Douglas Kuester, a tax preparer from Silver City, N.M., pleaded guilty Friday to one count each of filing false claims and aggravated identity theft the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Kuester was indicted on Jan. 18, 2012.

Thomas K. Frye and Kathy M. Frye, husband and wife, and residents of Andalusia, Ala., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Loretta Fergerson and her sister, Tracey Fergerson, both of Montgomery, Ala., were each sentenced to 115 months prison for their involvement in a conspiracy to file claims for false income tax refunds using stolen identities, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller ordered the Fergerson sisters to pay $504,305 in restitution to the IRS.

The indictment charges Paul Ben Arredondo, 63, of Tempe, with one count of federal programs bribery, two counts of honest services mail fraud, one count of attempted Hobbs Act extortion and one count of making false statements.

Ezinne Ubani, the former director of nursing at Family Healthcare Group, a Houston home health care company, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in the Southern District of Texas to 97 months in prison, followed by three years supervised release.

An owner of a Houston health care company was convicted yesterday by a jury in the Southern District of Texas in connection with a $750,000 Medicare fraud scheme.

The co-owner of a Detroit-area physical therapy company was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for her leading role in a more than $1.9 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Three defendants in separate cases involving the use of stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns have pleaded guilty in the Middle District of Alabama, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has returned an indictment charging Crystal Ann Poole with evading income taxes for over eight years and for defrauding a federally insured bank in Mississippi, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Tyrone Devon Thompson, Aritha Currie, Julius Thompson, Tronda Thompson and Shonda Sneed were charged in an indictment by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia on a variety of counts stemming from a tax fraud scheme, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The 22-count indictment charges all five with conspiring to defraud the United States and filing false claims against the United States. The indictment, which was returned on May 11, 2012, was unsealed following the defendants’ arrests.

Alan James Watson, 47, of Clinton Township, Mich., was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for fraudulently soliciting and accepting $40 million from more than 900 members of his investment club, Cash Flow Financial LLC (CFF).

Monty Ervin and Patricia Ervin, owners of Southern Realty in Dothan, Ala., were sentenced today to federal prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. After a two-week trial that began Oct. 25, 2011, a federal jury in Montgomery, Ala., convicted the Ervins of one count of conspiracy and three counts of tax evasion. The jury also convicted Patricia Ervin of one count of structuring transactions to avoid bank reporting requirements. Monty Ervin was sentenced to 120 months in prison; Patricia Ervin was sentenced to five years of probation, with the condition that she spend 40 consecutive weekends in jail. In sentencing the Ervins, the court found that Monty Ervin was the leader and organizer of the conspiracy and exercised control over Patricia Ervin.

A former Army National Guard recruiter pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Texas for his lead role in a bribery and fraud conspiracy that caused more than $90,000 in losses to the National Guard Bureau, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Nasheba Necia Hunte was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for her role in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and for filing false tax returns, the Justice Department and IRS announced.

Fourteen individuals pleaded guilty yesterday in the District of Nevada for their roles in the scheme to fraudulently take control of various home owners’ associations (HOAs) in the Las Vegas area.

Fahim Suleiman and Muuad Salem were sentenced to prison today by U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin in connection with their roles as co-conspirators in a scheme to defraud the United States by obtaining false and fraudulent U.S. Treasury tax refund checks, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

A federal jury today convicted two Miami-area doctors, one Miami-area therapist and two others for their participation in a Medicare fraud scheme involving more than $205 million in fraudulent billings by American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a mental health care corporation.

On June 1, 2012, after a two-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles, a jury found David James Garrison, 50, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Former Arizona State Representative Richard David Miranda was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for defrauding a charity of more than $140,000 and evading income tax related to those unlawfully obtained funds.

Hector Cuevas, 42, was also sentenced by Judge Kathleen Cardone in U.S. District Court in El Paso to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $553,148 in restitution and $690,624 in forfeiture.

Detroit-area resident Muhammad “Sib” Ahmad pleaded guilty today for his role in organizing a more than $13 million home health care fraud and money laundering scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Jason W. Leas, a resident of Crookston, Minn., and co-founder of Best Used Trucks of Minnesota Inc., pleaded guilty today to one count of failing to pay federal excise taxes, one count of failing to file a federal excise tax return and one count of filing a false individual federal income tax return for tax year 2007, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Leas was charged by information filed on May 29, 2012. He entered his plea of guilty before U.S. District Court Senior Judge Richard H. Kyle in Duluth, Minn.

Leyanes Placeres, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in the Southern District of Florida.

Clifford Ubani, a former co-owner and chief financial officer at Family Healthcare Group, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in the Southern District of Texas.

R. Allen Stanford, the former board of directors chairman of Stanford International Bank (SIB), was sentenced today in Houston to a total of 110 years in prison for orchestrating a 20-year investment fraud scheme in which he misappropriated $7 billion from SIB to finance his personal businesses.

Hassan Collins, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive and pay health care fraud kickbacks before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres.

Delton de Armas, a former chief financial officer (CFO) of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (TBW), was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for his role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failure of TBW.

A Brooklyn board-certified colorectal surgeon, who owned and operated a New York medical clinic, was convicted for his role in a fraud scheme that billed Medicare and numerous private insurance companies for surgeries and other complex medical procedures that were never performed.

U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in Miami sentenced Marietha Morales, 38, to 108 months in prison and Eduardo Saborit-Dominguez, 48, to 46 months in prison.

Detroit-area resident Louisa Thompson pleaded guilty today for her role in a $16 million fraud scheme.

Three former executives of Fair Financial Company, an Ohio financial services business, were found guilty for their roles in a scheme to defraud approximately 5,000 investors of more than $200 million, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Joseph H. Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Holley of the FBI in Indiana announced today.

U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida sentenced Ariel Rodriguez to 73 months in prison and three years of supervised release and Reynaldo Navarro to 74 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Alejandro aka “Alex” Curbelo, 32, of Miami was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard.

Billy Denica, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard in Miami.

The Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General, among other federal and state partners, are holding mortgage fraud summits in Las Vegas and Los Angeles today to help protect homeowners in areas hit hardest by these scams.

Arthur S. Weiss was indicted by a grand jury for tax fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank loan fraud, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The indictment was returned yesterday in the Middle District of North Carolina.

Sarah Da Silva Keller, 27, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

A federal grand jury in Mobile, Ala., returned an indictment today against two real estate investors and their company, charging them with participating in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in southern Alabama.

James Edwards was sentenced today to 84 months in prison and three years of supervised release and Nelson Fernandez was sentenced yesterday to 63 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Dr. Ellen Meredith Stubenhaus, previously of Lake Worth, Fla., and later an expatriate living in Costa Rica, was sentenced to 60 months in prison today by U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in Tallahassee, Fla., the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Stubenhaus, who was extradited from Costa Rica to the United States in September 2011, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. In addition to her jail sentence, Stubenhaus was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $373,549 to the IRS.

The former co-owner of a Houston-area home health care company was sentenced in Houston to 108 months in prison for his participation in a $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Christopher Castro, 31, of San Antonio, Texas, and Ernest Gonzales, 51, also of San Antonio, were sentenced for their participation in a conspiracy to obtain approximately $244,000 in fraudulent recruiting referral bonuses from various U.S. military components and their contractor.

Serena Joslin, 31, a Licensed Psychological Associate, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Wanda Davis pleaded guilty in the Middle District of Alabama today to one count of filing a false tax return, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Jacqueline Slaton pleaded guilty today in the Middle District of Alabama to one count of filing a false tax return and one count of aggravated identity theft, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

The owner of a former New York City insulation service company pleaded guilty today to a three-count indictment charging him with conspiring to rig bids on contracts for re-insulation services to New York Presbyterian Hospital, conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and filing a false tax return.

Detroit-area resident Tariq Mahmud, 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn in the Eastern District of Michigan.

A former financial institution employee pleaded guilty today for his participation in a conspiracy related to municipal bonds.

Michael R. Elliott, former chief financial officer of Caremerica Inc., pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced.

Nabeel Shaikh, 30, of Wixom, Mich., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen of the Eastern District of Michigan.