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Pest Control Company and Its Owner Charged with Unlawful Application of Pesticides and Falsification

A pest control services company and its owner have been charged today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia with conspiracy, unlawful use of pesticides, false statements, falsification of records and mail fraud, announced Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Michael J. Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.



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Florida Doctors, Hospitals and Clinics to Pay $3.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Improper Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE Billing

Radiation oncology providers in Pensacola, Fla., will pay $3.5 million to the government and the state of Florida to resolve allegations that they billed Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE – the health care program for uniformed service members, retirees and their families worldwide – for radiation oncology services that were not eligible for payment.



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Commercial Fisherman Charged with Witness Tampering Related to an Investigation into the Illegal Harvesting of Striped Bass

Michael D. Hayden Jr., 41, of Tilghman’s Island, Md., was arrested yesterday on charges of witness tampering and retaliation in connection with an investigation of felony Lacey Act violations related to the illegal harvesting of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay.



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Tennessee Federal Court Bars the Owners of Mo’ Money Taxes from Owning, Operating, Licensing or Franchsing a Tax Return Preparation Business and Preparing Tax Returns for Others

A federal court in Memphis, Tenn., permanently barred the owners of Mo’ Money Taxes, Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson, as well as a former Mo’ Money manager, Eumora Reese, from preparing tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax return preparation business, the Justice Department announced today.



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Citgo Agrees to Reduce Air Pollution and Pay Penalty to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations at Two Refineries

The Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Houston-based CITGO Petroleum Corp. (CITGO) has agreed to pay a $737,000 civil penalty and to implement projects to reduce harmful air pollution, resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its petroleum refining facilities located in Lemont, Ill., and Lake Charles (Westlake), La.



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Justice Department Prevails in “Stars” Tax Shelter Case, Court Imposes Over $100 Million in Penalties

On Friday, the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., ruled that a subsidiary of the BB&T Corporation was not entitled to $660 million in tax benefits that BB&T claimed based on its participation in an abusive tax shelter known as Structured Trust Advantaged Repackaged Securities (STARS). Judge Thomas C. Wheeler, who delivered the opinion of the Court, imposed $112 million in penalties.



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Former Federal Contractor Petitions to Plead Guilty to Unlawfullly Disclosing National Defense Information and Distributing Child Pornography

Donald John Sachtleben, a former FBI bomb technician who later worked as a government contractor for the agency, has filed a petition to plead guilty to newly filed charges of unlawfully disclosing national defense information relating to a disrupted terrorist plot. Sachtleben previously had filed a petition to plead guilty to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography resulting from a separate investigation.



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Former President of Qualcomm’s Global Business Operations Indicted for Insider Trading

Jing Wang, 51, of Del Mar, Calif., a former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations for Qualcomm Inc., was charged with insider trading in shares of both Qualcomm and Atheros Communications Inc. using a secret brokerage account and an offshore shell company in the British Virgin Islands. Wang was also charged with conspiring with his brother, co-defendant Bing Wang, 53, and his former stock broker to obstruct an ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation and laundering the proceeds of his insider trading using a second offshore shell company and secret brokerage account.



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Justice Department Resolves Citizenship Status Discrimination Charge Against Pennsylvania Employer Huber Nurseries

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.



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Six Charged in Ohio with Operating an Illegal Gambling Business and Other Related Offenses

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Reece Powers II, the former co-owner of R&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.



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Former Employee of Florida Property Management Company Sentenced to Serve Time in Prison for Wire Fraud

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.



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Pennsylvania Man Admits Conspiring with Alleged Members of Organized Crime Family and Others in Fraud Scheme

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.



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Justice Department Files Sexual Harassment Lawsuit in Michigan Against Owners and Property Manager of Alger Meadow Apartments

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.



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Former Project Manager Convicted for Role in Conspiracy Schemes Involving Two EPA Superfund Sites in New Jersey

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.



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Vietnamese National Charged in Widespread International Scheme to Steal and Sell Hundreds of Thousands of U.s. Persons’ Personally Identifiable Information

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.



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Operators of Michigan Adult Day Care Centers Convicted in $3.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

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.



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Diebold Incorporated Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agrees to Pay $25.2 Million Criminal Penalty

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.



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Former USAID Senior Official to Pay Civil Penalty for Alleged Conflict of Interest Violation

David Ostermeyer, who retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2012, will pay the government a $30,000 penalty to settle allegations that he participated in a matter in which he had a financial interest that conflicted with his duties when he was Chief Financial Officer of the agency.



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Former Brokerage Firm Operations Head Indicted for Tax Crimes

An indictment was unsealed today charging Dominick Pannitti, formerly of North Bellmore, N.Y., with tax crimes, the Justice Department announced.



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Rabobank Admits Wrongdoing in Libor Investigation, Agrees to Pay $325 Million Criminal Penalty

Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank) has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $325 million penalty to resolve violations arising from Rabobank’s submissions for the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), which are leading benchmark interest rates around the world, the Justice Department announced today.



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Owners and Supervisor of Ambulance Transportation Company Plead Guilty in Los Angeles for Role in Ambulance Fraud Scheme

The owners and supervisor of Alpha Ambulance Inc. (Alpha), a now-defunct Los Angeles-area ambulance transportation company, have pleaded guilty in connection with an ambulance fraud scheme.



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Justice Department Files Lawsuit in Massachusetts Against Iron Workers Union Trustees and Pension Fund to Enforce the Employment Rights of Navy Reserve Member

The Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz announced today the filing of a complaint alleging that the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 7 (the union) and Iron Workers District Council of New England Pension Fund (the Pension Fund) willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by failing to credit U.S. Navy Reserve Member Thomas Shea with service time while he was serving in the armed forces in Afghanistan.



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US Government Intervenes in False Claims Lawsuit Against United States Investigations Services for Failing to Perform Required Quality Reviews of Background Investigations

The government has intervened in a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act against United States Investigations Services LLC (USIS) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleging that USIS, located in Falls Church, Va., failed to perform quality control reviews in connection with its background investigations for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).



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AT&T Agrees to Settle Allegations Involving IP Relay Services Provided to Hearing- and Speech-Impaired Persons

AT&T has agreed to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act in connection with a program administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).



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Chicago Lawyer Permanently Barred from Promoting Tax-Fraud Schemes and Preparing Related Tax Returns

A federal court has permanently barred Gary J. Stern from promoting tax fraud schemes and from preparing related tax returns, the Justice Department announced today.



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Justice Department Requires US Airways and American Airlines to Divest Facilities at Seven Key Airports to Enhance System-wide Competition and Settle Merger Challenge

The Department of Justice today announced that it is requiring US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines’ parent corporation, AMR Corp. to divest slots and gates at key constrained airports across the country to low cost carrier airlines (LCCs) in order to enhance system-wide competition in the airline industry resulting in more choices and more competitive airfares for consumers.



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Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division Ronald T. Hosko Testify Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights on Cartel Prosecution

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and FBI Assistant Director Ronald T. Hosko testify on cartel prosecution before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights




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Pittsburgh Repeat Offender Sentenced to Prison for Tax Obstruction

Michael Carlow, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pa., was sentenced today to serve 35 months in prison for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced.



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Nursing Home Operator to Pay $48 Million to Resolve Allegations That Six California Facilities Billed for Unnecessary Therapy

The Ensign Group Inc., a skilled nursing provider based in Mission Viejo, Calif., that operates nursing homes across the western U.S. has agreed to pay $48 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted to Medicare false claims for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services.



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Cabot Corporation Agrees to Spend Over $84 Million to Control Harmful Air Pollution at Louisiana and Texas Facilities

Boston-based Cabot Corporation, the second largest carbon black manufacturer in the United States, has agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty and spend an estimated $84 million on state of the art technology to control harmful air pollution, resolving alleged violations of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its three facilities in the towns of Franklin and Ville Platte, La., and Pampa, Texas, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. This agreement is the first to result from a national enforcement initiative aimed at bringing carbon black manufacturers into compliance with the CAA’s NSR provisions.



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Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Speaks at the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Conference

"In nascent democracies, however, public corruption can undermine the very existence of the types of democratic institutions that we take for granted," said Deputy Attorney General Cole




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Superseding Indictment Returned Charging Father and Son with Sex Trafficking Offenses

A federal grand jury in Milwaukee has returned an 11-count superseding indictment adding David B. Moore, 45, as a defendant in the federal sex trafficking case involving his son, Najee Moore, 22.



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Four Commercial Fishermen Indicted in Maryland for Illegal Harvest and Interstate Sale of Striped Bass from Chesapeake Bay

Four commercial fishermen and one company were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Baltimore for a criminal conspiracy involving the illegal harvesting and interstate sale of striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay.



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Justice Department Charges Minn. Condominium Association, Management Company and Property Manager with Discrimination Against Families with Children

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the homeowner’s association, management company and property manager of a Minnetonka, Minn., condominium complex, alleging that they discriminated against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act.



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Former Suppliers of Beef to National School Lunch Program Settle Allegations of Improper Practices and Mistreating Cows

Several California companies and individuals that formerly supplied beef to the National School Lunch Program have agreed to settle allegations of inhumane handling of cattle, circumventing appropriate inspection of nonambulatory disabled (“downer”) cattle and false representations regarding their eligibility to process beef.



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Former KKK Leader Indicted for Cross Burning in Alabama; Second KKK Member Indicted for Perjury

Steven Joshua Dinkle, former Exalted Cyclops of a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Ozark, Ala., was arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 27, in Mississippi for burning a cross at the entrance to a predominantly African-American neighborhood and for obstructing the investigation into the offense.



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Federal Agents Arrest Operators of Loan Modification Scam That Targeted Struggling Homeowners

Federal agents arrested Bryan D’Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris for operating the Rodis Law Group and America’s Law Group, businesses that allegedly offered bogus loan modification assistance to struggling homeowners; and Attorney Ronald Rodis surrendered to federal agents on for his alleged role in the operation.



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Information Technology Specialist at National Science Foundation Pleads Guilty to Stealing $90,000 from Government

An information technology specialist working for the National Science Foundation (NSF) pleaded guilty late yesterday to theft of government property totaling more than $90,000



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Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Newseum to Improve Access for People with Disabilities

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with Newseum Inc., which owns and operates the Newseum, to address alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).



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Northrop Grumman Corp. Pays $11.4 Million to Resolve Allegations That It Improperly Charged Costs to Government Contracts

The Justice Department announced today that Northrop Grumman Corp. has paid the United States $11.4 million to settle a government claim for penalties provided under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and False Claims Act allegations stemming from its failure to abide by a 2002 settlement agreement with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).



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German Engineering Firm Bilfinger Resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges and Agrees to Pay $32 Million Criminal Penalty

Bilfinger SE, an international engineering and services company based in Mannheim, Germany, has agreed to pay a $32 million penalty to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to obtain and retain contracts



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Alabama Shrimper Convicted for Shooting Dolphin

An Alabama man pleaded guilty yesterday in a federal court in Gulfport, Miss., to knowingly shooting a dolphin, the Justice Department announced.



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Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Hacking into Multiple Computer Networks

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme to hack into computer networks and sell access to those networks.



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Former Contractor of a Florida Property Management Company Sentenced to Serve Time in Prison for Wire Fraud

A former repair contractor of a Florida property management company was sentenced to serve time in prison for his participation in a wire fraud scheme related to housing repairs made under a contract between Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).



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Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the Investiture Ceremony for Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Kevin Ohlson

I know it hasn’t always been easy to be related to such a renowned, respected, and dedicated public servant – whose passion for the law, and determination to help his country address the toughest legal challenges, has often kept him at the office late into the night – and made him absent from too many family dinners and special occasions.




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Alabama Real Estate Developer Pleads Guilty to Filling Protected Mississippi Wetlands

Real estate developer from Fairhope, Ala., pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Gulfport, Miss., to the unpermitted filling of wetlands near Bay St. Louis, Miss., in violation of the Clean Water Act



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Tennessee Cardiologist to Pay $1.15 Million to Settle Allegations That He Performed Medically Unnecessary Heart Procedures

Cardiologist Dr. Elie H. Korban will pay $1.15 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that he billed Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary cardiac stent placement.



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Energy Company to Pay $3.2 Million Penalty to Resolve Clean Water Violations in West Virginia

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy,will spend an EPA-estimated $6.5 million to restore 27 sites damaged by unauthorized discharges of fill material



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Justice Department Announces Fair Housing Settlement with W.V. Developer

The Justice Department announced today that developer Douglas Pauley and entities affiliated with him have agreed to pay $110,000 and make all retrofits required to remove accessibility barriers at 30 apartment complexes, involving more than 750 units, in West Virginia that were developed through the federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.



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Justice Department Settles Discrimination Lawsuit Against Reading Parking Authority in Pennsylvania

The Department of Justice announced today that it has entered a consent decree with the Reading Parking Authority (RPA) in the City of Reading, Pa., which, if approved by the court, will resolve a lawsuit filed by the United States on June 27, 2013.



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