Ciena Capital LLC, a private, non-depository lender located in New York City, has reached an agreement with the United States to settle fraud claims related to its small business lending for $26.3 million.

Operation Network Raider, a domestic and international enforcement initiative targeting the illegal distribution of counterfeit network hardware manufactured in China, has resulted in 30 felony convictions and more than 700 seizures of counterfeit Cisco network hardware and labels with an estimated retail value of more than $143 million.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of four new U.S. Attorneys to serve two-year terms on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC): Loretta E. Lynch, Eastern District of New York; Stephanie M. Rose, Northern District of Iowa; Benjamin B. Wagner, Eastern District of California; and Sally Quillian Yates, Northern District of Georgia.

The Department has reached an agreement with Argosy University in Nashville, Tenn., and its parent company, Education Management Corporation of Pittsburgh, to settle allegations that Argosy refused to hire a lawful permanent resident because he is a non-United States citizen and intimidated him for reporting the school’s refusal to hire.

The Department has filed a lawsuit alleging that the state of Arkansas is systemically violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera, 43, a Cuban national, and Henry Mantilla, 35, of Cape Coral, Fla., pleaded guilty today in front of U.S. District Court Judge Philip M. Pro in Las Vegas to one count of conspiracy to produce and sell counterfeit International Game Technology video gaming machines, commonly known as slot machines, and counterfeit IGT computer programs.

The Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today that they will hold a joint public workshop on the intersection of patent policy and competition policy and its implications for promoting innovation

The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack - have agreed to pay $5 million in civil penalties and take corrective measures to settle claims that it violated the Clean Air Act by importing and selling motorcycles, recreational vehicles and generators manufactured in China that do not comply with environmental requirements.

The former ABN AMRO Bank N.V., now named the Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., has agreed to forfeit $500 million to the United States in connection with a conspiracy to defraud the United States, to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and to violate the Trading with the Enemy Act, as well as a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

"I’m proud that, for the first time, the Department is directing resources for the express purpose of reducing childhood exposure to violence and raising awareness of its ramifications, advancing scientific inquiry on its causes and characteristics, and, of course, countering its negative impact," said Attorney General Holder.

The Department announced an agreement with St. Clair County, Ill., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.

Jose Garcia, 55, who has been a fugitive since 2008, was taken into federal custody yesterday at Miami International Airport.

Joshua James Moro, 23, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for participating in a civil rights conspiracy in connection with an October 2008 cross-burning in Athens, La., near the home of an interracial couple.

To resolve long-standing problems with unpermitted sewer overflows, the city of Oswego, N.Y., will invest an estimated $87 million in improvements to its west side sewer system.

The United States has entered into a comprehensive, cooperative agreement with Cook County, Ill., and the Cook County Sheriff that resolves previous findings of unconstitutional conditions at the Cook County Jail.

A federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts has charged Michael Jacques and Thomas Gleason of Springfield, Mass., in a three-count superseding indictment in relation to the arson of a church.

Detroit-area resident Christopher Collins pleaded guilty today for his participation in a $14.5 million fraudulent Medicare home health care scheme.

A Bulgarian national pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for his role in laundering money for a transnational criminal group based in Eastern Europe.

A federal jury in Lexington, Ky., returned seven guilty verdicts against two former corrections officers with the Lexington-Fayette County Urban Detention Center.

"Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent to provide health care for millions of American seniors, children and the disabled," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler.

"Tonight is testament to the indispensable role the Memorial Fund plays in honoring the service and sacrifice of our nation’s men and women in uniform – not only at this annual vigil but every day of the year," said Attorney General Holder.

The Department announced a settlement agreement with ValleyCrest Landscape Companies to resolve charges of hiring discrimination against U.S. citizens and other work-authorized domestic workers at its Virginia locations.

"To return today, as our Nation’s Attorney General, to the place where I first studied the law, where I first dreamed of both serving the cause of justice and our country’s Department of Justice, is an extraordinary privilege," said Attorney General Holder.

"The future, I believe, demands no less from each of you. And history leaves me with no doubt that I am looking at 487 faces of dreamers and, most importantly, doers who will not merely meet these great expectations, but, like so many other BU Law graduates, will exceed them," said Attorney General Holder.

"Today, as we celebrate everything you’ve achieved, we also look forward to all I know you can, and will, accomplish. I am eager to see where, over that “mountaintop,” each of you leads our nation and our world," said Attorney General Holder.

Nine hospitals located in Alabama, Indiana, Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, New York and Minnesota have agreed to pay the United States more than $9.4 million to settle allegations that the health care facilities submitted false claims to Medicare.

Daniel Lee Jones, a Portland, Ore., white supremacist, pleaded guilty to using the Postal Service to send a threatening communication to the president of the Lima, Ohio, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Zhen Zhou Wu aka Alex Wu, Yufeng Wei aka Annie Wei and Chitron Electronics Inc. (Chitron-US), were convicted of unlawfully exporting defense articles and Commerce controlled goods to China on numerous occasions between 2004 and 2007 and conspiring to violate U.S. export laws over a period of ten years.

The city of Kansas City, Mo., has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems, at a cost estimated to exceed $2.5 billion over 25 years, to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage and to reduce pollution levels in urban storm water.

American Municipal Power (AMP), an Ohio non-profit utility, will permanently retire its Richard H. Gorsuch Station coal-fired power plant near Marietta under a settlement to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act.

An immigration judge in Philadelphia has ordered the removal of Anton Geiser, a resident of Sharon, Pa., who served as an armed SS guard at three Nazi concentration camps in Germany during World War II.

A former employee of a financial services company pleaded guilty today for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other related municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.

Orlando Moncada entered a guilty plea in Miami federal district court to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

William M. Reece Jr., 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge David Hittner in U.S. District Court in Houston. 

A former Guatemalan special forces soldier was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Palm Beach County, Fla., for lying on his naturalization application about his participation in a 1982 massacre at a Guatemalan village known as Dos Erres.

The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and one of its former member hospitals, The Christ Hospital, have agreed to pay the United States $108 million to settle claims that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying unlawful remuneration to doctors in exchange for referring cardiac patients to The Christ Hospital in a pay-to-play scheme.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will require AMC Entertainment Group Inc. to divest movie theater assets in Chicago, Denver and Indianapolis in order to proceed with its proposed $275 million acquisition of most of the theaters operated by Kerasotes Showplace Theatres.

"I am also proud to be among the first to welcome you into a profession that will provide countless opportunities for you to hone your new skills, continue your learning process, channel your greatest passions, and improve the world we share," said Attorney General Holder.

"As we look to the reauthorization of VAWA later this year, we need to know about lessons learned and how we in the federal government can help you serve victims and their families," said Associate Attorney General Perrelli.

Attorney General Eric Holder commemorated National Missing Children’s Day in an awards ceremony recognizing the exemplary efforts of law enforcement and citizens nationwide in recovering missing children and combating child exploitation.

Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. has agreed to pay the United States an additional $3,718,770, bringing the total paid to resolve civil claims arising from the company’s cost charging practices on some of its contracts with the government to $16,570,018.

Mauricio Cohen Assor and his son, Leon Cohen-Levy, each with residences in Miami Beach, Fla., have been charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and filing false tax returns.

Four promoters of a Florida-based business that sold fraudulent tax schemes were convicted today of selling worthless "bills of exchange" for the purpose of impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and promoting other schemes to orchestrate tax fraud.

Daniel Earl Danforth, 31, of Minden, La., was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release in federal court in Shreveport, La., on federal hate crime and obstruction of justice charges in connection with a cross-burning he carried out with others near the home of an interracial couple in Athens, La.

The Department of Justice has recovered more than $40.2 million in fraud proceeds from a $1 billion Ponzi scheme and is working with the Japanese Ministry of Justice to return the forfeited fraud proceeds to the victims in Japan.

"Only by working together, across borders and jurisdictions, can we ensure that the ideals set forth in the Anti-Bribery Convention more than a decade ago are realized today and in the future.  And only by working together will the promise of democracy be fulfilled, and will the rule of law be respected, across the globe," said Attorney General Holder.

The former managing director of Pamrapo Saving Bank’s investment company was arrested today and charged with allegedly diverting and embezzling more than $600,000.

Robert Antoine, 62, of Miami and Haiti, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

Scott Tyree, 47, a former officer at the Lexington-Fayette County, Ky., Detention Center (FCDC), and Anthony Estep, 35, a former sergeant and supervisor at FCDC, were sentenced in federal court today in Lexington, Ky., for their roles in the systematic abuse of detainees at FCDC.

Three Pennsylvania men were charged today with conspiracy to possess and intending to distribute oxycodone, ecstasy and marijuana.