The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with the Browns Valley Irrigation 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, and thereby exempt the district from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The district covers part of Yuba County, which is a jurisdiction subject to Section 5. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Masood Chotani, a CPA and tax return preparer from Los Angeles County, Calif., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Billy James Hammett, 28, and Perry Sylvester Jackson, 27, were arrested today in Yuba County, Calif., on federal hate crime charges for their racially motivated attack on an African American woman and white man in Marysville, Calif., on April 18, 2011.

Christopher B. Berg of Portola Valley, Calif., entered a plea of guilty today before the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., to an information charging him with willful failure to file the required report of foreign bank account (FBAR) for an account he controlled at UBS in Switzerland in the year 2005.

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 today.

Granite Construction Company, a California-based construction company specializing in roads, tunnels, bridges, airports and other infrastructure-related projects, reached a settlement with the United States following an investigation of alleged false claims in connection with federal construction projects across the country.

A federal grand jury has indicted two members of the Compton 155 street gang on federal hate crime charges related to a racially motivated attack on four African-American juveniles at a residence in the city of Compton, Calif., on New Year’s Eve.

The operator of a California-based tax consulting business has been convicted by a federal jury in Fresno, Calif. for impersonating an aide to a U.S. Congressman in order to deceive a client.

A Long Beach, Calif., man was arrested yesterday arraigned this afternoon on federal sex trafficking charges that allege he worked with a previously charged defendant to coerce women to work as prostitutes.

Two Northern California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty for their role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

A former web producer for a Tribune Company-owned television station in Sacramento, Calif., was charged today in an indictment for allegedly conspiring with members of the hacker group “Anonymous” to hack into and alter a Tribune Company website.

Two California men have been charged in an indictment unsealed today in Boston with remotely hacking into merchants’ computerized cash registers in order to obtain fraudulent gift cards.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with the city of Wheatland, Calif., that, if approved by the court, will allow it to bail out from its status as a “covered jurisdiction” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt the city from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

A former Los Angeles resident, who fled to Canada and was a federal fugitive for 12 years, pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft and bankruptcy fraud in connection with leading a nearly 15-year foreclosure-rescue scam that fraudulently postponed foreclosure sales for more than 800 distressed homeowners.

A jury convicted Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel yesterday on federal tax charges stemming from their failure to disclose secret offshore bank accounts in Switzerland.

Guity Kashfi of Los Angeles, was charged today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

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.

A California woman pleaded guilty to illegally feeding killer whales in the wild this Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, Calif.

A Southern California physician, a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company employee and a health care professional were found guilty late yesterday by a federal jury in Los Angeles for their roles in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.

A federal court in Los Angeles has entered an order permanently barring John Trunzo from preparing federal income tax returns and other tax-related documents for others.

A federal court in Los Angeles has entered an order permanently barring Simon Jenkins from preparing federal income tax returns and other tax-related documents for others.

Adventist Health System/West, dba Adventist Health, and its affiliated hospital White Memorial Medical Center have agreed to pay the United States and the state of California $14.1 million to settle claims that they violated the False Claims Act.

A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento today returned a superseding indictment charging Andrew B. Katakis, of Danville, Calif., with obstruction of justice related to a federal investigation into conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Calif.

"It’s a privilege to join you; Professor Murray; distinguished members of the faculty, staff, and administration; and so many proud parents, family members, friends, and alumni – in congratulating the Class of 2013, and celebrating the achievements that have defined your time here at Berkeley Law School," said Attorney General Holder.

Safieh Fard, 52, of Escondido, Calif., was sentenced late yesterday to 63 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Fard was also ordered to pay $594,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid individual income taxes.

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

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.

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.

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.

Four Northern California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty for their role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

The Department of Justice announced today the filing of a lawsuit, against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), alleging that CDCR discriminated against Joe B. Cummings on the basis of his sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division Kathryn Keneally and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California announced that Moshe Handelsman of Saratoga, Calif., pleaded guilty today to filing a false tax return for tax year 2007.

John Stuart Dowell, 47, of Santa Cruz, Calif., was sentenced late yesterday in Harrisonburg, Va., to serve 960 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for producing child pornography.

The United States entered into a settlement agreement with the Arcadia Unified School District in Arcadia, Calif., to resolve an investigation into allegations of discrimination against a transgender student based on the student’s sex.

The daughter of a church pastor and owner of a California-based durable medical equipment (DME) supply company was found guilty by a jury of Medicare fraud charges for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme that resulted in over $11 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare.

Glen Alan Ward, 48, a former Los Angeles resident who fled to Canada and was a federal fugitive for 12 years, was sentenced today to serve 132 months in prison for aggravated identity theft and bankruptcy fraud in connection with his leading role in a nearly 15-year foreclosure-rescue scam that fraudulently postponed foreclosure sales for more than 800 distressed homeowners.

The Justice Department announced today that Gary Mach, a Palm Desert, Calif. resident who operated Crystal Springs Pool Service (CSPS), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Sacramento, Calif., charging Teresa Marie Marty, Charles Tingler and Victoria Tingler, all of Placerville, Calif., with conspiracy to defraud the United States and filing multi-million dollar liens against government officials.

Two Los Angeles-based consulting firms, MotorScience Inc., and MotorScience Enterprise Inc., (MotorScience) and their owner, Chi Zheng, have agreed to settle alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations stemming from the illegal import of 24,478 all-terrain, recreational vehicles into the U.S. from China without testing to ensure emissions would meet applicable limits on harmful air pollution, announced the Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (ARB).

Aaron Cohen of Encino, Calif., pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced.

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.

A former officer of Fendih Medical Supply Inc. was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison yesterday in Los Angeles for his role in a fraud scheme that resulted in $1.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare. In addition, a physician was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in the scheme.

Kan-Di-Ki LLC, formerly known as Kan-Di-Ki Inc., doing business as Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology (Diagnostic Labs), will pay $17.5 million to settle allegations that the California-based company violated the federal and California False Claims Acts by paying kickbacks for referral of mobile lab and radiology services subsequently billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal (the state of California’s Medicaid program), the Justice Department announced today.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the owner and operators of a Fremont, Calif., apartment complex, alleging that they had discriminated against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act by prohibiting children from playing in the common grassy areas of the complex.

Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division Kathryn Keneally and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California announced that Noemi Rubio Baez, of Salinas, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims for tax refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to aggravated identity theft.

Northern California real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

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.

Robert Eldon Robertson and his wife Esther Lynne Robertson of Manteca, Calif., were indicted on charges of filing two false claims for federal tax refunds, filing liens against the former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner and impeding the administration of federal tax laws, the Justice Department and IRS announced today.

The Ensign Group Inc., a skilled nursing provider based in Mission Viejo, Calif., that operates nursing homes across the western U.S. has agreed to pay $48 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted to Medicare false claims for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services.