"Today, as we celebrate everything you’ve achieved, we also look forward to all I know you can, and will, accomplish. I am eager to see where, over that “mountaintop,” each of you leads our nation and our world," said Attorney General Holder.

An immigration judge in Philadelphia has ordered the removal of Anton Geiser, a resident of Sharon, Pa., who served as an armed SS guard at three Nazi concentration camps in Germany during World War II.

A former employee of a financial services company pleaded guilty today for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other related municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.

The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and one of its former member hospitals, The Christ Hospital, have agreed to pay the United States $108 million to settle claims that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying unlawful remuneration to doctors in exchange for referring cardiac patients to The Christ Hospital in a pay-to-play scheme.

"I am also proud to be among the first to welcome you into a profession that will provide countless opportunities for you to hone your new skills, continue your learning process, channel your greatest passions, and improve the world we share," said Attorney General Holder.

According to a one-count felony charge filed on May 6, 2010 in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, Iowa, Kent Robert Stewart, aka Kent Stewart, president of a ready-mix concrete company located in Iowa, participated in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for ready-mix concrete sold to various companies in Iowa between approximately January 2008 and August 2009.

Maria Nela Moreno, 57, was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams sentenced former FBI contract linguist, Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, aka Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, age 40, of Silver Spring, Md., today to 20 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for unlawfully providing classified documents to the host of an Internet blog who then published information from those documents on the blog.

William Newton Rudd, 67, of Fullerton, Calif., was sentenced today to 78 months in jail after pleading guilty on Oct. 30, 2009, to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

I want to commend Compliance Week for putting together an impressive series of panels and presentations on some of the most cutting edge issues in corporate compliance today.

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. has agreed to pay the United States an additional $3,718,770, bringing the total paid to resolve civil claims arising from the company’s cost charging practices on some of its contracts with the government to $16,570,018.

Daniel Earl Danforth, 31, of Minden, La., was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release in federal court in Shreveport, La., on federal hate crime and obstruction of justice charges in connection with a cross-burning he carried out with others near the home of an interracial couple in Athens, La.

Robert Cimino, 60, of Syracuse, N.Y., was sentenced to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia for his sales of more than $250,000 worth of pirated software.

Brian Thomas Smith, of Gainesville, Fla., was sentenced today to 42 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term for attempted possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Robert Antoine, 62, of Miami and Haiti, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

Scott Tyree, 47, a former officer at the Lexington-Fayette County, Ky., Detention Center (FCDC), and Anthony Estep, 35, a former sergeant and supervisor at FCDC, were sentenced in federal court today in Lexington, Ky., for their roles in the systematic abuse of detainees at FCDC.

"For nearly two decades, NADCP’s leadership and membership have served as extraordinary partners to government in the administration of justice," said Attorney General Holder.

The June 25 public workshop in Madison, Wis., is the third in a series of five joint public workshops and will examine competition and regulatory issues in the dairy industry.

An Arlington, Texas, couple was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge John H. McBryde for forcing a Nigerian widow to perform domestic labor for them for more than eight years.

Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp. (now known as SEZ Metro Corp.), Metro North Ambulance Corp. (now known as SEZ North Corp.) and Big Apple Ambulance Service Inc. (formerly known as United Ambulance) have paid the United States $2.85 million to resolve false claims made to Medicare.

Miami resident Timothy Pierce was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his participation in a fraudulent Medicare infusion scheme, and Troy, Mich., resident Jay Jha was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his participation in a separate fraudulent physical therapy scheme.

The U.S. Trustee Program has successfully resolved litigation against Countrywide Home Loans Inc. in its ongoing efforts to protect homeowners in bankruptcy.

Andrew Warren, 42, a former official with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), pleaded guilty today to a two-count criminal information charging him with abusive sexual contact and unlawful use of cocaine while possessing a firearm.

Cooperative Success Maritime S.A., the operator of the M/T Chem Faros, a 21,145 gross-ton ocean-going cargo ship that regularly transported cargo between foreign ports and the United States, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and to making material false statements.

Ray M. White, 51, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney in Dallas to a criminal information charging him with one count of commodities fraud, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Idrissa Bassoum, a former resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Cincinnati to aiding in the filing of false tax returns for others and filing his own false tax return.

The agreement was reached under Project Civic Access (PCA), the department's wide-ranging initiative to ensure that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Three men, a father and two sons, were sentenced to prison today in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., for multiple violations of asbestos-related environmental laws.

429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border.

"We are here to announce the results of Project Deliverance – a 22-month, bilateral investigation focused on the transportation infrastructure in the United States used by Mexican drug cartels to distribute illegal narcotics throughout our country and smuggle weapons and cash across the U.S.-Mexico border," said Attorney General Holder.

"The progress made in 20 years is remarkable. But our anniversary celebration must be marked by turning our attention to the next 20 years so that we can continue to create a nation where every individual has access to equal opportunity and equal justice," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez

Farmington Hills, Mich., resident Baskaran Thangarasan was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for his participation in a fraudulent physical therapy scheme.

The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, two of its member hospitals (The Fort Hamilton Hospital and The University Hospital), and University Internal Medicine Associates Inc. have agreed to pay the United States $2.6 million to settle claims that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback-for-referral scheme.

Last night, federal agents arrested Lee Bentley Farkas, the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation. He has been charged in a 16-count indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Housing and Urban Development Inspector General (HUD-OIG) Kenneth M. Donohue, and other members of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force today announced the results of a nationwide takedown, Operation Stolen Dreams, which targeted mortgage fraudsters throughout the country and is the largest collective enforcement effort ever brought to bear in confronting mortgage fraud.

The United States filed a False Claims Act suit against R&J Feed Co., Jerry Goodwin, Richard Carter and Carter Livestock Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo.

"This operation began on March 1, and to date involved 1,215 criminal defendants nationwide, defendants who were allegedly responsible for more than $2.3 billion in losses," said Attorney General Holder.

Steven Walter Cooke, 47, a reputed high ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) prison/street gang and a previously convicted felon, has been sentenced to prison for possessing firearms.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today the agenda and panelists for the June 25 workshop examining competition in the dairy industry.

As part of the Obama Administration’s launch of the first-ever Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, Attorney General Eric Holder today emphasized the Department of Justice’s ongoing commitment to protecting U.S. intellectual property as central to America’s economic prosperity and public safety.

Two Taiwanese nationals were sentenced to prison today in federal court in the U.S. Virgin Islands for conspiracy to ship internationally protected black coral into the United States in violation of federal wildlife statutes.

Timothy Christenbury, 47, was sentenced today in Charlotte, N.C., to 72 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release following his prison term for possessing child pornography.

Mikalai Mardakhayeu, a Belarusian national residing in Nantucket, Mass., was arrested Wednesday night and charged for his alleged participation in an international online “phishing” scheme to steal income tax refunds intended for U.S. taxpayers around the country.

John Webster Warwick, a Virginia Beach, Va., resident, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to former Panamanian government officials to secure maritime contracts.

Homer Richardson of Loveland, Ohio, pleaded guilty in federal district court in Cincinnati to corruptly impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code.

Today in Sacramento, Calif., U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez sentenced a couple from Fairfield, Calif., for their roles in a July 2007 beating of an American citizen who is originally from India.

Seven members of the gang known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, were sentenced to prison Tuesday for their participation in a racketeering enterprise.

Quang Nguyen, 22, of Philadelphia was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond to 70 months in prison for his role in distributing large amounts of marijuana and ecstasy pills in the United States.

Arthur Batala, Darrell Batala and Steven Silas, all members of the Hopi Indian Tribe of Arizona, were sentenced for taking and possessing a golden eagle in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a federal law that protects most species of birds in the United States.

Four defendants were sentenced today in connection with their participation in an online child pornography conspiracy, while a fifth defendant was sentenced for receiving child pornography.