Detroit area physical therapist Jay Jha, 45, pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program of approximately $18.3 million.

A federal court in Newark, N.J., denied Schering-Plough Corp. a $473 million refund in connection with two transactions in which Schering-Plough sought to avoid taxation on $690 million in profits it repatriated from offshore subsidiaries into the United States.

The Department filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta condominium association, as well as the owner of a unit and the real estate agent who sold it, for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against families with children.

Donald Daniels, Martin William Washburn, Irina Rebegeneau and Tapani Koivunen have been charged in conjunction with a scheme to defraud the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a government lending agency.

Today, a federal grand jury returned a superseding criminal indictment in the Daniel Patrick Boyd matter. While the superseding indictment returned today includes all of the charges alleged in the original indictment of July 22, 2009, it also includes new charges against three defendants, Daniel Patrick Boyd, aka "Saifullah," Hysen Sherifi, and Zakariya Boyd, aka "Zak."

A Saddle River, N.J., man pleaded guilty today to failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank or Financial Accounts (F-BAR. Juergen Homann appeared today before Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark, N.J., and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $5 million in Swiss bank accounts.

Suresh Chand pleaded guilty today to participating in multiple conspiracies to defraud the Medicare program and to launder the proceeds of the fraud.

Formosa Plastics Corp., Texas, and Formosa Plastics Corp., Louisiana, will spend more than $10 million on pollution controls to address air, water, and hazardous waste violations at two petrochemical plants in Point Comfort, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La.

AGCO Corp., a U.S. corporation based in Duluth, Ga., has agreed to pay a $1.6 million penalty for illegal kickbacks paid to the former government of Iraq.

“Today’s settlement reflects the Justice Department’s ongoing commitment to protect the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

A federal judge today assessed the Southern Union Company $18 million for illegally storing mercury at a company-owned site in Pawtucket.

“It is critical that Medicare providers base their DME purchasing decisions on what is in the best interests of their patients,” stated Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

A federal district court in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and other overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in the Nov. 4, 2008, general election.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs.

“With the nation’s focus on health care, this settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that federal health care dollars are spent appropriately,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

Today Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of nearly 1,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 11.7 tons of narcotics as part of a 44-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Project Coronado.”

David Plummer, Spencer Plummer and Terry Green, operators of a fraudulent tax shelter that offered tax benefits in connection with the leasing of thoroughbred mares, pleaded guilty today to a criminal information charging them with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

A Highland Falls, N.Y., woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to defraud and embezzle funds from the U.S. government by authorizing nearly $3 million in payments from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., to a bogus corporation she controlled.

A hospital group based in McAllen, Texas, has agreed to pay the United States $27.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute between 1999 and 2006, by paying illegal compensation to doctors in order to induce them to refer patients to hospitals within the group

The nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy, Omnicare Inc. of Covington, Kentucky, will pay $98 million, and drug manufacturer, IVAX Pharmaceuticals of Weston, Florida, will pay $14 million to resolve allegations that Omnicare engaged in kickback schemes with several parties, including IVAX.

The department announced the largest monetary payment ever obtained by the department in the settlement of a case alleging housing discrimination in the rental of apartments.

Robert Young, 57, a former captain in the U.S. Army, was sentenced today to 97 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to steal approximately 10 million gallons of fuel from the U.S. Army in Iraq, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride.

A federal court in Milwaukee, Wis., today issued a preliminary injunction ordering a Milwaukee heating contractor and its owner and president to comply with federal employment tax payment requirements.

Under the settlement, which must still be approved by the court, 11 defendants will pay all costs related to making the complexes for which they were responsible accessible to persons with disabilities.

Sergei Tsurikov, 25, of Tallinn, Estonia; Viktor Pleshchuk, 28, of St. Petersburg, Russia; Oleg Covelin, 28, of Chisinau, Moldova; and a person known only as "Hacker 3;" have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, Ga., on charges of hacking into a computer network operated by the Atlanta-based credit card processing company RBS WorldPay, which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

A South Korean businessman was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy involving a $206 million telecommunications contract and employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals - Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest and Northwest Permanente P.C., Physicians & Surgeons (collectively, Kaiser NW) has agreed to pay the United States $1,830,322.41 to settle False Claims Act liability.

A former consultant for Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and officials from a Nigerian political party.

The United States has entered into a settlement with a New Jersey hospital and filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit against a New York hospital involving allegations that the hospitals defrauded Medicare.

Febe Durango-Rueda, 52, a Colombian national, pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2009, to participating in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of more than $1 million.

Four individuals were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or "spamming."

Six individuals were sentenced today in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or "spamming."

The Kerlan Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, a sports medicine clinic in Los Angeles, has agreed to pay the United States $3 million to settle allegations that it received illegal kickbacks from HealthSouth Corporation.

Companies directly affected by the LCD price-fixing conspiracy are some of the largest computer and television manufacturers in the world, including Apple, Dell and HP.

University of Phoenix has agreed to pay the United States $67.5 million to resolve allegations that its student recruitment policies violated the False Claims Act.

Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services Inc., the parent company of two New Jersey hospitals, has agreed to pay the United States $7.95 million to resolve allegations that the hospitals defrauded Medicare.

The forfeiture is the largest ever entered against an entity for IEEPA violations.

The United States and the state of New York have entered into settlement agreements with three home health agencies to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to the New York Medicaid and Medicare programs.

“This important settlement resolves lengthy litigation on very favorable terms,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

“The resolution of this matter yielded a substantial recovery for taxpayers, and it underscores our commitment to ensure that services reimbursable by federal health care programs are based on the best interests of patients rather than the personal financial interests of referring physicians,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Civil Division.

Visiting Physicians Association, which is based in Farmington Hills, Mich., will pay the United States and the state of Michigan $9.5 million to settle allegations that the association violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare, TRICARE and the Michigan Medicaid program.

Chevron Corporation, Texaco, Unocal Incorporated and their affiliates (the Chevron companies) have agreed to pay the United States $45,569,584.74, to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases.

“The Department of Justice will be vigilant in pursuing cases against medical device companies that break the law and defraud taxpayers,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

UTStarcom Inc. (UTSI) has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice, agreeing to pay a $1.5 million fine for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by providing travel and other things of value to foreign officials, specifically employees at state-owned telecommunications firms in the People’s Republic of China.

A former Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) official was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ga., to three years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy involving a multi-million dollar telecommunications contract, and for not reporting the bribes he accepted on his income tax returns.

Thirteen Detroit-area residents were arrested today by federal agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and FBI in connection with an alleged home health care scheme to defraud the Medicare program of more than $14.5 million.

The 16 indictments unsealed today represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ’s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The Department has reached a settlement in its lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee on behalf of Michael Crivello, a detective in the Milwaukee Police Department, alleging the city violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The United States alleged that FORBA was liable for causing the submission of claims for reimbursement for a wide range of dental services provided to low-income children that were either medically unnecessary or performed in a manner that failed to meet professionally-recognized standards of care.

Pacific Pipeline Systems LLP, a Long Beach, Calif.-based oil transport company, has agreed to pay a $1.3 million civil penalty and discontinue the use of a section of pipeline through an unstable section of mountains to resolve a Clean Water Act violation.