestadounidenses e hispanos en violación con la Ley de Vivienda Justa [Fair Housing Act (FHA)] y la Ley de Igualdad de Oportunidades de Crédito [Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)]. Chevy Chase Bank fue adquirido en 2009 por Capital One, N.A., y Capital One es su sucesor en interés. Las reclamaciones de los Estados Unidos se relacionan únicamente con préstamos originados por Chevy Chase Bank y no se relacionan con ninguna práctica de préstamos hipotecarios de Capital One.
"Este acuerdo conciliatorio asegura que los prestatarios afroestadounidenses e hispanos que pagaron más por sus hipotecas como resultado de las acciones de Chevy Chase Bank sean compensados correctamente", dijo Jocelyn Samuels, Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Interina de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento. "Felicitamos a Capital One por trabajar en cooperación con el Departamento de Justicia para llegar a este acuerdo".
La demanda se originó en una remisión del 2010 a la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia por parte de la Oficina del Controlador de la Moneda [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)].
"Todos los solicitantes de préstamos deben ser evaluados según factores objetivos, no según el color de su piel, por lo tanto, nos complace que se estén remediando estas prácticas ilegales de fijación de precios de préstamos", dijo el Controlador de la Moneda Thomas J. Curry. "La OCC está comprometida a seguir trabajando con el Departamento de Justicia y nuestros otros asociados federales a nivel interagencial para garantizar el tratamiento justo de todos los participantes en los mercados crediticios".
Bajo el acuerdo conciliatorio propuesto, Capital One pagará 2.85 millones de dólares a aproximadamente 3,100 víctimas de discriminación afroestadounidenses e hispanas. El acuerdo conciliatorio exige que se notifique a los prestatarios elegibles para recibir compensación y establece el monitoreo del proceso de compensación por parte del departamento.
"Nuestra oficina sigue comprometida a garantizar la justicia y la compensación a quienes son víctima de prácticas injustas en los préstamos", dijo Dana J. Boente, Fiscal Federal Interina para el Distrito Este de Virginia. "A través de nuestra asociación con la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia y nuestra participación como miembros en la Fuerza de Tarea de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero, seguimos comprometidos firmemente a realizar esta labor tan importante".
La coacción asociada a las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos por parte del Departamento de Justicia es llevada a cabo por la Unidad de Préstamos Justos de la Sección de Vivienda y Cumplimiento de la Ley Civil de la División de Derechos Civiles. Desde que se estableció la Unidad de Préstamos Justos en febrero del 2010, ésta ha entablado o resuelto 28 casos de préstamos bajo la Ley de Vivienda Justa, la ECOA y la Ley de Alivio Civil para los Miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas [Servicemembers Civil Relief Act]. Los acuerdos conciliatorios en estos casos proveen un mínimo de 660 millones de dólares en asistencia monetaria para comunidades impactadas y más de 300,000 prestatarios individuales. Los informes anuales del Secretario de Justicia de EE.UU. al Congreso abajo ECOA destacan los logros del Departamento en el otorgamiento de préstamos justos y están disponibles en www.justice.gov/crt/publications/.
La División de Derechos Civiles, la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Este de Virginia y la OCC son miembros de la Fuerza de Tarea de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero. El Presidente Obama fundó la Fuerza de Tarea de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero para generar una iniciativa enérgica, coordinada y proactiva para investigar y enjuiciar los delitos financieros. La fuerza de tarea incluye a representantes de una amplia gama de agencias federales, autoridades regulatorias, inspectores generales y fuerzas del orden público estatales y locales quienes, trabajando juntos, ponen en uso un conjunto poderoso de recursos de coacción penal y civil. La fuerza de tarea está trabajando para mejorar las iniciativas en todo el poder ejecutivo federal y, junto con asociados estatales y locales, investigar y enjuiciar delitos financieros importantes, garantizar un castigo justo y eficaz para quienes cometen delitos financieros, combatir la discriminación en los mercados de préstamos y financieros, y recuperar ganancias para las víctimas de delitos financieros. Para obtener más información sobre la fuerza de tarea, visite www.StopFraud.gov.
Para obtener una copia de la demanda, así como también información adicional sobre la labor del Departamento de Justicia para hacer valer las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos, visite el portal del Departamento de Justicia en www.justice.gov/fairhousing.
Two Miami-area Residents Indicted for Alleged Roles <br /> in $190 Million Medicare Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Two Miami-area residents were indicted in connection with their alleged participation in a $190 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement after the indictment was unsealed.
Mayelin Santoyo, 28, and Jose Martin Olivares, 36, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive illegal health care kickbacks, and two counts of receiving health care kickbacks. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction.
According to the indictment, the scheme that Santoyo and Olivares allegedly participated in lasted from approximately February 2006 to October 2010. The scheme was orchestrated by the owners and operators of American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC) and its management company, Medlink Professional Management Group Inc. (Medlink). ATC and Medlink were Florida corporations headquartered in Miami. ATC operated purported partial hospitalization programs (PHPs), a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness, in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando. Both corporations have been defunct since their owners were arrested in October 2010.
The indictment alleges that Santoyo and Olivares served as patient brokers who provided ineligible patients to ATC in exchange for kickbacks in the form of checks and cash. The amount of the kickback was based on the number of days each recruited patient spent at ATC. Throughout the course of the ATC conspiracy, millions of dollars in kickbacks were paid in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries who did not qualify for PHP services and who attended treatment programs that were not legitimate PHPs so that ATC could bill Medicare for the medically unnecessary services. According to court filings, to obtain the cash required to support the kickbacks, the co-conspirators laundered millions of dollars of payments from Medicare.
ATC, Medlink, and various owners, managers, doctors, therapists, patient brokers and marketers of ATC and Medlink have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial. In September 2011, ATC owner Lawrence Duran was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in orchestrating and executing the scheme to defraud Medicare.
The charges and allegations contained 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 and HHS-OIG, 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 Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Anne P. McNamara and Robert A. Zink of the Fraud Section.
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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 Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.New Guidance Supports Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity in Higher EducationRead the Press Release
Today, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education released new guidance that provides colleges and universities with information about the ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin, and reiterates the Departments’ position on the voluntary use of race to achieve diversity in higher education. The guidance is the first time the Departments have provided policy clarification on the use of race in higher education since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June.
The guidance explains that the court preserved the well-established legal principle that colleges and universities have a compelling interest in achieving the educational benefits that flow from a racially and ethnically diverse student body and can pursue that interest in their admissions programs if they do so in lawful ways. The educational benefits of diversity, long recognized by the court and affirmed in research and practice, include cross-racial understanding and dialogue, the reduction of racial isolation and the breaking down of racial stereotypes.
“The educational benefits of diversity are critically important to the future of this nation,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in response to the Supreme Court ruling in June. “As the Court has repeatedly recognized, diverse student enrollment promotes understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, enables students to better understand people of different races, and prepares all students to succeed in, and eventually lead, an increasingly diverse workforce and society.”
“As the Court has repeatedly recognized, a diverse student enrollment promotes cross-racial understanding and dialogue, reduces racial isolation, and helps to break down stereotypes,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in response to the Supreme Court ruling in June. “This is critical for the future of our country because racially diverse educational environments help to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly diverse workforce and society.”
The Departments of Justice and Education strongly support diversity in higher education. Racially diverse educational environments help to prepare students to succeed in our increasingly diverse nation. The future workforce of America must be able to transcend the boundaries of race, language and culture as our economy becomes more globally interconnected.
In 2011, the Departments issued “Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity in Postsecondary Education” and the related “Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools.” Both guidance documents remain in effect after the Fisher decision and are available at www.ed.gov and www.usdoj.gov .
At a panel discussion this morning at the U.S. Department of Justice, higher education leaders will join Catherine E. Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education, and Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Justice, to discuss the new guidance, the importance of creating and supporting diversity on college campuses, and the parameters for using race in admissions as stated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.
For more information about the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html . For more information about the Educational Opportunities Section of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, please visit http://www.justice.gov/crt/edo/ .
Justice Department Settles Immigration-related Discrimination Claim Against Staffing CompanyRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with Paramount Staffing, a staffing company based in Northbrook, Ill., resolving an allegation that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by requesting more or different documents from individuals during the employment eligibility verification processes based on the individuals’ citizenship status.
The department’s investigation concluded that Paramount Staffing’s Hanover Park, Ill., branch routinely required specific, DHS-issued documentation from lawful permanent residents for the employment eligibility verification processes (Form I-9 and E-Verify) while not making similar demands of U.S. citizens. The anti-discrimination provision of the INA prohibits employers from using discriminatory documentary policies, procedures or requirements based on citizenship status or national origin when initially determining or subsequently re-verifying an employee’s authorization for employment.
Paramount Staffing cooperated with the department’s investigation and has agreed to pay $21,100 in civil penalties to the United States, undergo Justice Department training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for a period of 18 months. The case settled prior to the filing of a complaint.
“The INA’s anti-discrimination provision requires employers to treat individuals in a nondiscriminatory manner during the employment eligibility verification processes,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights. “We commend Paramount Staffing for taking immediate steps to rectify the issues raised in the department’s investigation.”
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired), call the 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/about/osc/webinars.php , email [email protected] or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc
Justice Department Settles Citizenship Status Discrimination Claim Against IBMRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement yesterday with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) resolving allegations that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it placed online job postings for application and software developers that contained citizenship status preferences for F-1 and H-1B temporary visa holders. F-1 visas are issued to foreign students studying in the United States, and H-1B visas are issued to foreign nationals with technical expertise in specialized fields.
Under the INA, employers may not discriminate on the basis of citizenship status unless required to comply with law, regulation, executive order or government contract. Although IBM’s job postings were for positions that would ultimately require the successful candidate to relocate overseas, the anti-discrimination provision of the INA does not permit employers to express or imply a preference for temporary visa holders over U.S. workers, such as U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, for any employment opportunity in the United States.
Under the settlement agreement, IBM has agreed to pay $44,400 in civil penalties to the United States. IBM further agreed to revise its hiring and recruiting procedures and train its human resources personnel to ensure compliance with the INA, and to be subject to reporting requirements for a period of two years.
“Employers must give all eligible candidates the equal opportunity to compete for employment,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The department is committed to ensuring employers do not unlawfully discriminate against U.S. citizens and other work-authorized individuals based on their citizenship status.”
The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TTY for hearing impaired), call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, 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 .
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Plaza Home Mortgage Inc. to Resolve Allegations of Mortgage Lending DiscriminationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that Plaza Home Mortgage Inc. (Plaza) of San Diego will pay $3 million to aggrieved borrowers as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin.
The settlement also requires Plaza to establish race- and national origin-neutral standards for the assessment of broker fees, monitor its wholesale mortgage loans for potential disparities based on race and national origin, conduct fair lending training and continue to operate a community enrichment program designed to address the lack of affordable housing and lending products in minority and underserved communities nationwide.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, was filed in conjunction with the Justice Department’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The complaint alleges that Plaza charged thousands of African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher fees than white borrowers on wholesale mortgage loans in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Plaza cooperated fully with the Justice Department’s investigation into its lending practices and agreed to settle this matter without contested litigation.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates that the Civil Rights Division is committed to ensuring that all lenders, including wholesale lenders, comply with the fair lending laws,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend Plaza for working cooperatively with the Justice Department in reaching an appropriate resolution of this case.”
The lawsuit originated from a 2011 referral by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The proceeds of the settlement will be used to compensate the African-American and Hispanic victims of Plaza’s alleged discrimination. The proposed settlement provides for an independent administrator to contact and distribute payments at no cost to borrowers whom the Justice Department identifies as victims. Borrowers who are eligible for compensation will be contacted by the administrator. The department will make a public announcement and post contact information on its website once the administrator begins contacting victims.
“It is patently wrong for a lending institution to require African-American and Hispanic homebuyers to pay more for their mortgages than white borrowers,” said Laura Duffy, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. “We are happy to be able to make this right for the victims, and to send a message that we will protect people of all races and national origins from injustice of any kind.”
The Justice Department’s enforcement of fair lending laws is conducted by the Fair Lending Unit of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in the Civil Rights Division. Since the Fair Lending Unit was established in February 2010, it has filed or resolved 27 lending matters under the FHA, ECOA and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The settlements in these matters provide for a minimum of $660 million in monetary relief for impacted communities and more than 300,000 individual borrowers. The Attorney General’s annual reports to Congress subject to ECOA highlight the department’s accomplishments in fair lending and are available at www.justice.gov/crt/publications/
The Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, and the FTC 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 Justice Department, can be obtained from the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov/fairhousing.
El Departamento de Justicia Realiza Acuerdo Conciliatorio con Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc. en Resolución de Alegatos de Discriminación en el Otorgamiento de Préstamos HipotecariosRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON - El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que Plaza Home Mortgage Inc. (Plaza) de San Diego pagará 3 millones de dólares a prestatarios agraviados como parte de un acuerdo conciliatorio en resolución de alegatos de que exhibió un patrón o una práctica de discriminación basada en raza y origen nacional.
El acuerdo conciliatorio también exige que Plaza establezca normas neutrales asociadas con la raza y el origen nacional para el cobro de honorarios de corredores, controle si sus préstamos hipotecarios mayoristas presentan posibles disparidades basadas en raza y origen nacional, lleve a cabo capacitación en el otorgamiento justo de préstamos y mantenga en marcha un programa de enriquecimiento comunitario diseñado para ocuparse del tema de la falta de viviendas económicas y productos crediticios en comunidades minoritarias y marginadas en todo el país.
El acuerdo conciliatorio, que está sujeto a aprobación del tribunal, fue presentado junto con la demanda del Departamento de Justicia en el Tribunal Federal de Distrito del Distrito Sur de California. La demanda alega que Plaza cobró a miles de prestatarios afroestadounidenses e hispanos cargos más altos que a prestatarios blancos en préstamos hipotecarios mayoristas, en violación de la Ley de Vivienda Justa [Fair Housing Act (FHA)] y la Ley de Igualdad de Oportunidades de Crédito [Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)]. Plaza cooperó plenamente con la investigación del Departamento de Justicia de sus prácticas de otorgamiento de préstamos y aceptó realizar este acuerdo sin litigio contencioso.
"El acuerdo conciliatorio de hoy demuestra que la División de Derechos Civiles se compromete a asegurar que todos los prestamistas, lo que incluye a los prestamistas mayoristas, cumplan con las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos", señaló Jocelyn Samuels, Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Interina de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. "Felicitamos a Plaza por su colaboración con el Departamento de Justicia para lograr una resolución adecuada del caso".
La demanda se originó en una remisión de 2011 a la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia por parte de La Comisión Federal de Comercio [Federal Trade Commission (FTC)].
El producto del acuerdo conciliatorio se utilizará para indemnizar a las víctimas afroestadounidenses e hispanas de la supuesta discriminación por parte de Plaza. El acuerdo conciliatorio propuesto dispone que un administrador independiente se comunique con prestatarios identificados como víctimas por el Departamento de Justicia y distribuya a los mismos pagos de indemnización sin ningún costo. Los prestatarios que reúnan los requisitos para recibir compensación serán contactados por el administrador. El Departamento realizará un anuncio público y publicará información de contacto en su portal en Internet una vez que el administrador comience a comunicarse con las víctimas.
"Está claramente mal que una institución de préstamos exija que compradores de vivienda afroestadounidenses e hispanos paguen más por sus hipotecas que los prestatarios blancos", indicó Laura Duffy, Fiscal Federal para el Distrito Sur de California. "Nos complace poder corregir esto para las víctimas, y transmitir el mensaje de que protegeremos a personas de todas las razas y orígenes nacionales contra injusticias de cualquier tipo".
La coacción asociada a las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos por parte del Departamento de Justicia es llevada a cabo por la Unidad de Préstamos Justos de la Sección de Vivienda y Cumplimiento de la Ley Civil de la División de Derechos Civiles. Desde que se estableció la Unidad de Préstamos Justos en febrero de 2010, ésta ha entablado o resuelto 27 casos de préstamos bajo la FHA, la ECOA y la Ley de Alivio Civil para los Miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas [Servicemembers Civil Relief Act]. Los acuerdos conciliatorios en estos casos proveen un mínimo de 660 millones de dólares en asistencia monetaria para comunidades impactadas y más de 300,000 prestatarios individuales. Los informes anuales del Secretario de Justicia de EE.UU. al Congreso acerca de ECOA destacan los logros del Departamento en el otorgamiento de préstamos justos y están disponibles en www.justice.gov/crt/publications/.
La División de Derechos Civiles, la Fiscalía Federal del Distrito Sur de California y la FTC son miembros de la Fuerza de Tarea de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero. El Presidente Obama estableció la Fuerza de Tarea interagencial de Coacción contra el Fraude Financiero para llevar a cabo una iniciativa enérgica, coordinada y proactiva para investigar y enjuiciar los delitos financieros. La fuerza de tarea incluye a representantes de una amplia gama de dependencias federales, autoridades reguladoras, inspectores generales y miembros de las fuerzas del orden público estatales y locales, quienes, trabajando juntos, aprovechan un poderoso espectro de recursos de coacción penal y civil. La fuerza de tarea está trabajando para mejorar la labor en todo el poder ejecutivo federal, y con asociados estatales y locales, para investigar y enjuiciar los delitos financieros importantes, asegurar un castigo justo y eficaz para quienes cometan delitos financieros, combatir la discriminación en los mercados de préstamos y financieros, y recuperar fondos para las víctimas de delitos financieros. Para obtener más información sobre la fuerza de tarea, visite www.StopFraud.gov.
Para obtener una copia de la demanda, así como también información adicional sobre la labor del Departamento de Justicia para hacer valer las leyes de otorgamiento justo de préstamos, visite el portal del Departamento de Justicia en http://www.justice.gov/fairhousing.
Department of Justice Awards Hiring Grants for Law Enforcement and School Safety OfficersRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) today announced funding awards to 263 cities and counties, aimed at creating 937 law enforcement positions. More than $125 million will be awarded nationally, including nearly $45 million to fund 356 new school resource officer positions.
The list of this year’s grantees includes Oakland, Sacramento, and Alameda County, Calif.; Houston; Hartford, Conn.; Des Moines, Iowa; Milwaukee; Richland County and Charleston, S.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Akron, Ohio; Seattle, and more.
“In the wake of past tragedies, it's clear that we need to be willing to take all possible steps to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “These critical investments represent the Justice Department's latest effort to strengthen key law enforcement capabilities, and to provide communities with the resources they need to protect our young people. Especially in a time of increased challenges and limited budgets, our top priority must always be the safety and well-being of our children.”
“The COPS Office is pleased to assist local law enforcement agencies throughout the country address their most critical public safety issues,” said Joshua Ederheimer, Acting Director of the COPS Office. “Funding from this year’s program will allow many cities and counties to apply new sworn personnel to issues related to violent crime, property crime and school safety.”
The COPS Hiring Program offers grants to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire community policing officers. The program provides the salary and benefits for officer and deputy hires for three years.
Grantees for the 2013 hiring program were selected based on their fiscal needs, local crime rates, and their community policing plans. There was an additional focus this year on agencies requesting assistance in developing school safety programs that would include the hiring of a school resource officer. School resource officer positions funded by the COPS Office are sworn law enforcement positions that work within a school district or facility, interacting directly with school administrators and students.
“The Administration put a focus on school safety at the start of this year and we’ve worked to coordinate a program that offers valuable resources to assist local law enforcement in these efforts and many others,” said Acting Director Ederheimer.
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has awarded over $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 125,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance.
For the entire list of grantees and additional information about the 2013 COPS Hiring Program, visit the COPS website at www.cops.usdoj.gov.
Attorney General Eric Holder, Justice Department <br /> and Other Officials, Cities Work to Break Cycle of ViolenceRead the Press Release
Justice Department officials along with other senior officials from the Administration yesterday convened the third annual National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence to share strategies on how to prevent and reduce violence and gang activity and improve opportunities for young people.
The summit brings together teams of mayors, police chiefs, educators, public health officials and youth from the 10 cities of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention. Representatives from the faith-based and philanthropic community and other communities involved in federal youth violence initiatives were also in attendance at the two-day summit, which is convened regularly as part of the ongoing work of the National Forum on Youth Violence.
“As a father, it is heartbreaking to know that the majority of America’s children – more than 60 percent of them – have been exposed to crime, violence, or abuse as victims or as witnesses. Far too many young people continue the cycle of violence by harming others,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “That’s why the Obama Administration, led in part by this Justice Department, launched the National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence. Together, in each of our Forum cities, we are rallying local stakeholders to improve law enforcement, increase support for violence prevention efforts and expand access to family and social services.”
The forum’s 10 participating cities, Boston; Camden, N.J.; Chicago; Detroit; Memphis, Tenn.; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Salinas, Calif. and San Jose, Calif., will receive more than $2 million total from the Departments of Justice and Education to continue implementing their comprehensive youth violence prevention strategies. In addition, the Justice Department is providing almost $16 million to reduce the impact of violence on child victims and witnesses and to implement other community violence prevention programs.
“Early exposure to violence can have a devastating impact on our children, and its consequences are felt by all of us, in higher healthcare and criminal justice costs, broken families, distressed communities and the potential loss of a future generation of leaders,” said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason. “We are using research to counter the effects of violence and working closely with our federal and local partners to get kids into safe and supportive environments and back on track developmentally.”
Teams from Camden, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Philadelphia unveiled their comprehensive plans to address youth violence using not only enforcement but also prevention, intervention and reentry strategies. The summit agenda included panel discussions on the roles of public health and media in youth violence prevention, as well as a series of breakout sessions on a range of topics such as youth employment, street outreach programs, youth mental health services, law enforcement responses to children exposed to violence and community partnerships.
The forum was launched in 2010 at the direction of President Obama, with the Department of Justice, under Attorney General Holder, providing key support. The Departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Labor and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy collaborate to support the forum's participating cities, which were selected on the basis of need, geographic diversity, and willingness and capacity to explore new strategies.
For more information on the cities’ plans and progress, please visit: www.findyouthinfo.gov/youthviolence.
The forum is administered by the Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), which works to bring about a nation where children are healthy, educated and free from violence and where youth contact with the juvenile justice system is rare, fair and beneficial. For more information on OJJDP, please visit: www.ojjdp.gov.
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. For more information on OJP, please visit: www.ojp.gov.
Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Funding for School Resource Officers in Newtown, Conn.Read the Press Release
Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will provide $150,000 in Fiscal Year 2013 funding to Newtown, Conn., to fund two positions to ensure school safety, such as school resource officers.
“This grant funding will help to offer critical support for law enforcement and essential services to the community as Newtown comes back from a heartbreaking tragedy,” said Attorney General Holder. “Just over nine months after the senseless mass shooting at Sandy Hook, we remain committed to providing every resource we can to ensure that the children of Newtown can feel safe and secure at school and elsewhere. And as we hold lost loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, we resolve to continue to support and protect this community – and to help them heal together.”
Today’s grant is just the latest assistance that the Justice Department has provided to Newtown. In August 2013, BJA provided $2.5 million in funding to the Connecticut State Police, the Newtown Police Department and their partner agencies that provided assistance in response to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year. The funding compensated the agencies and jurisdictions for costs related to overtime, forensics and security in the aftermath of the crime.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance is one of six components of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which is headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason. OJP provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP’s six components include: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking.
For more information about OJP, please visit: www.ojp.gov.
Six Charged in Ohio with Operating an Illegal Gambling Business and Other Related OffensesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Reece Powers II, the former co-owner of R&J Partnership Ltd. doing business as Reece’s Las Vegas Supply (RLVS), a gambling supplies store located in Dayton, Ohio, was charged with illegal gambling, tax fraud and obstruction-of-justice-related offenses in an eight-count indictment unsealed today. Other defendants charged in the indictment are Douglas A. Sanders, Jason S. Pulaski, Michael E. Gedeon, Jennifer Williams and Walter F. Dyer.
The indictment, which was returned on Sept. 24, 2013, was unsealed following the arrests of Powers, Pulaski, Gedeon, Williams and Dyer. All six defendants were charged with one count each of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, and one count each of operating an illegal gambling business. Additionally, Powers was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding and impairing the lawful functions of the IRS, and one count of witness tampering. Furthermore, Pulaski, Gedeon, Williams and Dyer were each charged with one count of obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, between February 2004 and May 2011, Powers oversaw the recruitment of local charitable organizations to sponsor casino-like card games, such as Texas Hold’Em poker tournaments and live-action poker games (poker fundraisers), that were exempted from the general prohibition against games of chance under then-existing Ohio laws. The indictment alleges that Powers skimmed a portion of the money received from the poker fundraisers while providing false accountings of the money generated to the charitable organizations that they were meant to benefit. The indictment further alleges that Sanders, Pulaski, Gedeon, Williams, Dyer and other co-conspirators who worked as card dealers, cashiers, chip sellers, pit bosses, tournament directors and managers, received compensation for their roles in conducting the poker fundraisers in violation of Ohio law, at Powers’ direction. The indictment further alleges that each of the defendants claimed that they were uncompensated volunteers and that several of them deliberately misled investigators of the State of Ohio’s Attorney General’s Office and the IRS during the investigation.
According to the indictment, Powers further conspired with another individual to sell RLVS and its associated real estate so that it appeared as if the business was sold for an amount less than its actual sale price, in an effort by Powers to evade the payment of taxes. According to the indictment, Dyer, Pulaski, Gedeon, and Williams further committed obstruction of justice by testifying falsely before a federal grand jury investigating the poker scheme. Additionally, Powers is charged with tampering with a witness by allegedly instructing the witness to testify falsely to the federal grand jury.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. District Judge Timothy Black for the Southern District of Ohio will be presiding over the case after the arraignment of the defendants. If convicted, Powers faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, and five years of supervised release. If convicted, Pulaski, Gedeon, Williams and Dyer each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $750,000 and three years of supervised release. If convicted, Sanders faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, a fine of $500,000 and three years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jorge Almonte and Stephen Descano of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Additional information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/ .
Nine Automobile Parts Manufacturers and Two Executives Agree to Plead Guilty to Fixing Prices on Automobile Parts Sold to U.S. Car Manufacturers and Installed in U.S. CarsRead the Press Release
Nine Japan-based companies and two executives have agreed to plead guilty and to pay a total of more than $740 million in criminal fines for their roles in separate conspiracies to fix the prices of more than 30 different products sold to U.S. car manufacturers and installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. The department said that price-fixed automobile parts were sold to Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, as well as to the U.S. subsidiaries of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Fuji Heavy Industries–more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru.
“These international price-fixing conspiracies affected more than $5 billion in automobile parts sold to U.S. car manufacturers, and more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers were affected by the illegal conduct,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “The Department of Justice will continue to crack down on cartel behavior that causes American consumers and businesses to pay higher prices for the products and services they rely upon in their everyday lives.”
“Some of the price-fixing conspiracies lasted for a decade or longer, and many car models were fitted with multiple parts that were fixed by the auto parts suppliers,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division has worked hand in hand with its international competition colleagues who have provided invaluable assistance to the Justice Department in breaking up these worldwide price-fixing cartels.”
“Today’s charges should send a message to companies who believe they don’t need to follow the rules,” said Ronald Hosko, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “If you violate the laws of this country, the FBI will investigate and put a stop to the threat you pose to our commercial system. The integrity of our markets is a part of the foundation of a free society.”
Including those announced today, 20 companies and 21 executives have been charged in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. All 20 companies have either pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay more than $1.6 billion in criminal fines. Seventeen of the 21 executives have been sentenced to serve time in U.S. prisons or have entered into plea agreements calling for significant prison sentences.
Each of the companies and executives charged today has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. The plea agreements are subject to court approval. The companies’ and executives’ agreed-upon fines and sentences are:
• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. to pay a $195 million criminal fine;
• Jtekt Corporation to pay a $103.27 million criminal fine;
• Mitsuba Corporation to pay a $135 million criminal fine;
• Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) to pay a $190 million criminal fine;
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to pay a $14.5 million criminal fine;
• NSK Ltd. to pay a $68.2 million criminal fine;
• T.RAD Co. Ltd. to pay a $13.75 million criminal fine;
• Valeo Japan Co. Ltd. to pay a $13.6 million criminal fine;
• Yamashita Rubber Co. Ltd. to pay a $11 million criminal fine;
• Tetsuya Kunida, a Japanese citizen and former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive anti-vibration rubber products supplier to serve 12 months and one day in a U.S. prison, and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine; and
• Gary Walker, a U.S. citizen and former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive products supplier to serve 14 months in a U.S. prison, and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine.
MELCO and Hitachi conspired with each other and other co-conspirator firms not charged today on sales of certain auto parts, including starter motors, alternators, and ignition coils, the department said. Mitsuba and Mitsubishi Electric conspired together and with other co-conspirators not charged today on certain sales of starter motors. Each of the other companies charged today colluded with other unnamed co-conspirators.
Generally, the companies, executives and co-conspirators engaged in the various price-fixing schemes by attending meetings and communicating by telephone in the United States and Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids, set prices and allocate the supply of auto parts sold to the car manufacturers. They took measures to keep their conduct secret by using code names and meeting in remote locations. Those charged also had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.
The multiple conspiracies also harmed U.S. automobile plants in 14 states: Alabama; California; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky; Michigan; Mississippi; Missouri; Ohio; Tennessee; Texas and Wisconsin, the department said.
The department has coordinated its investigation with the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, the European Commission, Canadian Competition Bureau, Korean Fair Trade Commission, Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The following charges were filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit:
Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, Hitachi and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of auto parts it sold to Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota, in the United States and elsewhere. The affected auto parts include starter motors, alternators, air flow meters, valve timing control devices, fuel injection systems, electronic throttle bodies, ignition coils, inverters and motor generators. According to the charge, Hitachi and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
Hitachi manufactures and sells auto parts to automobile manufacturers throughout the world. The affected auto parts perform an array of functions in automobile engines, from regulating air and fuel flow to starting the engine to controlling the timing of engine valves.
Mitsuba Corporation
According to a two-count felony charge, Mitsuba and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of windshield washer systems and components, windshield wiper systems and components, starter motors, power window motors, and fan motors it sold to Chrysler, Honda, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Mitsuba and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from January 2000 until February 2010. Mitsuba also agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstruction of justice, because of the company’s efforts to destroy evidence ordered by a high-level U.S.-based executive after learning of the U.S. investigation of collusion in the auto parts industry.
Mitsuba manufactures and sells numerous automotive parts to automobile manufacturers throughout the world. The affected auto parts perform an array of functions in automobiles. Windshield washer and wiper systems include a number of components and are designed to clear water or snow from vehicle windows. Starter motors are small electric motors used in starting internal combustion engines. Power window motors are small electric motors used to raise and lower vehicle windows. Fan motors are small electric motors used to turn radiator cooling fans.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO)
According to a one-count felony charge, MELCO and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of automotive parts, including starter motors, alternators and ignition coils, it sold to Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru), Nissan, and certain of their subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, MELCO and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
MELCO manufactures and sells automotive parts, including starter motors, alternators, and ignition coils. Starter motors are small electric motors used in starting internal combustion engines. Alternators generate an electric current while the engine is in operation. Ignition coils are part of the fuel ignition system and release electric energy suddenly to ignite a fuel mixture.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of compressors and condensers it sold to General Motors and Mitsubishi Motors North America in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, MHI and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least as early as January 2001 until at least February 2010.
MHI manufactures and sells compressors and condensers. A compressor produces and circulates highly pressurized refrigerant gas throughout the car air conditioning system. A condenser cools the engine by condensing the refrigerant gas into liquid and releasing heat.
T.RAD Co. Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, T.RAD Co. Ltd. and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of radiators it sold to Toyota and Honda and the prices of automatic transmission fluid warmers (ATF warmers) sold to Toyota in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, T.RAD and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from November 2002 until February 2010.
T.RAD manufactures and sells heat exchangers, including radiators and ATF Warmers. Radiators are devices located in the engine compartment of a vehicle that cool the engine. ATF warmers are devices located in the engine compartment of a vehicle that warm the automatic transmission fluid.
Valeo Japan Co. Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, Valeo Japan Co. Ltd. and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to allocate the supply of, rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of air conditioning systems it sold to Nissan North America Inc., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Subaru, in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Valeo and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from April 2006 until February 2010.
Valeo was engaged in the manufacture and sale of automotive air conditioning systems, which are systems that cool the interior environment of a vehicle. Air conditioning systems, whether sold together or separately, are defined as automotive compressors, condensers, HVAC units (typically consisting of a blower motor, actuators, flaps, evaporator, heater core, and filter embedded in a plastic housing), control panels, sensors and associated hoses and pipes.
Gary Walker
According to a one-count felony charge, Gary Walker, a U.S. citizen and former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive products supplier, engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of seatbelts sold to Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Walker and his co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least Jan. 1, 2003 until at least February 2010.
The following charges were filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati:
Jtekt Corporation
According to a two-count felony charge, Jtekt and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to allocate markets, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of bearings it sold to Toyota and electric powered steering assemblies it sold to Nissan, in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Jtekt and its co-conspirators carried out the bearings conspiracy from 2000 until July 2011 and the steering assemblies conspiracy from 2005 until October 2011.
Jtekt manufactures and sells bearings and steering assemblies. Bearings are widely used in industry in numerous applications for many products. Bearings reduce friction and help components to roll smoothly past on another. Electric powered steering assemblies provide electric power to help the driver more easily steer the automobile. Electric powered steering assemblies link the steering wheel to the tires, and include the column, intermediate shaft and electronic control unit, among other parts, but do not include the steering wheel or tires.
NSK Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, NSK and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to allocate markets, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of bearings it sold to Toyota, in the United States and elsewhere. NSK manufactures and sells bearings. According to the charge, NSK and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from 2000 until July 2011.
The following charges were filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo:
Yamashita Rubber Co. Ltd.
According to a one-count felony charge, Yamashita Rubber Co. Ltd. and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, raise, and maintain the prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber products it sold in the United States and elsewhere to Honda Motor Co. Ltd., American Honda Motor Company Inc. and Suzuki Motor Corporation. According to the charge, Yamashita Rubber Co. and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least April 2003 until May 2012.
Automotive anti-vibration rubber products are comprised primarily of rubber and metal, and are installed in automobiles to reduce engine and road vibration.
Tetsuya Kunida
According to a one-count felony charge, Tetsuya Kunida, a former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive anti-vibration rubber products supplier, engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, raise, and maintain the prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber products. The conspiracy affected sales of automotive anti-vibration rubber products to Toyota Motor Corporation and other automakers in the United States and elsewhere. ccording to the charge, Kunida and his co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least November 2001 until May 2012.
DENSO Corporation, Nippon Seiki Ltd., Tokai Rika Co. Ltd., Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd, Yazaki Corp., G.S. Electech Inc., Fujikura Ltd., Autoliv Inc., TRW Deutschland Holding GmbH, Diamond Electric Mfg. Co. Ltd., and Panasonic Corporation have already pleaded guilty. Fifteen individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each.
The companies and individuals are charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries maximum penalties of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations and a $1 million criminal fine and 10 years in prison for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine. Additionally, Mitsuba was also charged with obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum penalty of a $500,000 criminal fine.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI. Today’s charges were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office, New York Office, the National Criminal Enforcement Section, and the FBI’s Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, New York and Washington Field Offices, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit. Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to other products in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html. To report a crime to the FBI, go to www.fbi.gov and click on the “Report a Crime” tab.Related Materials:
Gary Walker Information
Hitachi Information
JTekt Information
Melco Information
MHI Information
Mitsuba Information
Yamashita Rubber Information
Valeo Japan Information
Tetsuya Kunida Information
T.RAD Information
NSK InformationMiami Home Health Company Recruiter Pleads Guilty in $48 Million Health Care Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A patient recruiter of a Miami health care company pleaded guilty today for his participation in a $48 million home health Medicare fraud scheme.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.
Emilio Amador, 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno to one count of conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receiving health care kickbacks. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count when he is sentenced on Dec. 4, 2013.
According to court documents, Amador was a patient recruiter who worked for Caring Nurse Home Health Care Corp. (Caring Nurse), a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.
According to court documents, from approximately January 2006 through approximately June 2011, Amador would recruit patients for Caring Nurse, and in doing so would solicit and receive kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of Caring Nurse in return for allowing Caring Nurse to bill the Medicare program on behalf of the patients Amador had recruited. These Medicare beneficiaries were billed for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided.
According to court documents, Amador also pleaded guilty to his involvement with fraudulent billings for Nation’s Best Care Home Health, Corp. (Nation’s Best) as relevant conduct. Amador was the owner, operator and president of Nation’s Best. The billings for Nation’s Best were approximately $30 million.
In a related case, on Feb. 27, 2013, Rogelio Rodriguez and Raymond Aday, the owners and operators of Caring Nurse and Good Quality Home Health Care, Inc. (Good Quality), another fraudulent home health care agency, were sentenced to 108 and 51 months in prison, respectively. Their sentencings followed their December 2012 guilty pleas to one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud charged in an October 2013 indictment. From in or around January 2006 through in or around June 2011, Caring Nurse and Good Quality submitted approximately $48 million in claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided. Medicare paid approximately $33 million for these fraudulent claims.
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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 Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.Medical Clinic Owners and Patient Recruiters Charged in Miami for Role in $8 Million Health Care Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Several patient recruiters, including two medical clinic owners, have been arrested in connection with a health care fraud scheme involving defunct home health care company Flores Home Health Care Inc. (Flores Home Health).
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.
In an indictment returned on Sept. 24, 2013, and unsealed this afternoon, Isabel Medina, 49, and Lerida Labrada, 59, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon conviction. Together with Mayra Flores, 49, and German Martinez, 36, Medina and Labrada also face charges for allegedly conspiring to defraud the United States and to receive health care kickbacks as well as receipt of kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program, which carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction.
According to the indictment, the defendants worked as patient recruiters for the owners and operators of Flores Home Health, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. Medina and Labrada were also the owners and operators of Miami medical clinics which allegedly provided fraudulent prescriptions to the owners and operators of Flores Home Health.
Flores Home Health was allegedly operated for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for, among other services, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary and/or were not provided.
From approximately October 2009 through approximately June 2012, Flores Home Health was paid approximately $8 million by Medicare for allegedly fraudulent claims for home health services.
The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. This case is being prosecuted by A. Brendan Stewart of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $5 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 Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
Justice Department Resolves Citizenship Status Discrimination <br /> Charge Against Pennsylvania Employer Huber NurseriesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with Huber Nurseries, based in Manheim, Pa., resolving allegations that Huber engaged in citizenship status discrimination by preferring to hire temporary visa holders over recent lawful permanent residents from Nepal. The underlying charge was filed by Philadelphia Legal Assistance on behalf of the lawful permanent residents.
The Department of Justice investigation was initiated on Aug. 15, 2012 when six lawful permanent residents from Nepal were denied employment by the Pennsylvania nursery. The department concluded that Huber unlawfully preferred to hire twelve foreign national workers under the H-2A visa program and subjected the U.S. workers to different selection standards and increased scrutiny. The H-2A temporary agricultural program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform temporary agricultural work. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers from refusing to hire protected workers, including U.S. citizens, certain lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, based on their citizenship status.
Under the terms of the settlement, Huber has agreed to pay $2,250 in civil penalties to the United States and $59,617 in back pay to the six injured parties, who are former refugees. Huber has also agreed to provide its human resources personnel with training on the anti-discrimination requirements of the INA, adopt nondiscrimination policies with respect to recruitment and hiring and maintain and submit records to the Department of Justice for the one-year term of the agreement. Trial Attorney Richard Crespo represented the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) in this matter.
“Work-authorized individuals should not be denied access to jobs because of unlawful discrimination on the basis of immigration status or national origin," said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "We are pleased to have reached a settlement with Huber and look forward to continuing to work with employers to educate them about anti-discrimination protections and employer obligations under the law."
OSC is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, or to report a possible violation, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired), call the 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/about/osc/webinars.php , email [email protected] or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc .
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Southport Bank to Resolve Allegations of Mortgage Lending DiscriminationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that Southport Bank of Kenosha, Wis., will pay $687,000 to African-American and Hispanic wholesale mortgage borrowers as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, was filed in conjunction with the Department’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The complaint alleges that Southport charged hundreds of African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher fees than white borrowers on wholesale mortgage loans in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Southport cooperated fully with the Department’s investigation into its lending practices and agreed to settle this matter without contested litigation.
The lawsuit originated from a 2012 referral by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Southport is regulated by the FDIC.
The proceeds of the settlement will be used to compensate the African-American and Hispanic victims of Southport’s alleged discrimination. Under the proposed settlement, a list of individual victims will be identified by the United States. The settlement requires borrowers who are eligible for compensation to be notified by the bank and provides for monitoring of the compensation process by the department.
Southport is not currently engaged in the business of wholesale home mortgage lending, but the settlement provides that if it re-enters that business, the bank will implement policies, practices and monitoring designed to prevent and detect potential fair lending violations.
“Discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in the extension of credit, including by wholesale lenders, must be eliminated,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend Southport for working cooperatively with the Justice Department in reaching an appropriate resolution of this case.”
“The United States Department of Justice, through both the Civil Rights Division and my office, remains steadfast in its commitment to identifying, investigating, and addressing patterns and practices of racial and national origin bias in the extension and management of mortgage loans” said James L. Santelle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. “ As reflected by today’s settlement, we are animated not only by the all-important mandates of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act but also by our much-related interest in ensuring that all Americans are afforded economic opportunities and financial options in this most basic aspect of life—housing. I join the Assistant Attorney General in recognizing the leadership of the Southport Bank of Kenosha for their cooperation in accomplishing this settlement that compensates members of our African-American and Hispanic communities for the discrimination that they suffered.”
The Justice Department’s enforcement of fair lending laws is conducted by the Fair Lending Unit of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in the Civil Rights Division. Since the Fair Lending Unit was established in February 2010, it has filed or resolved 26 lending matters under the FHA, ECOA and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The settlements in these matters provide for a minimum of $660 million in monetary relief for impacted communities and more than 300,000 individual borrowers. The Attorney General’s annual reports to Congress subject to ECOA highlight the department’s accomplishments in fair lending and are available at www.justice.gov/crt/publications/ .
The Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the FDIC 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 http://www.stopfraud.gov/ .
A copy of the complaint, as well as additional information about fair lending enforcement by the Justice Department, can be obtained from the Justice Department’s website at http://www.justice.gov/fairhousing.
Federal Court Bars Kansas City, Mo., Man from Preparing Tax Returns for OthersRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that a federal district judge in Kansas City, Mo., permanently barred Mark Steven Hall from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the court’s civil injunction order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, from 2006 to 2010 Hall worked as an employee or independent contractor for various accounting firms. Beginning in the 2010 tax season Hall prepared federal tax returns from his home in Kansas City.
The court found that Hall understated his customers’ tax liabilities by claiming false expenses and deductions. The court found that in some cases, Hall used a formula to claim charitable deductions without any regard to whether his customers had the necessary supporting documentation. In other instances, the court found that even where Hall’s customers provided him with documentation of charitable donations, Hall inflated those customers’ reported charitable contributions.
Similarly, the court found that although one customer provided Hall with all bank statements, invoices, ledgers, check stubs and receipts for his small business, Hall did not use those documents in preparing the return.
The court reasoned that a permanent bar on all future tax preparation was warranted because without a permanent ban, Hall “would likely find other ways to manipulate the tax system for his customers.” The court found that there was a high probability that Hall’s customers received erroneous refunds due to his conduct.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service's Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013, which can be viewed at www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-Dirty-Dozen-Tax-Scams-for-2013 . In the past decade, the Justice Department's Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.gov/tax/taxpress2013.htm .
Related Materials:
United States v. Mark Steven Hall
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