The United States has reached a settlement resolving a housing discrimination lawsuit in Tennessee concerning discrimination against families with children, the Justice Department announced.

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.

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc., and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga., have agreed to pay a $350,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

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.

"My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family of Dr. Eduardo Caraveo, a Bureau of Prisons psychologist who was killed Thursday at Ft. Hood, as well as to all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones in this tragic event. No words can ease the pain they are feeling today."

Laurie O. Robinson was sworn in today as Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

After conducting a careful investigation of the proposed transaction between Oracle and Sun, the Department’s Antitrust Division concluded that the merger is unlikely to be anticompetitive.

The government complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas alleges that Travis Nicholas Stenline of Seagoville, Texas, operates a business he calls Nick Tax or Nick’s Taxes that prepares fraudulent returns for customers.

Two companies and the city of St. Maries, Idaho, have agreed to clean up a superfund site in St. Maries at a cost estimated more than $12 million.

The agreement was reached under “Project Civic Access,” a Justice Department initiative to bring state and local governments into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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).

Frederic A. Bourke Jr., of Greenwich, Conn., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to one year and one day in prison.

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.

Steven W. Burgess, a former Jackson County, Mo., sheriff’s deputy, pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the civil rights of a teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted in his patrol car.

The department filed a lawsuit today in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri alleging a pattern or practice of violations of the Fair Housing Act by the owner and managers of Forum Manor Apartments for refusing to rent to African-Americans and males, refusing to allow tenants to have African-American visitors, sexually harassing female tenants and retaliating against tenants who complained about such discrimination.

The Departments of Justice and Defense today announced forum decisions for ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay whose cases were previously charged in military commissions, including five detainees accused of conspiring to commit the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and a detainee accused of orchestrating the attack on the USS Cole

The all-day workshops, which will begin in March 2010, will be held in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.

Charles Paul Edward Jumet of Fluvanna County, Va., pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to Panamanian government officials to secure a maritime contract.

Former U.S. Congressman William J. Jefferson, 62, of New Orleans, La., was sentenced today to 13 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for using his office to corruptly solicit bribes.

“The history of the Environment and Natural Resources Division reminds us of the importance of our nation’s public lands and natural resources to the development of this country, and the important role of the division in protecting these resources for future generations,” said Attorney General Holder.

Scott Anthony Walker, 36, of Australia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to solicit a kickback.

The agreement was reached under “Project Civic Access,” a Department initiative to bring state and local governments into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Department and IRS announced that over 14,700 taxpayers have come forward to report previously-undisclosed foreign bank accounts under the voluntary disclosure program the IRS implemented following the settlement.

The Department said that the deal as originally proposed would substantially lessen competition in the manufacture of refinery desalters in the United States.

“This task force’s mission is not just to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial meltdown, but to prevent another meltdown from happening,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Consuelo Carreto Valencia, a member of the Carreto family sex trafficking ring that operated between Mexico and Queens, N.Y., was sentenced to 121 months in prison for benefitting financially from her participation in the organization, which transported young Mexican women to the United States and forced them into prostitution.

"We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing, and will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives."

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.

Kristine Lafoe was sentenced to serve one year in prison and two years of supervised release for her role in covering up systematic detainee abuse.

Detroit resident Jaquita Lovelace and Miami resident Timothy Pierce have pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in conspiracies to defraud the Medicare program.

“Rooting out fraud and safeguarding taxpayers from illegal conduct are among the Justice Department’s highest priorities,” said Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Md., has indicted 19 alleged members of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (Latin Kings) for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

After three years of satisfying obligations under a deferred prosecution agreement, the charges against Statoil ASA for violating the anti-bribery and accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have been dismissed with prejudice.

“The individuals charged in connection with today’s operation are alleged to have stolen tens of millions of dollars from an important government program that is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with hearing persons,” said Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer.

Walter Kendall Myers, 72, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and two counts of wire fraud. His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.

“This officer abandoned his law enforcement role and engaged in a bizarre scheme to target innocent victims for his own personal gain. Officers who abuse their power in this way will be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the Civil Rights Division.

The former general manager of a Sugar Land, Texas-based business was arrested on Nov. 18, 2009, for his alleged role in a conspiracy to bribe Mexican government officials to secure contracts with the Comisión Federal de Electridad (CFE), a Mexican state-owned utility company.

According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab.

Joshua Ryan Jones and Roger Forrester, former corrections officers at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tenn., pleaded guilty today to violating the civil rights of an inmate and then lying about it during state and federal investigations.

The lawsuit alleges that Terence Flanagan refused to rent a single-family house he owns in Orland Park, Ill., to Kamal Alex Majeid, who is African-American, because of his race.

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."

The complex tax scheme involved numerous entities located around the globe and sales of over $1.25 billion in securities

Ten individuals were indicted today, charged with, among other things, conspiring to export weapons from Philadelphia to the Port of Latakia, Syria.

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 agreement was reached under the department’s Project Civic Access initiative to bring localities into full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Isaac White, formerly an officer with the Memphis Police Department, pleaded guilty today to using excessive force and causing bodily injury. White faces up to 10 years in prison for the civil rights violation.

The department said the transaction, as originally proposed, would substantially lessen competition in infectious waste collection and treatment services to hospitals and other critical healthcare facilities.

The department will monitor polling place activities for compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 during the Dec. 1, 2009, municipal run-off election in Union Point, Ga.

The department filed a lawsuit in federal court in West Virginia alleging that MasTec Advanced Technologies willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by discriminating against a U.S. Army Reserve member on the basis of his military service and by failing to offer Burress an appropriate reemployment position when he returned from military service.

Michael Parker of Baltimore, who was the chief operating officer of TransCapital Corporation, a tax-advantaged investments company based in Northen Virginia, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.