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Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli Testifies Before the House Committee on Natural Resources on the Proposed Settlement of the Cobell V. Salazar Litigation

The settlement, which will require legislative and judicial approval to become effective, is fair to the plaintiffs, is responsible for the United States, and provides a path forward for the future.




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Taiwanese Couple Pleads Guilty to Illegally Trading Protected Black Coral

Gloria Chu and Ivan Chu of Taipei, Taiwan, each pleaded guilty to nine counts including conspiracy, false statements, and violations of both the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act.



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Second Former Employee of Financial Products and Services Firm Pleads Guilty for Role in Bid-rigging and Fraud Conspiracies Involving Proceeds of Municipal Bonds

According to the charges filed today in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Matthew Adam Rothman of Los Angeles engaged in separate bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies with companies that provide a type of contract, known as an investment agreement, to state, county and local governments and agencies throughout the United States.



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DOJ and USDA Hold First-ever Workshop on Competition Issues in Agriculture

“Today’s workshop provided the Department with an important opportunity to hear from a variety of perspectives and individuals about competition in the agriculture sector,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.



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Securities Attorney Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Role in Pump-and-Dump Schemes

David B. Stocker, 50, of Phoenix pleaded guilty on March 11, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme.



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Third Former Employee of Financial Products and Services Firm Pleads Guilty for Role in Bid-Rigging and Fraud Conspiracies Involving Proceeds of Municipal Bonds

According to the charges filed today, Douglas Alan Goldberg engaged in separate bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies with companies that provide a type of contract, known as an investment agreement, to state, county and local governments and agencies throughout the United States.



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Leader of Casino-Cheating Criminal Enterprise Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison for Targeting Casinos Across the United States

Phuong Quoc Truong was sentenced today in San Diego for his role in a scheme by the "Tran Organization" to cheat casinos across the United States.



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Justice Department Sues to Block Alleged $15 Million Dollar Tax Fraud Scheme Operating in Southern California

The United States has sued a father and two sons, all of Huntington Beach, Calif., seeking to bar them and their business from preparing federal tax returns for others.



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Alpharma to Pay $42.5 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations in Connection with Promotion of Drug Kadian

American pharmaceutical manufacturer Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations in connection with the marketing of the morphine-based drug, Kadian.



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Nexus Technologies Inc. and Three Employees Plead Guilty to Paying Bribes to Vietnamese Officials

Nexus Technologies Inc., a Philadelphia-based export company, pleaded guilty today in connection with a conspiracy to bribe officials of the Vietnamese government in exchange for lucrative contracts to supply equipment and technology to Vietnamese government agencies, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).



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Attorney General Eric Holder Testifies Before the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee

"Although unprecedented challenges and new demands have emerged, our key priorities remain clear," Attorney General Holder said.




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Salt Lake City Escort Service Operator Found Guilty of Income Tax Evasion

Jodi Hoskins, the operator of an escort service in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been found guilty of one count of tax evasion.



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Two Alligator Guides Charged in Louisiana for Illegally Hunting Alligators

Two individuals were charged today in a nine count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Baton Rouge, La., for illegally hunting threatened species of alligators.



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Chicago Resident David Coleman Headley Pleads Guilty to Role in India and Denmark Terrorism Conspiracies

David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen of partial Pakistani descent, pleaded guilty today to a dozen federal terrorism charges, admitting that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as later planning to attack a Danish newspaper.



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Innospec Inc. Pleads Guilty to FCPA Charges and Defrauding the United Nations; Admits to Violating the U.S. Embargo Against Cuba

Innospec Inc., a Delaware corporation, pleaded guilty today to defrauding the United Nations (UN), to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba.



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Texas Pipeline Company Agrees to Pay Civil Penalty to Resolve Clean Water Act Violations

A Texas-based pipeline company has agreed to pay a $450,000 civil penalty to the United States to settle allegations that it failed to prepare and maintain proper facility response plans to deal with spills and environmental accidents at eight of its oil storage terminal facilities in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.



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Justice Department Reaches Americans with Disabilities Act Settlement with Florida Income Tax Preparation Service

The Department announced a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with HRB Businesses of Florida Inc., to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in the provision of tax preparation services and courses.



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Justice Department Resolves Discrimination Lawsuit with Scranton, Pennsylvania, Apartment Complex

The United States has reached a settlement resolving a housing discrimination lawsuit in Pennsylvania concerning discrimination against families with children.



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New Jersey Hospital to Pay $6.35 Million to Resolve Allegations of Inflating Charges to Obtain Higher Medicare Reimbursement

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, a New Jersey-based hospital, has agreed to pay $6.35 million to settle allegations that the hospital defrauded Medicare.



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Attorney General Eric Holder Addresses the Pro Bono Institute

Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned. Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots.




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United States Transfers Three Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Georgia

The United States is grateful to Georgia for its willingness to support U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.



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Former West Point Employee Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Role in $3 Million Embezzlement Scheme

A Highland Falls, N.Y., woman was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud and embezzle funds from the U.S. government by authorizing nearly $3 million in payments from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., to a bogus corporation she controlled.



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United States Transfers Two Uighur Detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Switzerland

The Swiss Government, with the support of the Canton of Jura, accepted the two Chinese nationals of Uighur ethnicity for resettlement in Switzerland.



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Justice Department Resolves Americans with Disabilities Act Lawsuit with Jackson, Mississippi, Public Transportation System

The United States has reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with the city of Jackson, Miss., to improve access to public transportation for individuals with disabilities.



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State Department Employee Sentenced for Illegally Accessing Confidential Passport Files

A State Department employee was sentenced today to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 60 confidential passport application files.



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Maryland MS-13 Gang Leader Convicted of Racketeering Charges Related to Murder; Sentenced to Life in Prison

U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow today sentenced Roberto Antonio Argueta, aka "Alex Antonio Cruz," aka "Buda," 29, of Hyattsville, Md., to life in prison, plus an additional 35 years, for ordering the murder of Nancy Diaz and the attempted murder of another juvenile girl.



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Maryland Man Convicted of Sex Trafficking, Firearm and Drug Charges

Lloyd Mack Royal, III aka “Blyss”, aka “B”, aka “Furious” was convicted late yesterday of sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, as well as firearm and drug charges.



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Court Issues Order Barring Michigan Tax Preparer from Preparing Federal Tax Returns for Others

A U.S. District Court has issued an order permanently barring Shawn Robin Gibson, a Detroit tax preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others.



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Justice Department Sues to Permanently Enjoin Orlando Tax Preparer

The United States filed suit today asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to permanently bar Elisa Veronica Barron from preparing federal tax returns.



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National Drug Intelligence Center Releases National Drug Threat Assessment 2010

The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), a component of the Department of Justice and the nation’s principal center for strategic drug intelligence, has released the National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 (NDTA 2010), detailing drug trafficking and abuse trends within the United States.



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Owner of Los Angeles-Area Company Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Medicare Fraud

Leonard Nwafor, 44, was sentenced in absentia by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California to nine years in prison.



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Two Puerto Rico Police Officers Sentenced for Federal Civil Rights Charges Related to Fatal Assault

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel R. Dominguez sentenced former San Juan, Puerto Rico Police Officers, Carlos Pagan Ferrer, 32, and Juan Morales Rosado, 32, today for their role in the fatal assault by San Juan officers against Jose Rivera Robles, an unarmed civilian.



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Tennessee Man Sentenced to 183 Months in Prison for Burning Islamic Center

Senior Judge Robert L. Echols of the Middle District of Tennessee today sentenced Eric Ian Baker to 183 months in prison for vandalizing and burning down the Islamic Center of Columbia, Tenn.



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Mobile, Alabama, Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Civil Rights Charges Related to Desecration of Synagogue

Christian Rodney Ice, of Mobile, Ala., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Mobile to one count of violating the Church Arson Act by placing threatening graffitti and neo-Nazi markings on a synagogue in Mobile.



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Former Department of Energy Employee Pleads Guilty to Criminal Conflict of Interest

Donna J. Scott, a former U.S. Department of Energy employee, pleaded guilty to criminal conflict of interest for personally participating in DOE’s purchase of furniture when she knew her husband had a financial interest in the deals.



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Justice Department Settles with Louisiana School District to Ensure Students Have Equal Opportunities

The Department entered into a settlement agreement with the Monroe City School District to address the educational inequities between schools serving virtually all black student populations and those schools that serve most of the district’s white students.



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Leader of Hacking Ring Sentenced for Massive Identity Thefts from Payment Processor and U.S. Retail Networks

Albert Gonzalez, of Miami, the leader of the largest hacking and identity theft ring ever prosecuted by the U.S. government, has been sentenced to 20 years and one day in prison for his role in a series of hacks into a major payment processor and several retail networks.



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Nine Members of a Militia Group Charged with Seditious Conspiracy and Related Charges

Six Michigan residents, along with two residents of Ohio and a resident of Indiana, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges of seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.



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Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Commit Murders of African-Americans

Daniel Cowart pleaded guilty today to eight counts in a federal indictment charging him with crimes related to a racially-motivated plot to murder dozens of people.



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Federal Court Permanently Bars Stratham, N.h., Tax Preparer from Preparing Taxes for Others

A federal district judge in New Hampshire has permanently barred Faith A. Bartlett, individually and operating as Atlantic Bookkeeping & Tax Services and Newbury Business Services Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today



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Justice Department Settles with New York School District to Ensure Students Have Equal Opportunities

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an out-of-court settlement in the matter of J.L. v. Mohawk Central School District, a lawsuit which the United States sought to join to address alleged violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, both of which prohibit discrimination based on sex, including discrimination based on gender stereotypes



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Justice Department Reaches Consent Decree with Colorado Attorney Resolving Lawsuit Alleging Disability Discrimination

The Justice Department today announced a federal court has approved a consent decree resolving an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) discrimination lawsuit against attorney Patric LeHouillier and his law firm, LeHouillier & Associates, P.C., based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The consent decree was approved by Judge Marcia S. Krieger in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado



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Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer Announces New Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section in Criminal Division

Today Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division announced the formation of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP), the first new section to be formed in the Criminal Division since 2008.



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Two Shell Chemical Companies Agree to Reduce Harmful Emissions Under Comprehensive Clean Air Act Settlements

Shell Chemical L.P. and Shell Chemical Yabucoa have agreed to install pollution reduction equipment on two petroleum refining facilities at an estimated cost of $6 million as part of two comprehensive Clean Air Act settlements.



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Federal Government Announces Removal of Obsolete Ships from Suisun Bay

The federal government announced today that it would remove the remaining 52 ships that currently sit in the Suisun Bay as part of an agreement with environmental groups that was filed in federal court in Sacramento, Calif.



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Former Tennessee Corrections Captain Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violation and Lying

Harold Hutcheson, a former captain at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NCC), in Tiptonville, Tenn., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Jackson, Tenn., to violating the civil rights of an inmate and then lying about it during the state and federal investigations.



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Eight Promoters of Sham Tax Elimination Scheme Convicted of Tax Fraud Charges in Florida

Eight promoters of a fraudulent tax and debt elimination scheme were convicted of tax, wire fraud and money laundering charges by a federal jury following a month long trial in Pensacola, Fla.



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Department of Justice Supports the Associated Press’s Proposed Digital News Registry

The Department of Justice announced today that it supports a proposal by The Associated Press (AP) to develop and operate a voluntary news registry to facilitate the licensing and Internet distribution of news content created by the AP, its members, and other news originators



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U.S. Sues Kellogg, Brown & Root for Alleged False Claims Act Violations Over Improper Costs for Private Security in Iraq

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that KBR knowingly included impermissible costs for private armed security in billings to the Army.



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Daimler AG and Three Subsidiaries Resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Investigation and Agree to Pay $93.6 Million in Criminal Penalties

Daimler AG, a German corporation, and three of its subsidiaries have resolved charges related to a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation into the company’s worldwide sales practices.



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