The Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Laurie Robinson, announced today that she would be leaving her position at the end of February

Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen announced her resignation from the Department of Justice today, effective as of April 30, 2012.

A federal court has permanently barred David Champion from promoting a tax fraud scheme designed to assist his customers evade federal taxes, the Justice Department announced today.

Attila Nemeth, 26, a Hungarian citizen, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to 30 months in prison for transmitting a malicious code to Marriott International Corporation computers and threatening to reveal confidential information obtained from the company’s computers if Marriott did not offer him a job.

A federal court has permanently barred Paul E. Foster Jr. and Sheree McDade, both of Montgomery, Ala., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

Thomas W. Richardson was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle in Dallas to 105 months in prison and ordered to pay $30,649 in restitution, following his guilty plea in August 2011 to one count of theft of government property and one count of aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department announced today.

A federal court has permanently barred Maria Teresita Viray from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

Total Fina S.A., Total Minatome Corporation, Total Exploration Production USA Inc., Fina Oil and Chemical Company, Elf Exploration Inc., Total E&P USA Inc. and their affiliates have agreed to pay the United States $15 million to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases, the Justice Department announced today.

Devon Energy Corporation and its affiliates have agreed to pay the United States $3,492,463 to resolve claims that PennzEnergy, a predecessor to Devon, violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian lands, the Justice Department announced today.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Pinson, Ala., that, if approved by the court, will allow for the city 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.

The United States has sued Marge L. Cellini and Harry Portnoy of Las Vegas seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

A federal court has permanently barred Annie P. Williams, the former proprietor of PPH Tax & Realty Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y., from preparing federal tax returns for others and from having any ownership or financial interest in any tax preparation business, the Justice Department announced today.

A federal court has permanently barred Robert Jensen, a certified public accountant from San Diego, from providing tax advice or preparing federal tax returns that illegally attempt to reduce customers’ taxable income, the Justice Department announced today.

The United States has asked a federal court to bar a tax preparation firm and its owner, John Newlin, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The Department of Justice has seized more than $896,000 in proceeds from the distribution of counterfeit sports apparel and jerseys as the result of an investigation into the sale of counterfeit goods on commercial websites.

The Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior announced today that Freeport-McMoRan Corporation and Freeport-McMoRan Morenci Inc. have agreed to pay $6.8 million to settle federal and state natural resource damages claims related to the Morenci copper mine in southeastern Arizona.

A federal court in New Orleans has permanently barred Cathy and Lashanda Vinnett from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which the Vinnetts agreed without admitting the government’s allegations, was signed by Judge Helen G. Berrigan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

consent decree, valued at approximately $5.5 million, was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

The investigation also resulted in the seizure of three domain names used in the sale of counterfeit sports apparel.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Wythe County, Va., that will allow for the county and its three political subdivisions, the Wythe County School District and the towns of Rural Retreat and Wytheville, to bail out from their status as “covered jurisdictions” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt these jurisdictions from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and must be approved by the court.

Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole paid tribute to four individuals today during the National Missing Children’s Day ceremony at the Justice Department’s Great Hall.

Adrian-Tiberiu Oprea, 28, of Constanta, Romania, was extradited to the United States and appeared in federal court in New Hampshire today, to face federal charges relating to his alleged participation in an international multimillion dollar scheme to remotely hack into and steal payment card data from hundreds of U.S. merchants’ “point of sale” computer systems.

Target Ship Management Pte. Ltd., the operator of the M/V Gaurav Prem, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as making material false statements during a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the ship at the port of Mobile in September 2011.

SABIC Innovative Plastics US LLC, and its subsidiary, SABIC Innovative Plastics Mt. Vernon LLC, have agreed to pay an approximately $1 million civil penalty and improve leak detection and repair practices to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at chemical manufacturing facilities in Mt. Vernon, Ind., and Burkville, Ala., the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

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.

Former Fort Deposit, Ala., Police Officer Carlos Tyson Bennett was arrested today on charges of stealing money from motorists on Interstate 65 in central Alabama and subsequently trying to conceal his criminal activity, announced the Justice Department.

The Justice Department announced today that Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich will be leaving the department to join the University of Baltimore School of Law as its new dean.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Grayson County, Va., that will allow for the county and its four political subdivisions, the Grayson County School District and the towns of Independence, Fries and Troutdale, Va., to bail out from their status as “covered jurisdictions” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt these jurisdictions from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and must be approved by the court.

Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, aka “BadB” of Moscow, an alleged international credit card trafficker thought to be one of the most prolific sellers of stolen credit card data, has been extradited from France to the United States to face criminal charges filed in the District of Columbia and in the Northern District of Georgia.

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.

An alleged leader of the Barrio Azteca (BA), a transnational border gang allied with the Juarez Cartel, was extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges related to the March 2010 U.S. Consulate murders in Juarez, Mexico.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Merced County, Calif., that will allow for the county and some 84 political subdivisions in the county that conduct elections to bail out from their status as “covered jurisdictions” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt these jurisdictions from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and must be approved by the court.

Northern States Power Co. will begin cleanup of the Ashland/Northern States Power Lakefront Superfund Site in Northwestern Wisconsin under a settlement the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

A federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., has permanently barred Diana D. Bertocci-Aliffi from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Aliffi agreed without admitting the government’s allegations, was signed by Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York.

A federal court has permanently barred a Michigan couple, Damian and Holly Jackson, of Detroit, from preparing federal tax returns for others, preparing their own federal tax returns using false 1099 forms, and promoting an alleged tax-fraud scheme based on the frivolous “redemption” theory, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which the Jacksons consented without admitting the allegations against them, was signed by Judge Paul D. Borman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Giusseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company S.P.A, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Ginny Granade in the Southern District of Alabama to pay a $1 million criminal fine, serve four years of probation, and make a $300,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

A federal court in San Diego has permanently barred a tax lawyer and his law firm from providing tax advice and from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order against Scott A. Waage, of San Diego, was signed by Judge William Q. Hayes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Waage agreed to the injunction without admitting the allegations against him.

Jessie Alan Fuller, 25, of Pensacola, Fla., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins to 37 months in prison and two years supervised release, the Justice Department announced. Fuller pleaded guilty on April 26, 2012, to one count of conspiracy against rights, a felony, and one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, a misdemeanor. These charges stemmed from Fuller’s stealing money and property from motorists on Interstate 65 in central Alabama while he was a police officer with the Fort Deposit Police Department.

Eduardo Arellano-Felix, 55, one of the alleged members of the Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), was extradited today by the government of Mexico to the United States to face racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement today on the 18th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.

A federal court in Philadelphia has permanently barred Deron O. Joe of Darby, Pa.; Edmund G. Dassin of Lansdowne, Pa.; and James M. Tokpawhiea of Philadelphia from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The three men consented to the civil injunction order without admitting the allegations against them. Judge Paul S. Diamond of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania signed the injunction.

Two Romanian nationals pleaded guilty today to participating in an international, multimillion-dollar scheme to remotely hack into and steal payment card data from hundreds of U.S. merchants’ computers.

The Justice Department announced today that it has moved to intervene in a class action lawsuit regarding conditions of confinement at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), a pre-trial and correctional facility in New Orleans. The litigation seeks to address conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The department seeks remedies to correct inadequate medical, mental health care and suicide prevention practices; failures to protect prisoners from physical and sexual violence; deficiencies in environmental health and safety; and inadequate language access services for Latino prisoners with limited English proficiency (LEP).

A federal court has permanently barred Cynthia Carter, a Columbus, Miss., tax return preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Carter consented without admitting the allegations against her, was signed by Judge Sharion Aycock of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

The United States has sued Charles Sewell of Bristol, Va., to bar him from promoting an alleged scheme involving fraudulent tax refund claims, the Justice Department announced today.

A federal court has permanently barred a Michigan lawyer, Tammy Daniels of Farmington Hills, from promoting an alleged tax fraud scheme, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Daniels consented without admitting the allegations against her, was signed by Judge Paul D. Borman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In August the court enjoined Daniels’s co-defendants, Damian and Holly Jackson, from preparing federal tax returns for others and promoting the scheme.

Program director Lydia Ward, 47, and therapist Nichole Eckert, 35, were each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Amin Ravan, a citizen of Iran, and his Iran-based company, IC Market Iran, have been charged in an indictment unsealed today with conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling, and violating the Arms Export Control Act in connection with the unlawful export of 55 military antennas from the United States to Singapore and Hong Kong.

The founder and president of the National Association of Special Police and Security Officers (NASPSO) – which represents private security guards assigned to protect federal buildings in the metropolitan Washington area – was convicted yesterday in Washington federal court, following a jury trial, of 18 counts related to his theft of union treasury and pension funds.

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signed an agreement today to strengthen coordination on fair lending enforcement and avoid duplication of their respective federal law enforcement efforts.