The Justice Department today announced it has reached a consent decree with the town of Davie, Fla., to resolve allegations that Davie engaged in a pattern or practice of intentional discrimination against pregnant firefighters employed by Davie’s fire department.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Axius Inc., a Nevada corporation, and a finance professional were indicted today on multiple charges for their alleged roles in a scheme to bribe stock brokers and manipulate the share price of Axius stock.

A former financial institution employee pleaded guilty today for his participation in a conspiracy related to municipal bonds.

Cincinnati landlord Henry E. Bailey agreed to the entry of an $855,000 civil judgment against him, after admitting that he violated the Fair Housing Act as alleged in a complaint filed by the Justice Department in federal court.

A former financial services executive was indicted yesterday for his participation in a far-reaching conspiracy and scheme to defraud related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts.

"Your role in the executive and legislative branches is unique, and you can use that position to engage with your states and encourage innovative, non-traditional partnerships across government and between local units of government and non-governmental organizations. These partnerships can create dynamic solutions to challenges we see across the country every day," said Acting Director Hanson.

Three individuals have agreed to pay $5.325 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly made false statements in connection with a mortgage refinance scheme, the Justice Department announced today.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 39, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for her role in obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, FBI Associate Deputy Director Kevin L. Perkins and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Jon Leibowitz today announced the results of the Distressed Homeowner Initiative, the first-ever nationwide effort to target fraud schemes that prey upon suffering homeowners.

The Justice Department announced today that former Bryan County, Okla., Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Kevin Bennett Holt, 48, from Achille, Okla., was sentenced to 18 months in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, followed by 24 months of supervised release, for using a Taser to assault a detainee inside of the Bryan County Jail in Durant, Okla., in violation of the victim’s civil rights.

Three former financial services executives were sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for their participation in conspiracies related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts.

A Houston federal jury has convicted Gilbert T. Lopez Jr., the former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group Company, and Mark J. Kuhrt, the former global controller of Stanford Financial Group Global Management, for their roles in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving Stanford International Bank (SIB).

The former chief executive officer of Fair Financial Company, an Ohio financial services business, was sentenced today to serve 50 years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud approximately 5,000 investors of more than $200 million.

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signed an agreement today to strengthen coordination on fair lending enforcement and avoid duplication of their respective federal law enforcement efforts.

A former financial services broker was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for his participation in conspiracies related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts.

The Justice Department today announced that property manager Rudy Ferrante agreed to a $15,000 civil judgment against him, to resolve allegations that he sexually harassed female tenants in Portland, Maine.

James M. Davis, 64, formerly of Baldwyn, Miss., the former chief financial officer of Stanford International Bank (SIB) and Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving SIB, and for conspiring to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into SIB.

Manuel Ernesto Ortiz-Barraza, an independent financial consultant, was extradited to the United States today for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of over $2.5 million.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Department of Justice has filed a civil lawsuit against the credit rating agency Standard &s Ratings Services alleging that S&P engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products known as Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities and Collateralized Debt Obligations.

Gilbert T. Lopez Jr., the former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group Company, and Mark J. Kuhrt, the former global controller of Stanford Financial Group Global Management, were each sentenced today to 20 years in prison for their roles in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving Stanford International Bank (SIB). Both were convicted by a Houston federal jury on Nov. 19, 2012.

"When a bank allows its customers, and even its customers’ customers, access to the national banking system, it should endeavor to understand the true nature of the business that it will allow to access the payment system, and the risks posed to consumers and society regarding criminal or other unlawful conduct," said Executive Director Bresnick.

The Justice Department is committed to vigorously investigating allegations of wrongdoing at financial institutions and, along with our many law enforcement partners, holding individuals and corporations to account for their conduct.

American Commercial Colleges Inc. (ACC) has agreed to pay the United States up to $2.5 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it violated the civil False Claims Act by falsely certifying that it complied with certain eligibility requirements of the federal student aid programs.

We will continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel.

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City today returned an indictment charging a resident of Sandy, Utah, with five counts of presenting false, fictitious and fraudulent claims to the United States, and three counts of passing fictitious obligations.

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City today returned a superseding indictment charging a resident of Heber City, Utah, with 18 counts of presenting false, fictitious and fraudulent claims to the United States and one count of passing a fictitious obligation.

The Justice Department announced today that the Executive Director of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) Michael Bresnick will be leaving the department on Thursday, August 1, 2013.

Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, announced today the guilty plea of Thomas Nastasi III, 46, of Mt. Kisco, N.Y., to one count of willful failure to pay the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the payroll taxes of his company, Nastasi Maintenance & Construction LLC.

ATI Enterprises Inc. will pay the government $3.7 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it falsely certified compliance with federal student aid programs’ eligibility requirements and submitted claims for ineligible students.

No one understood this better than Gerardo Hernandez – a passionate public servant who stood on the front lines of our struggle to prevent terrorism. But what made Gerardo Hernandez a hero was not only how he died – in the line of duty, becoming the first member of the Transportation Security Administration to lose his life in service of his country.

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced the federal government’s largest auto loan discrimination settlement in history to resolve allegations that Detroit-based Ally Financial Inc. and Ally Bank have engaged in an ongoing nationwide pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander borrowers in their auto lending since April 1, 2011.

The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a consent order today to resolve allegations that National City Bank engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination that increased loan prices for African-American and Hispanic borrowers who obtained residential mortgages between 2002 and 2008 from National City Bank’s retail offices and nationwide network of mortgage brokers.

St. James Healthcare (St. James), a hospital located in Butte, Mont., and its parent company, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (Sisters of Charity), a health care organization based in Denver, Colo., have agreed to pay $3.85 million to resolve allegations that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by improperly providing financial benefits to physicians and physician groups that made referrals to the hospital.

Edwin Stigile, formerly a Lieutenant at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., and two former RCI Correctional Officers, Tyson Hinckle and Reginald Martin, each pleaded guilty to an offense arising out of the assault of an inmate on Mar. 9, 2008.

John Mills and Terrance Allen, both of Malone, N.Y., pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Albany, N.Y., to conspiracy to violate the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and substantive CERCLA counts in relation to the illegal removal, handling, and disposal of asbestos.

The Barrio Azteca Lieutenant who ordered the murders of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee was found guilty by a jury on all counts charged.

Halifax Hospital Medical Center and Halifax Staffing Inc. (Halifax), a hospital system based in the Daytona Beach, Fla., area, have agreed to pay $85 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to the Medicare program that violated the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation Calvin L. Scovel, III, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director Joe Campbell announced a criminal wire fraud charge against Toyota Motor Corporation, an automotive company headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, that designs, manufactures, assembles, and sells Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, aka “Benny,” “Farmero,” “51,” “Guero,” “Pecas,” “Tury,” and “86,” 35, of Chihuahua, Mexico, the Barrio Azteca Lieutenant who ordered the March 2010 murders of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee, was sentenced today to serve life in prison.

Velma I. Salinas-Nix and Kenneth H. Nix, of Boerne, Texas, were sentenced today to serve 20 months in prison and 30 months in prison, respectively, for filing false tax returns and making false statements to the U.S. Army by filing false financial ethics disclosure forms.

Dick Reid Jenkins, of Heber City, Utah, was convicted today, in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, of eighteen counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds and one count of presenting a fictitious financial instrument, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Edwin Stigile III, formerly a lieutenant at the Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar to serve 36 months in prison for obstruction of justice in connection with his involvement in a series of assaults against an inmate, Kenneth Davis, at RCI

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced a settlement to resolve allegations that GE Capital Retail Bank, known as of this month as Synchrony Bank, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of discrimination by excluding Hispanic borrowers from two of its credit card debt-repayment programs

According to court documents submitted today, BNP Paribas S.A. (BNPP), a global financial institution headquartered in Paris, agreed to enter a guilty plea to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) by processing billions of dollars of transactions through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions

"Citi is not the first financial institution to be held accountable by this Justice Department, and it will certainly not be the last. In the investigations that remain open, we will continue to move forward – guided by the facts and the law – to achieve justice for those affected by the financial crisis."

A Texas woman who was the manager of a North Carolina tax preparation business was indicted today for multiple tax crimes and making false statements to banks on loan applications, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced

Attorney General Eric Holder and Associate Attorney General Tony West announced today that the Department of Justice has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America Corporation – the largest civil settlement with a single entity in American history ­— to resolve federal and state claims against Bank of America and its former and current subsidiaries, including Countrywide Financial Corporation and Merrill Lynch. As part of this global resolution, the bank has agreed to pay a $5 billion penalty

"We are here to announce a historic step forward in our ongoing effort to protect the American people from financial fraud – and to hold accountable those whose actions threatened the integrity of our financial markets and undermined the stability of our economy."

"Yet in addition to accountability, this historic resolution is also significant for what it achieves in terms of restoration: it requires those we are holding accountable to shoulder some of the responsibility for repairing the damage caused by their conduct."

Political consultant Gregory Naylor, 66, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty today to making false statements to federal agents and misprision of a felony in connection with his role in attempting to conceal two campaign finance-related fraud schemes