Lauren Stevens of Durham, N.C., was charged with one count of obstructing an official proceeding, one count of concealing and falsifying documents to influence a federal agency, and four counts of making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.

“In January 2008, Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed Assistant United States Attorney John Durham to investigate the destruction by CIA personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations," said Matthew Miller, Director, Office of Public Affairs.

The Justice Department and Hilton Worldwide Inc. today announced a comprehensive, precedent-setting agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that will make state-of-the-art accessibility changes to approximately 900 hotels nationwide.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Lee Enterprises Inc. and its subsidiary, Lee Publications Inc., violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by publishing an advertisement that discriminated on the basis of familial status in the Elko Daily Free Press.

The Justice Department announced today that it has sued the owners and managers of Park Towers Apartments, a federally-subsidized apartment complex in Waterloo, Iowa, alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The Justice Department reached a settlement agreement with the University of South Carolina to resolve an investigation into the university’s policies and procedures related to discrimination and harassment.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Hoover Inc., a leading manufacturer of vacuum and carpet cleaners with facilities in Ohio and Texas, to resolve allegations that Hoover engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles in the I-9 process upon lawful permanent residents.

Brent Oncale, 36, of Houston, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to conspiracy charges in connection with his role as a principal of the A&O entities, a group of businesses that acquired and marketed over $100 million of investments in life settlements to more than 800 victims across the United States and Canada.

The United States has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Aurelia Sanderson Johnson of Montgomery, Ala., from preparing tax returns for others.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with Essex County, N.J., that, will resolve the department’s lawsuit against Essex County for refusing to permit a corrections officer to wear a religiously-mandated headscarf.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellis sentenced Eric Jon Eisenhower, a resident of Fairfax Station, Va., to 19 months in prison and ordered him to pay $88,826.79 in restitution to the IRS.

A federal grand jury indicted three men in Albuquerque, N.M., on federal hate crime charges related to a racially-motivated assault of a 22-year-old man of Navajo descent who has a significant cognitive impairment.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced additional details for the Dec. 8, 2010, public workshop in Washington, which will examine the issue of margins at various levels of the agricultural supply chain.

A jury in Rochester, N.Y., convicted Keith Gordon-Smith, and his Rochester-based asbestos abatement company, Gordon-Smith Contracting, Inc. (GSCI) of eight counts of knowing violations of the Clean Air Act asbestos work practice standards.

The Justice Department today made available online the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards or Standards).

An Atlanta grand jury returned an indictment today against a former executive of Japan Airlines International Co. Ltd. (JAL) and two former executives of Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. Ltd. for participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate components of rates for air cargo shipments to and from the United States.

The Department of Justice joined representatives from across the federal government to mark the progress made in modernizing the federal workforce hiring process over the past six months.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the establishment of the Office of Tribal Justice as a separate component within the organizational structure of the Department of Justice.

“We respect the jury’s verdict and are pleased that Ahmed Ghailani now faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a potential life sentence for his role in the embassy bombings," said Matthew Miller, Director of Public Affairs.

"The Criminal Division, along with our partners in the U.S. Attorneys Offices, is firmly committed to supporting you in our collective mission to prevent and deter any attempts to defraud the American people of the money invested in our future through the Recovery Act," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with AMC Entertainment Inc. to resolve a lawsuit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to possession of controlled substances and conversion of government property.

The Department of Justice secured $3 billion in civil settlements and judgments in cases involving fraud against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010.

The Justice Department today announced that it has filed a lawsuit alleging that Titan Laboratories Inc., and its owner Harvey Berger willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by discriminating against and failing to reemploy U.S. Army reservist Miguel Orozco Garduño.

The Justice Department has reached an agreement with Stonecleave Village Association, Inc. to resolve allegations that Stonecleave engaged in a pattern or practice of familial status discrimination by imposing excessive fines on residents with children for alleged violations of Stonecleave’s rules.

Under a global bankruptcy settlement lodged in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan today, Tronox Inc. and its affiliated debtors will pay $270 million into trusts and to federal and state agencies that will fund the cleanup of contaminated sites in 22 states.

Russell Mackert, 51, of Spring, Texas, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to conspiracy charges in connection with his role as a lawyer for the A&O entities, a group of businesses that acquired and marketed more than $100 million of fraudulent investments in life settlements to more than 800 victims across the United States and Canada.

A federal jury today convicted Amador Cortes-Meza, 36, of Mexico, of multiple charges of sex trafficking and human smuggling offenses related to a scheme to force women and juveniles into prostitution.

"Each November, we come together to honor the history and cultural traditions of America’s indigenous peoples," said Attorney General Holder.

The settlement declares the entire Isabella Reservation to be Indian Country, resolving longstanding disputes over the boundaries and existence of the Isabella Reservation in south central Michigan.

The Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons today implemented a key provision of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 by launching a four-year pilot program to begin accepting certain tribal offenders sentenced in tribal courts for placement in Bureau of Prisons institutions.

“For more than fifteen years, Glenn Fine’s commitment to integrity and professionalism has helped the Department of Justice fulfill its most important responsibilities," said Attorney General Holder.

The Department of Justice has reached a settlement that will require GrafTech International Ltd., a major producer of graphite electrodes, to make significant modifications to its supply agreement with ConocoPhillips Company, along with reporting and firewall obligations, in order to proceed with its proposed acquisition of Seadrift Coke LP.

Singapore Airlines Cargo Pte Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $48 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the air transportation industry.

The Department of Justice announced today the filing of a lawsuit against the Policía de Puerto Rico alleging the PRPD retaliated against Agent Investigator Sofía Figueroa Rossy for complaining about a hostile work environment based on sex, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

Houston-area residents Oliver Nkuku and Callistus Edozie were sentenced to 120 months in prison and 41 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare fraud scheme.

Today, the Departments of Justice, Interior and Agriculture applauded the bipartisan House passage of the Claims Settlement Act.

A one-count indictment was returned late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Miami charging Miami-based Florida West International Airways Inc., one of its former executives and two executives of a competing air cargo carrier with participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate certain components of air cargo shipments from Colombia to Miami.

A former residential sales manager at a Florida property management company pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today the agenda and panelists for the Dec. 8, 2010, joint public workshop on margins in agriculture.

The Justice Department today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lake County, Ind., and the Lake County Sheriff to resolve its complaint concerning conditions of confinement at the Lake County Jail (LCJ). LCJ is located in Crown Point, Ind., and houses approximately 1,050 adult male and female inmates.

Attorney General Holder announced today the results of Operation Broken Trust, a nationwide operation organized by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to target investment fraud.

Wojciech J. Chodan, a former commercial vice president and consultant to a United Kingdom subsidiary of Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for his participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

"We are here to announce the results of Operation Broken Trust, a three-and-a-half-month targeting of investment fraud schemes throughout the country – and a critical step forward in law enforcement’s work to protect American investors, to ensure the strength of our markets, and to prevent financial fraud schemes."

Bank of America entities have agreed to pay a total of $137.3 million in restitution to federal and state agencies for its participation in a conspiracy to rig bids in the municipal bond derivatives market and as a condition of its admission into the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program.

"Over the last two years, the Justice Department—in close collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services—has made cracking down on health care fraud a top priority. Today, we announce the latest results of those efforts."

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today held the fifth of five joint public workshops to explore the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in American agriculture.

PrimeLending, a national mortgage lender with 168 offices in 32 states at the end of 2009, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American borrowers between 2006 and 2009.

United Water Services Inc., the former contract operator of the Gary Sanitary District wastewater treatment works in Gary, Ind., and two of its employees, were charged today with conspiracy and felony violations of the Clean Water Act in a 26-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury.

The proposed consent decree resolves claims of the United States and the commonwealth under the Clean Air Act and related provisions of the laws of the commonwealth.