The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court in Columbus, Ohio, to permanently bar John Allen from promoting tax-fraud schemes and preparing federal tax returns.

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.

A federal court has permanently barred Larry Carnell Dixon Sr., a Louisiana tax return preparer, and his business, Dixon’s Tax Service, LLC from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Dixon and Dixon’s Tax Service LLC, consented without admitting the allegations against them, was signed by Judge James Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

The United States has sued a Las Vegas-based CPA and two others to stop an alleged tax-fraud scheme, the Justice Department announced today. Named as defendants in the civil injunction suit were CPA Wayne Reeves, Reeves’ wife, Diane Vaoga, and their alleged co-promoter, James Stoll. The government complaint was filed last month in Las Vegas with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Announcement of the court filing was delayed until Reeves was served with court papers this week.

Pfizer Inc. will pay $55 million plus interest to resolve allegations that Wyeth LLC illegally introduced and caused the introduction into interstate commerce of a misbranded drug, Protonix, between February 2000 and June 2001, the Justice Department announced today.

Victory Pharma Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, has agreed to pay $11,420,743 to resolve federal civil and criminal liability arising from its marketing of the pharmaceutical products Naprelan, Xodol, Fexmid and Dolgic, the Justice Department announced today. Under the agreement announced today, Victory entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and paid a criminal forfeiture of $1.4 million to resolve federal Ant-Kickback Statute allegations, and paid $9,938,310 to resolve False Claims Act allegations.

A Nevada federal court has permanently barred Benyam Tewolde from preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Tewolde and his wife, Yordanos Kidanits, are the alleged co-owners of an Instant Tax Service franchise that operates at multiple locations in the Las Vegas area. Instant Tax Service is a nationally franchised tax preparation company based in Dayton, Ohio.

Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties, for its conduct in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Department of Justice announced today

Amazon.com; Leon Max Inc., d/b/a Max Studio; Macy’s Inc.; and Sears, Roebuck and Co., Kmart Corporation and Kmart.com (collectively, Sears) have agreed to settle civil lawsuits concerning alleged violations of the Textile Fiber Product Identification Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.

A Romanian national was sentenced today to serve 21 months in prison for his role in an international, multimillion-dollar scheme to remotely hack into and steal payment card data from hundreds of U.S. merchants’ computers.

The United States Justice Department and U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today the filing of a complaint alleging that the Jerome County Sheriff’s Office willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by failing to reemploy and terminating Idaho Army National Guard Member Mervin Jones while he was recuperating from a knee injury that he sustained while performing military service.

Mary Estelle Curran of Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to filing false tax returns for tax years 2006 and 2007.

A federal court has permanently barred Pete Escalante Gutierrez and Jeanette Gutierrez from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has permanently barred Cash Management Systems, a Virginia corporation, from promoting two tax schemes that allegedly involve disguising wages as tool-reimbursement or tool-rental payments.

A federal court has permanently barred Nafeesah H. Hines and Rodney N. Chestnut from promoting an alleged tax fraud scheme, as well as preparing tax returns for anyone other than themselves.

A former Texas state parole officer pleaded guilty today in Dallas for taking bribes from one of her assigned parolees in exchange for not reporting his parole violations.

The Justice Department announced today that Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division will leave the department on March 1, 2013.

A federal court in Indianapolis has barred David Ray Franklin and his company, Instant Refund Tax Service (IRTS) – which does business as Instant Tax Service—from preparing tax returns and from operating a tax-preparation business.

A Kansas City, Kan., federal court permanently barred an Instant Tax Service franchisee, A&S Tax Services LLC, from further operating or preparing federal tax returns for others.

The company that operates Path, an online social networking application, agreed to pay an $800,000 penalty to settle charges that it violated the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.

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.

A federal district judge in Florence, S.C., permanently barred Rachel D. Watson, of Florence, and Susann Allen of Darlington, S.C., from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

A former employee of a Department of Defense contracting company at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison for attempting to smuggle $150,000 in kickback proceeds he received for steering U.S. government subcontracts to an Afghan company.

A retired employee of the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB-Albany) pleaded guilty today to receiving bribes in exchange for allowing heavy equipment to be stolen from the base for resale.

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a publicly traded mortgage servicing company based in Jacksonville, Fla., has agreed to pay $35 million in criminal penalties and forfeiture to address its participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently signed and notarized mortgage-related documents with property recorders’ offices throughout the United States.

A federal court permanently barred Toney Fields and Trumekia Shaw, who do business as Fields Mo’ Money Taxes in Nashville, Tenn., from preparing federal tax returns.

A federal district judge in Jacksonville, Fla., permanently barred Thomas G. Bandzul from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

A federal district judge in Miami permanently barred Marlen Monzon, her son Yanko Rodriguez, and their Miami business, Tri Stars Multiservices Corporation, from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

A federal court has permanently barred Crystal Ireland, of Detroit, who does business as Master Mind Preparation, from preparing federal tax returns that claim the earned income tax credit.

Executives at two Arlington, Va.-based businesses have pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $31 million in government contract payments that should have gone to disadvantaged small businesses.

The Department of Justice today filed a motion to dismiss its antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan after the state of Michigan passed a law that prohibits health insurers from using most favored nation clauses in contracts with health care providers.

The Justice Department today announced recent results of its civil injunction efforts to combat unscrupulous tax return preparers and tax fraud promoters.

A federal court permanently barred a Gary, Ind., tax-preparation firm and its owner, John Newlin, from preparing tax returns for others.

The founder and president of the National Association of Special Police and Security Officers (NASPSO) was sentenced to 76 months in prison today for stealing union treasury and pension funds.

Derek Matthews, 46, of Harwood, Md., pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes from a government contracting company in exchange for using his position to help the company find and win contracts.

A former Texas state parole officer was sentenced to 20 months in prison today for taking bribes from one of her assigned parolees in exchange for not reporting his parole violations.

Algerian national Hamza Bendelladj, aka “Bx1,” has been extradited from Thailand to the United States to face charges in Atlanta for allegedly playing a critical role in developing, marketing, distributing and controlling “SpyEye,” a pernicious computer virus designed to steal unsuspecting victims’ financial and personally identifying information.

A Romanian national 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.

Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, announced today that she will be leaving the Department of Justice on June 7, 2013.

Two federal judges in separate cases entered orders permanently barring Marvin Binion Sr., his son Marvin Binion II, Binion Sr.’s ex-wife Tonya Hubbard and her firm Universal Tax Service LLC from preparing tax returns for others.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has issued an order permanently barring Nataki Davis, (formerly known as Nataki Barnes), a Southfield, Mich., tax preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others for a period of five years, the Justice Department announced today.

The former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage, a loan servicing company in Nevada, pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo Bank out of more than $8 million.

The former president and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage, a loan servicing company in Nevada, pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo Bank out of more than $8 million.

Michael Mancil Brown was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., for allegedly engaging in an extortion and wire fraud scheme involving former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s tax returns.

A federal jury today convicted four individuals for their participation in a Medicare fraud scheme involving nearly $70 million in fraudulent billings by Hollywood Pavilion (HP), a mental health care hospital.