The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on Aug. 14, 2012, in the following jurisdictions to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes: Collier, Hendry, Lee, Osceola and Polk Counties, Fla.; and the city of Milwaukee, Wis.

The Justice Department announced today that John Wingard Altman has agreed to pay $25,000 to settle a lawsuit involving violations of the Fair Housing Act at Altman Apartments, a 16-unit apartment complex he owns in Summerville, S.C. In July 2012, the court, ruling on a motion filed by the government, found that the defendant had violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against families with children.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached a settlement agreement with Best Packing Services Employment Agency Inc., which is based in Philadelphia, resolving allegations that the company discriminated under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), when it impermissibly delayed the start date of two refugees after requiring them to provide specific Form I-9 documentation.

"The message we’re sending is that youth violence is not inevitable. When communities engage partners across disciplines and use a data-driven, balanced approach – one that emphasizes prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry – they can reduce violence and improve outcomes for our youth," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.

Darren Douglass-Griffin, 35, a former member of the Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Macon State Prison (MSP) in Oglethorpe, Ga., pleaded guilty to a two-count bill of information charging him with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of inmates and falsification of records in a federal investigation, the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced today.

A federal jury in Washington, D.C., today returned guilty verdicts against Sanford Ltd., a New Zealand fishing company, on six counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

An executive of Tokyo-based Yazaki Corporation has agreed to plead guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters, also known as meters, installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Verizon and four of the nation’s largest cable companies—Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications—to make changes to a series of agreements concerning both the sale of bundled wireless and wireline services, and the formation of a technology research joint venture. The department said that, if left unaltered, the agreements would have harmed competition by diminishing the companies’ incentive to compete, resulting in higher prices and lower quality for consumers.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with Valley Club, a former swimming facility located in Huntingdon Valley, Pa, resolving allegations that the company discriminated against persons because of race. The Justice Department’s investigation was conducted under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin and religion in places of public accommodation, such as hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today that they will hold a joint public workshop on most-favored-nation clauses (MFNs) on Sept.10, 2012, to explore the use of MFN clauses and the implications for antitrust enforcement and policy.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with MicroLink Devices, a manufacturer of semiconductor structures and advanced solar cells based in Niles, Ill. The agreement resolves allegations that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), when it placed six online job postings that explicitly stated citizenship status preferences or requirements that excluded certain work-authorized non-citizens from consideration.

The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the state of North Carolina to ensure the state is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act. The agreement will transform the state’s system for serving people with mental illness. Under the settlement agreement, over the next eight years, North Carolina’s system will expand community-based services and supported housing that promote inclusion and independence and enable people with mental illness to participate fully in community life.

Two Missouri men pleaded guilty today for their roles in a scheme to defraud consumers seeking immigration-related services, the Department of Justice announced.

The Justice Department today concurrently filed a complaint and consent decree against the Burke County, N.C., Department of Social Services, alleging that the county did not have an effective harassment and discrimination policy in place and did not provide sufficient training in race harassment and discrimination for its employees and supervisors, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. Title VII is a federal statute which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

The Justice and Interior Departments this week launched a new training seminar for tribal and federal law enforcement on investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases on tribal lands.

A Missouri woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to defraud consumers seeking immigration-related services, the Justice Department announced.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on Aug. 28, 2012, in Lanett, Reform, and Phenix City, Ala., and Maricopa County, Ariz., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group.

GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc., a large independent home mortgage firm that concentrates on the New York, New Jersey, and Florida markets, will pay $3.555 million to resolve a lending discrimination lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that GFI engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by pricing residential mortgage loans for qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher than for similarly-qualified non-Hispanic white borrowers between 2005 and 2009.

Nagoka, Japan-based Nippon Seiki Co. Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of instrument panel clusters, commonly known as meters, installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere.

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.

The Justice Department announced today that it and the National Federation of the Blind have reached a settlement with the Sacramento Public Library Authority in Sacramento, Calif., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves allegations that the library violated the ADA by using inaccessible Barnes & Noble NOOK electronic reader devices in a patron lending program.

Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County, Fla., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to 21 months in prison.

The Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, and the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, today entered into a settlement agreement with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) that requires ADE and Arizona public schools to offer targeted reading and writing intervention services to tens of thousands of English Language Learner (ELL) students who were prematurely exited or incorrectly identified as Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP) over the past five school years. The agreement also requires ADE to develop proficiency criteria that accurately identify and exit ELL students.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with U.S. Virgin Islands officials to help ensure that military service members, their family members and U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to participate fully in the territory’s Sept. 8, 2012 primary election and the Nov. 6, 2012, general election.

3M Co. abandoned its plan to acquire Avery Dennison Corp.’s Office and Consumer Products Group, its closest competitor in the sale of adhesive-backed labels and sticky notes, after the Department of Justice informed the companies that it would file a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal.

The government has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit against Hospice of the Comforter Inc. (HOTCI) alleging false Medicare billings, the Justice Department announced today. HOTCI provides hospice services to patients residing in the vicinity of Orlando, Fla.

The Justice Department announced today that it seeks to intervene in a class action lawsuit against the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) in federal court in San Francisco to remedy violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The lawsuit, The Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. LSAC, Inc., et al., charges LSAC with widespread and systemic deficiencies in the way it processes requests by people with disabilities for testing accommodations for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). As a result, the lawsuit alleges, LSAC fails to provide accommodations where needed to best ensure that those test takers can demonstrate their aptitude and achievement level rather than their disability.

Following a comprehensive investigation, the Justice Department today released its letter of findings determining that the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF), an all-female facility in Topeka, Kan., under the jurisdiction of the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC), fails to protect women prisoners from harm due to sexual abuse and misconduct from correctional staff and other prisoners in violation of their constitutional rights. The Justice Department delivered a letter detailing the findings to Governor Samuel D. Brownback and Secretary of the KDOC Ray Roberts.

The Justice Department announced today that it has sued two Dallas tax return preparers, seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the owner and operator of the Heritage Point mobile home park in Montgomery, Ala., alleging that the companies and their employees or officers discriminated against African-Americans.

The Justice Department filed a motion to intervene today in a lawsuit against Jerry Estopy, d/b/a Estopy Farms, a sorghum and soy farm in McAllen, Tex., which also provides equipment and equipment operators for harvests at other farms. The Justice Department seeks to intervene in a lawsuit filed by two U.S. citizens against the farm. The department alleges that the company discriminated against one of the U.S. citizens when it refused to hire him based on his citizenship status. The Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on national origin or citizenship status in the hiring or firing process.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on Sept. 13, 2012, in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens, N.Y., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group.

The Justice Department announced today that it and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania have reached a settlement with the Milton Hershey School of Hershey, Pa., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves allegations that the school violated the ADA by refusing to consider a child, known by the pseudonym Abraham Smith, for enrollment due to the fact that he has HIV.

The Justice Department announced the release of its “Section 508 report to the President and Congress: “Accessibility of Federal Electronic and Information Technology.”

The Justice Department announced today that Luther Burbank Savings will invest $2 million in California communities and take other steps as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin.

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with Schuylkill County, Pa., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities. The agreement was reached under Project Civic Access (PCA), the department’s initiative to ensure that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The United States and the city of Portland, Ore., announced today that they have reached a preliminary agreement to make changes to Portland Police Bureau policies, practices, training and supervision. This agreement was reached following a comprehensive investigation. Together with the agreement, the Justice Department today announced its findings that the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has engaged in an unconstitutional pattern or practice of excessive force against people with mental illness. The Justice Department delivered a letter detailing the findings to Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Michael Reese, who were cooperative throughout the department’s investigation.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 39, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for her role in obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with Grand Circle LLC, based in Boston, doing business as Grand Circle Travel, to resolve alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and ensure that persons with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids, are afforded full and equal access to the company’s travel services and facilities.

Bank of America N.A. has agreed to maintain revised policies, conduct employee training and pay compensation to victims to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of disability and receipt of public assistance in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).

Following a comprehensive investigation, the Justice Department announced today its findings that the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) in North Carolina, under the leadership of Sheriff Terry S. Johnson, engages in a pattern or practice of misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. The department conducted its investigation, which it opened on June 2, 2010, pursuant to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI).

The Justice Department’s Tax Division has issued a new directive to further the efforts of the Tax Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to respond quickly and effectively to the grave challenges in stolen identity refund fraud cases.

A Japanese freight forwarding company has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $2.3 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix certain fees in connection with the provision of freight forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the United States.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has entered into a settlement to resolve the department’s allegations that the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against women when hiring entry-level police officers.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement today on the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious.

"There’s still much more we need to do, and it’s incumbent on all of us in the field – and throughout the justice system – to work together to meet the challenges that we – and all victims – continue to face," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.

"This training could not be more timely. The tragic events in Oak Creek, Wisconsin just last month are a chilling reminder of the need to do all we can to foster tolerance, understanding, and respect among the diverse faiths, communities and peoples that make up America," said Deputy Attorney General Cole.

"We hope the training will inspire even broader collaborations in communities across the nation and forge lasting partnerships among law enforcement, elected officials, non-Sikh communities, and their Sikh neighbors," said Acting Associate Attorney General West.

AU Optronics Corporation, a Taiwan-based liquid crystal display (LCD) producer, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to pay a $500 million criminal fine for its participation in a five-year conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor LCD panels sold worldwide.