There is, I am convinced, no higher honor nor greater privilege than to serve one’s fellow citizens. Four years ago, this Committee endorsed and the Senate confirmed my nomination to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

A former correctional officer at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., yesterday pleaded guilty to assaulting an inmate and conspiring with other officers to cover up that assault.

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced today to serve 12 years in prison for coercing and enticing a minor and possessing child pornography.

The former president and CEO, and the former vice president of corporate finance of China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited (CNEP), an oil and gas company whose stock is traded in the United States, have been charged with defrauding investors in connection with public offerings of stock.

Anthony K. Mastrogiovanni, 30, of Crofton, Md., pleaded guilty today to the sexual exploitation of minors to produce child pornography

Two former police officers with the Police of Puerto Rico were convicted of attempting to extort a commonwealth defendant and soliciting bribe payments of $50,000.

Manssor Arbabsiar, aka “Mansour Arbabsiar,” was sentenced today in New York City federal court to 25 years in prison for participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. while the Ambassador was in the U.S..

Joseph Rizzuti, of Stuart, Fla., was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

William P. Danielczyk Jr. was sentenced today to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally reimbursing $186,600 in contributions to the Senate and Presidential campaign committees of a candidate for federal office and then obstructing the subsequent law enforcement investigation.

A forfeiture judgment was executed today against real property with an estimated value of more than $700,000 in Rockville, Md., that had been purchased with corruption proceeds traceable to Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the City of West Columbia, S.C., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.

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.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with the Yuba County Water Agency.

The United States has extradited Sulejman Mujagic, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a resident of Utica, N.Y., to stand trial in Bosnia for charges relating to the torture and murder of one prisoner of war and the torture of another during the armed conflict in Bosnia.

Attorney General Eric Holder today welcomed Karol V. Mason as the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

Michael P. Jackson, 40, of Carmi, Ill., was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to serve 72 months in prison for selling the prescription drug known as Adderall.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. sentenced Anthony McIntosh, a former correctional officer at the Prince George’s County Detention Center, in Upper Marlboro, Md., to 24 months in prison for obstruction of justice.

Ashraf Hassan-Gouda, a former resident of Mays Landing, N.J., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to 541 days in prison.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with the Linda County Water District, a special district in California, that, if approved by the court, will allow for the district to bail out from its status as a “covered jurisdiction” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

Lansing-area resident Dr. Paul Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for his role in a $13.8 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Steven Patrick Garcia, Jr., 36, of San Jose, Calif., was sentenced today in federal court in Billings, Mont., to 24 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release for selling and offering to sell migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Lacey Act, the Department of Justice announced today. Garcia had pleaded guilty to the charge on January 16, 2013.

A former employee at the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB-Albany) and two local businessmen were sentenced today for their roles in a bribery scheme related to the award of contracts for machine products that resulted in approximately $907,000 in fraudulent overcharges to the U.S. Marines.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has mandated systemic reform of unconstitutional conditions at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), by entering the proposed consent judgment executed by the United States, class plaintiffs, and Sheriff Marlin Gusman in Jones v. Gusman. The agreement was filed with the court by the parties on Dec. 11, 2012.

Thanks to my dedicated colleagues – the nearly 116,000 employees serving in offices around the world – in recent years, the Department has made tremendous progress in protecting the safety, and the sacred rights, of the American people. Nowhere is this clearer than in our work to ensure America’s national security.

Two federal judges in separate cases entered orders permanently barring Marvin Binion Sr., his son Marvin Binion II, Binion Sr.’s ex-wife Tonya Hubbard and her firm Universal Tax Service LLC from preparing tax returns for others.

A former member of the U.S. Army National Guard was sentenced today to serve 57 months in prison for leading a conspiracy to obtain approximately $244,000 in fraudulent recruiting referral bonuses from various U.S. military components and their contractor, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has issued an order permanently barring Nataki Davis, (formerly known as Nataki Barnes), a Southfield, Mich., tax preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others for a period of five years, the Justice Department announced today.

Doreen Hendrickson of Commerce Township, Mich., was arrested today following an indictment by a federal grand jury for criminal contempt.

The Justice Department today unveiled a plan calling for sweeping changes to advance crime victims’ rights and services in the 21st century.

A federal jury in Tampa found four former executives of WellCare Health Plans Inc., a health maintenance organization (HMO) operator, guilty of various charges, including health care fraud, making false statements relating to health care matters and making false statements to a law enforcement officer, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The Department of Justice today announced new guidelines for the payment of attorneys’ fees and expenses in large chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in order to enhance disclosure and transparency in the compensation process and to help ensure that attorneys’ fees and expenses are based on market rates.

The former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage, a loan servicing company in Nevada, pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo Bank out of more than $8 million.

The Justice Department announced today that Timothy Lassiter, the former chief deputy of the Hertford County, N.C., Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Elizabeth City, N.C., to violating the civil rights of an inmate during a court appearance

A former U.S. Congressman and a real-estate investor were convicted today by a federal jury in Tucson, Ariz., of conspiring together to extort and bribe individuals seeking a federal land exchange.

The former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage, a loan servicing company in Nevada, pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo Bank out of more than $8 million.

Al J. Hurley, a former county commissioner in Sumter County, Ga., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison stemming from his acceptance of illicit payments in exchange for his official efforts to secure government contracts for a private contractor.

Christopher Cordelle Davis, of Montgomery County, Ala., was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama for his role in a scheme to file fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today following Davis’s arrest.

Today the United States and the state of Arkansas filed a joint enforcement action against ExxonMobil Pipeline Company and Mobil Pipe Line Company (ExxonMobil) in federal district court in Little Rock, Ark.

Lanisha D. Applewhite of Richmond, Calif., was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco, for aiding and assisting the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent federal income tax returns as well as identity fraud.

In an indictment unsealed on June 12, 2013, Robert and Judy Sathre, of Sheridan, Wyo. were charged by a federal grand jury in Cheyenne, Wyo., for conspiring to defraud the IRS and tax evasion relating to taxes owed by Robert Sathre for tax years 1995 and 1996. Judy Sathre was also charged with filing a false tax return for tax year 2007.

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City yesterday returned an indictment charging Dick Reid Jenkins, a resident of Heber City, Utah with eighteen counts of presenting false claims to the United States.

Today’s agreement is about opportunity. It’s about growth. And it’s about human dignity. That’s because today’s agreement centers on integrating people with disabilities into the engine of the economic mainstream: the workplace.

Two executives at a Virginia-based security contracting firm were sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia for their roles in using a front company to obtain more than $31 million intended for disadvantaged small businesses as part of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program. This program allows qualified small businesses to receive sole-source and competitive-bid contracts set aside for minority-owned and disadvantaged small businesses.

Roland Kaufmann, CEO of Axius, Inc., was sentenced today to serve 16 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to bribe purported stock brokers and manipulate the stock of a company he controlled.

Walter Lee Williams, a former university professor, has been indicted for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with minors and producing child pornography.

A Northern California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

The United States sued a Southlake, Texas woman last night, seeking to bar her from preparing federal tax returns for others

Cross Nicastro, Dominick Mazza, and his company, Mazza & Sons Inc., were sentenced today and yesterday in federal court in Utica, N.Y., for conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act, Superfund statute, and to defraud the United States by illegally dumping thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris on a 28-acre piece of property on the Mohawk River in upstate New York.

Four Harlan County, Ky., relatives were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove for their roles in kidnapping and assaulting Kevin Pennington, a gay man.

MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. will pay a $720,000 civil penalty to settle charges that the company violated premerger reporting and waiting requirements when it acquired voting securities of Scientific Games Corporation.