A federal court has preliminarily enjoined ITS Financial LLC, the parent company that owns the Instant Tax Service tax-preparation franchise operation, the Justice Department announced today. Dayton, Ohio-based ITS claims to be the fourth-largest tax-preparation firm in the nation, according to the government complaint in the civil lawsuit. Judge Timothy Black of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio signed the order, which also applies to the company’s CEO, Fesum Ogbazion. The defendants consented to the preliminary injunction.

Enyinnaya Udo was sentenced to 24 months in prison today and ordered by U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein to pay more than $262,966 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a condition of supervised release, the Justice Department and IRS announced.

A Northern California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

A company that operates payday loan and check cashing stores in at least nine states has settled with the government over allegations that it violated federal regulations, the Justice Department announced today. In April 2010, law enforcement officers retrieved boxes of intact consumer documents, including credit reports, from trash cans and dumpsters near four PLS Financial Services stores in the Chicago area. The improper disposal of these documents led to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The Department of Justice, the FBI and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) remind the public there is a potential for disaster fraud in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Suspected fraudulent activity pertaining to relief efforts associated with Hurricane Sandy should be reported to the toll-free NCDF hotline at 866-720-5721.

Orthofix International NV, has agreed to pay the United States $30 million to settle allegations that an Orthofix subsidiary, Blackstone Medical Inc., paid illegal kickbacks to physicians in order to induce use of the company’s products, the Justice Department announced today. Orthofix, which manufactures spinal implants and other spinal surgery products, is a publicly traded company headquartered in Curacao.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor portions of the early voting period for the Nov. 6, 2012, general election in Miami-Dade County, Fla., 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.

Bobby Teets, 46, aka “Bull,” pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 2010, to racketeering aggravated assault for his role in the assault of an applicant for membership in the gang, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. Teets is to serve the 72-month sentence consecutively to the state prison term he is currently serving.

The Justice Department announced today that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy more than 780 federal observers and department personnel to 51 jurisdictions in 23 states for the Nov. 6, 2012, general election.

Two German shipping companies pleaded guilty today in federal court in Houston to criminal charges that they concealed the illegal dumping of oil at sea from U.S. Coast Guard inspectors.

A bail bondsman in Portsmouth, Va., was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison for bribing public officials in exchange for receiving favorable treatment, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride.

Bruce King, the owner and operator of Premier Tax, pleaded guilty in federal court this week to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and filing false tax returns, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Additionally, on Thursday, Vonecia Orum, a return preparer who worked at Premier Tax, pleaded guilty to delivering false tax returns to the IRS.

Lisa Wright, 46, and Cathy Saffer, 52, of Pompano Beach, Fla., were sentenced today to serve 66 and 60 months respectively for defrauding homeowners and mortgage lenders as part of a foreclosure rescue scheme, the Justice Department announced. The two women were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in the Southern District of Florida.

Willie Lambert, 57, of Pittston, Pa., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen in the Eastern District of Virginia to serve 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $449,514 in restitution, jointly and severally with co-defendants. Sean M. Lovelady, 28, of Pomona, Calif., was sentenced today by Judge Wright Allen to 23 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $7,500 in restitution.

Freeman Health System, a healthcare provider and hospital system located in Joplin, Mo., has agreed to pay $9,316,139 to resolve allegations that it violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by knowingly providing incentive pay to physicians in a manner that violated federal law, the Justice Department announced today.

Manuel Antonio Mares, 57, of Miami; Jeremy Hart Yost, 26, of West Bend, Ore.; Richard Phillip Allen, 66, of Redondo Beach, Calif.; and James Calvin Boyd, 58, of Pell City, Ala., pleaded guilty today before Senior District Judge Norman K. Moon in the Western District of Virginia to one count of conspiring to receive, distribute, possess and access with the intent to view child pornography. Jesse Leon Coleman, 48, of Lynchburg, Va., pleaded guilty today before Judge Moon to one count of receiving child pornography.

Alba Serrano, 66, of Miami, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in the Southern District of Florida.

Lawrence Etsitty , 31, a former police officer with the Navajo Police Department (NPD), was sentenced today in federal court on charges related to the sexual abuse of a woman who was in his custody on Jan. 25, 2009. Earlier this year, Etsitty pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of the victim when he groped, touched and kissed her against her will, while she was handcuffed. Etsitty also was charged and pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

Andrew J. Watts, a Barbados national, was sentenced in Chicago by U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall to 114 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of just under $1.7 million for devising and executing a stolen identity federal income tax refund fraud scheme, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Two Pakistani nationals have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on charges alleging that they operated Internet sites that illegally shipped pharmaceuticals from Pakistan and the United Kingdom to customers in the United States.

A real estate investor pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in Raleigh, N.C., and surrounding areas, the Department of Justice announced. This is the second charge in the department’s ongoing investigation into real estate foreclosure auctions in eastern North Carolina.

The government has intervened in a lawsuit against Fluor Hanford Inc. and its parent company, Fluor Corporation (collectively Fluor), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, the Justice Department announced today. Fluor Hanford, Inc. is a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation, a Texas-based corporation that provides a wide variety of services to government and private customers. The False Claims Act lawsuit was originally filed by whistleblower Loydene Rambo, a former employee of Fluor.

Grant E. Bibb, 41, of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Paul Escobar, 32, of San Antonio, were sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in the Western District of Texas.

Five charter fishing boat captains operating out of Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, Va. were indicted today for violating the Lacey Act by selling illegally harvested Striped Bass

John Hall, 27, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, pleaded guilty today in federal court to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act stemming from his assault of a fellow inmate, who he believed to be gay, the Department of Justice announced. Hall assaulted his fellow inmate with a dangerous weapon, causing bodily injury to the victim on Dec. 20, 2011.

Bruce Alan Edward, 48, of Atlanta, Mich., was charged in an indictment returned on Oct. 24, 2012, and unsealed on Nov. 1, 2012, by the federal grand jury in Bay City, Mich.

"The country we have inherited has been defined by the hard work and tremendous courage of those who, throughout our history, have chosen not just to devote themselves to studying the law, but also to advancing the cause of justice," said Attorney General Holder.

MoneyGram International Inc. – a global money services business headquartered in Dallas – has agreed to forfeit $100 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Justice Department in which it admits to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, as charged in an information filed today in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

An owner and sole operator of an environmental laboratory has been charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi with falsification of records and obstructing a federal criminal investigation.

William R. “Rusty” Miller, a real estate developer from Fairhope, Ala., has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Jackson, Miss., for the unpermitted filling of wetlands near Bay St. Louis, Miss., in violation of the Clean Water Act.

An Army National Guard recruiter pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Texas for his role in a bribery and fraud scheme that caused approximately $98,000 in losses to the Army National Guard Bureau, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Thirty-four alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas gang (ABT), including four of its most senior leaders, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston for allegedly conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

The Justice Department announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Henry County School District in Henry County, Ga., to ensure that all students in the district are able to enroll in school, regardless of national origin or immigration status.

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.

Anthony Mangione, 52, of Parkland, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Fla.

A Las Vegas mortgage agent was found guilty today for participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that netted $1.2 million in fraudulent mortgage loans.

"The Criminal Division is determined, with its federal, state and local law enforcement partners, to continue disrupting and dismantling ABT and other violent criminal enterprises," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 22, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, to life in prison.

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jacinto, Calif., alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act based on its treatment of group homes for persons with disabilities. This lawsuit is part of the Justice Department’s continuing effort to enforce civil rights laws that require states and municipalities to end discrimination against, and unnecessary segregation of, persons with disabilities.

Roquette America, Inc., has agreed to pay a $4.1 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit at its grain processing facility in Keokuk, Iowa.

A former U.S. Army Major was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his participation in a bribery scheme related to his activities as a contracting official in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, in 2005 and 2006.

Robroy MacInnes, 54, of Fort Myers, Fla., Robert Keszey, 47, of Bushnell, Fla., and Glades Herp Farm Inc., were charged in a two-count indictment today in federal court in Philadelphia.

Chase McClary, 24, of Johnsonville, S.C., was sentenced today in federal court to four years in prison followed by three years supervised release for his racially-motivated attack of an African-American teenager.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with two former importers of highway motorcycles, recreational vehicles and small spark ignition engines.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today released A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the Guide). The 120-page Guide provides a detailed analysis of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and closely examines the DOJ and SEC’s approach to FCPA enforcement.

Two former employees of the Alabama Administrative Office of the Courts were indicted today in Montgomery, Ala., for stealing the programming code for a sensitive court data system, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance for the Northern District of Alabama.

Anthony L. Dinunzio, the acting leader of the New England La Cosa Nostra (NELCN) crime family, was sentenced today to serve 78 months in federal prison for his role in a racketeering conspiracy to extort protection payments from adult entertainment businesses in Rhode Island.

The Department of Justice has forfeited a Manhattan condominium and a Virginia residence – with a combined value of approximately $ 2.1 million – purchased with the proceeds of alleged bribes paid to the family of the former President of Taiwan, Shui-Bian Chen, as part of the department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division issued a statement today regarding Entergy Corp.’s commitments to join a regional transmission organization (RTO) and divest its transmission system; Entergy’s proposed acquisitions of the Hinds and Hot Spring generating facilities in Mississippi and Arkansas, respectively, from KGen Power Corporation; and the division’s open investigation into Entergy’s alleged anticompetitive conduct.