Fleet Management Ltd., a Hong Kong-based ship management firm, pleaded guilty today to a criminal violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for its role in negligently causing the discharge of more than 50,000 gallons of fuel oil into San Francisco Bay from the Cosco Busan when the vessel struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge in dense fog on Nov. 7, 2007.

The operator and manager of the Rathbone Retirement Community in Evansville, Ind., has agreed to pay up to $116,000 to resolve a housing discrimination lawsuit. The November 2008 lawsuit alleged that the defendants violated the Fair Housing Act by prohibiting the use of motorized wheelchairs and scooters in residents’ apartments and in the home’s common dining room during meals.

A fifth individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files. Kevin M. Young, 42, of Temple Hills, Md., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized computer access. Young is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9, 2009.

Seven individuals from around New England have been indicted in federal court in Boston for conspiracies to defraud the United States through the promotion and use of multiple tax fraud schemes.

A sixth individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files. Karal Busch, 28, of District Heights, Md., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging her with unauthorized computer access.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the developer of the Riverwalk Condominiums, a condominium apartment complex in Post Falls, Idaho, for violating the Fair Housing Act by constructing apartments that do not have required accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

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.

The Department will not challenge a proposal by Memorial Health Inc. (Memorial), and St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (St. Joseph’s/Candler) to enter an exclusive joint purchasing agreement with respect to the purchase of certain medical and surgical supplies.

Adam S. Pretti, a former deputy with the Shelby County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Office, was sentenced today in federal court in Memphis to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release for using excessive force during an encounter with a citizen. Pretti was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and a $100 special assessment.

Robert P. Merz was sentenced to life in prison today for advertising, transporting, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Mark Edwin Cairnes of Jonestown, Texas, pleaded guilty today to advertising and possessing child pornography.

A Florida doctor was charged today by a federal grand jury in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., with allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent political fund raising and lobbying scheme through which he secretly diverted to himself more than $350,000 from contributions to political organizations he controlled.

The city violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to grant a nonprofit organization a permit to operate a group home for 11 men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

“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.

The United States has reached a settlement with ranchers in a longstanding dispute over livestock trespasses on public lands in Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nev.

The Department announced this week that it has filed a lawsuit against TK Properties L.L.C., its officer, Scott Terveen, and two employees, Ann Wagner and Corey Anderson, for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race.

A former State Department employee was sentenced today to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 75 confidential passport application files.

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.

Laura Wang-Woodford, a U.S. citizen who served as a director of Monarch Aviation Pte Ltd., a Singapore company that imported and exported military and commercial aircraft components for more than 20 years, was sentenced today in federal court in Brooklyn to 46 months in prison for conspiring to violate the U.S. trade embargo by exporting controlled aircraft components to Iran.

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.

Susan Holloman, 58, of Washington, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with unauthorized computer access.

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.

A federal jury in Indianapolis convicted William Travis Brown on July 23, 2009, of one count of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography.

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.

A federal grand jury in Greensboro, N.C., returned an indictment today charging a poultry processor and a plant manager with multiple violations of the Clean Water Act for illegally discharging wastewater from its Raeford, N.C., based facility

A Washington, D.C., fish wholesaler and two of its employees have been charged in U.S. District Court in Maryland for the purchase of illegally harvested striped bass, commonly referred to as rockfish, from the Potomac River from 1995 through 2007.

Kevin M. Young, 42, was sentenced today to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 125 confidential passport application files. Young was also ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in the District of Columbia to perform 100 hours of community service.

A ninth individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division announced.

Karal Busch, 28, of District Heights, Md., was sentenced today to 24 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 65 confidential passport application files.

Mark Edwin Cairnes, 51, was sentenced today to 292 months in prison and lifetime supervised release following his prison term for advertising and possessing child pornography.

Elias Perocier Morales received a sentence of 10 years in prison and Eliezer Rivera Gonzalez received a sentence of six and a half years in prison.

The findings reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) report, Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-2009, bring into focus the dire circumstances that too many youth in juvenile correctional facilities have to endure.

Freddy Deoliveira, who held various supervisory positions at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The United States has filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J) of New Brunswick, N.J., and two of its subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.

As a part of the tax conspiracy, Ronald Boyarsky assisted in paying approximately $2.6 million in commissions earned by a printing services broker to third parties, so that the broker and his companies could avoid paying taxes on the income they earned.

To date, nine current or former State Department employees or contractors have pleaded guilty in this continuing investigation.

The Department announced the settlement of a lawsuit alleging that those involved in the design and construction of two multifamily housing complexes in Davenport, Iowa, violated the Fair Housing Act.

The Civil Rights Division reached an agreement with the Latvian Tower Condominium Association Inc. and its former president, Karl Tegtmeyer, to settle allegations of discrimination against families with children.

A U.S. Army contracting official was charged today with bribery and unlawful salary supplementation in connection with two schemes to solicit more than $30,000 in bribes from an Egyptian businessman in Kuwait.

"After a thorough review of the evidence, the division has determined that the proposed transaction is not likely to substantially lessen competition in the United States."

Fleet Management Ltd. was ordered to pay $10 million today for its role in causing the Cosco Busan oil discharge and a subsequent cover-up after the ship struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge in November 2007.

The combined $2.13 million settlement represents the second largest monetary payment ever obtained by the department in a fair housing case alleging housing discrimination in the rental of apartments.

The Department announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that the owners and developers involved in the design and construction of 21 multifamily housing complexes in Tennessee discriminated on the basis of disability.

A New York man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to criminal copyright infringement for selling more than $250,000 worth of pirated copies of popular business, engineering and graphic design software programs.

Atlanta-based Mariner Health Care Inc. and SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services LLC, as well as their principals, Leonard Grunstein, Murray Forman and Rubin Schron, have agreed to pay the United States and several states $14 million.

“Equal access to housing is a basic necessity and a civil right, and the Fair Housing Act guarantees that all individuals can access that right free from discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

According to the charges, Salvatore Scotto-DiVetta, who held various supervisory positions at NYPH, participated in a conspiracy that took place from as early as 2000 until at least March 2005.

Jeffrey Alan Wasley of Kennesaw, Ga., pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography related to surreptitiously videotaping young boys using public restrooms in Atlanta-area establishments.