A former congressional staffer pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to commit honest services fraud. Ann Copland, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts in the District of Columbia.

John Cowdery, a former elected member of the Alaska state senate, was sentenced today to three years probation with a special condition requiring him to serve six months of home confinement for conspiring to bribe another Alaska state legislator.  U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline for the District of Alaska also ordered Cowdery to pay a $25,000 fine.      

Charles Brown, 54, of Mesa, Ariz., pleaded guilty today to one count of receiving child pornography. During the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt, Brown admitted to receiving child pornography.

Marshall E. Sanders, an attorney based in Vicksburg, Miss., was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failure to file tax returns by Magistrate Judge James C. Sumner. In addition, Judge Sumner ordered Sanders to pay restitution to the IRS of $1,025,453.

Holy House Shipping AB, a Swedish corporation, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., to pay a $1 million fine, a special assessment of $400,000 in community service payments and serve three years of probation for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book in an attempt to conceal illegal discharges of oil-contaminated waste directly into the ocean from one of its ships.

Five U.S. defendants convicted for their activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise were sentenced today in the Northern District of Florida. The defendants had pled to multiple charges, including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising child pornography; transporting child pornography; and receiving child pornography.

Building upon the successes of earlier efforts, the Department today announced the opening in Bangkok of a regional conference of approximately 100 key law enforcement and industry officials from more than a dozen nations with the goal of strengthening international cooperation in fighting large-scale intellectual property crimes.

A British citizen was charged in connection with the operation of a series of fraudulent business opportunities on March 10, 2009, by a Miami federal grand jury. Sirtaj Mathauda was indicted on charges that he and his co-conspirators purported to sell vending machine, beverage and greeting card business opportunities, including assistance in establishing, maintaining and operating such businesses. The charges form part of the government’s continued nationwide crackdown on business opportunity fraud.

A federal court has permanently barred Raymond A. Renfrow of Elm City, N.C., from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina entered the civil injunction order, which also stops Renfrow from promoting a tax fraud scheme that used sham trusts to falsely deduct customers’ non-deductible personal expenses.

A securities attorney pleaded guilty today to defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 different publicly traded companies. David B. Stocker, 49, of Phoenix pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a “pump-and-dump” scheme.

Beverly L. Masek, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery.  Masek pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline in Anchorage to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

San Mateo County, Calif., has agreed to pay the United States $6.8 million to resolve allegations that the San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) submitted false claims to the United States in connection with payments from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The government alleges that SMMC falsely inflated its bed count to Medicare in order to receive higher payments under Medicare’s Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) adjustment.

Four men have been arrested by special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the result of an undercover investigation into the illegal killing and trade of bald and golden eagles and other protected birds. The men are charged in four complaints with alleged violations of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Lacey Act.

A former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) social work associate was convicted yesterday by a jury on four counts of honest services mail fraud, violating the criminal conflict of interest statute and making a false statement to agency officials.

Laura Wang-Woodford, a U.S. citizen who served as a director of Monarch Aviation Pte, Ltd. (“Monarch”), a Singapore company that imported and exported military and commercial aircraft components for more than 20 years, pled guilty today in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiring to violate the U.S. trade embargo by exporting controlled aircraft components to Iran.

The Department today filed a lawsuit on behalf of David D. Sweatt, a Michigan Army National Guard member currently serving in Iraq, against Americraft Carton Inc. (Americraft), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Tucson, Ariz., on federal civil rights charges related to an alleged assault on a detainee at a federal detention facility. The two-count indictment, returned on March 11, 2009, alleges that on May 10, 2006, Eduardo Moreno violated the civil rights of a federal detainee by assaulting and causing bodily injury to the individual while Moreno was on duty at the U.S. Border Patrol processing facility in Nogales, Ariz.

A securities attorney was charged in an indictment unsealed today with participating in a stock registration evasion scheme involving nine different publicly traded companies and with defrauding investors in a manipulation scheme related to three of the companies.

The Department today filed a lawsuit against Bobby L. Hurt, the former property manager for numerous mobile homes in and around West Memphis, Ark., alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment. The lawsuit also names Bobby Hurt=s wife, Sue Hurt, as a defendant.

The United States has sued a Fort Richey, Fla., tax preparer, Frank Lighty, and his tax-preparation firm – Lighty & seeking to bar them permanently from the tax preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Tampa with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on behalf of Mathew B. Jeffries, an Indiana National Guard member, against the Indianapolis law firm of Mike Norris & Associates, alleging that the law firm refused to promptly reemploy Jeffries in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

A federal judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, has sentenced General Maritime Management (Portugal), the operator of a fleet of tanker vessels, and two crewmembers of the motor tanker Genmar Defiance for making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book designed to prevent pollution of the world’s oceans as required by United States and international law.

The United States has asked a federal court in Savannah, Ga., to permanently bar Ophelia Kelley of Vidalia, Ga., from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the government complaint, Kelley operates two return preparation firms in Vidalia – Kelley Tax Service, and City and Country Girl Tax Service.

An Iranian citizen and his Tehran business have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and advanced aerial cameras for fighter bombers from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Adrian Dicker, a United Kingdom chartered accountant and former vice chairman and board member at a major international accounting firm, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with certain tax shelter promoters to defraud the United States in connection with tax shelter transactions involving clients of the accounting firm and the law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist (J&G).

A federal jury in Miami today convicted two physicians and two medical assistants in connection with a $5.3 million Medicare fraud scheme. After a two-week trial in federal court in Miami, a jury found David Rothman, M.D., 66; Keith Russell, M.D., 65; Eda Marietta Milanes, 43; and Jorge Luis Pacheco, 50; guilty on all charged counts, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and multiple counts of health care fraud for submitting claims to Medicare for unnecessary medications.

A stock trader from Jupiter, Fla., pleaded guilty today to engaging in a market manipulation scheme involving several publicly traded companies. Earlier today, Paul M. Gozzo, 33, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud.

The Department today announced a settlement resolving allegations that the town of St. John, Ind., violated the Fair Housing Act when it denied a petition for a zoning variance based on the disability of a prospective resident.

The Department has entered into a consent decree today with Muskegon County, Mich., that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s lawsuit against the county alleging that a former employee was subjected to sexual harassment that caused a hostile work environment, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The government has filed two lawsuits against the Union Pacific Railroad Company for allegedly failing to prevent the use of its rail cars to smuggle large quantities of narcotics into the United States. The complaints, filed in San Diego and Houston, seek more than $37 million in monetary penalties. The government alleges the rail cars were brought across the border at the ports of entry at Calexico, Calif., and Brownsville, Texas.

Two former Memphis police officers were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Memphis for their roles in a conspiracy to rob drug dealers.

A former Nazi concentration camp guard who settled in Racine, Wis., after World War II and acquired U.S. citizenship, has been removed to Austria due to his participation in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution during World War II. Josias Kumpf, 83, served as an armed SS Death’s Head guard at the Nazi-run Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Germany and at the Trawniki Labor Camp in Poland.

The sister of a U.S. Army officer has pleaded guilty for her participation in a money-laundering scheme related to bribes paid for contracts awarded in support of the Iraq war. Carolyn Blake, of Sunnyvale, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy after accepting more than $3 million in bribe proceeds on behalf of her brother, Major John Cockerham.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Frantz Julien, a New York Army National Guard member, against the Symphony Diagnostic Services Inc., doing business as MobilexUSA (Mobilex), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

A former State Department employee was sentenced today to 12 months of probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service for illegally accessing more than 150 confidential passport application files. Dwayne F. Cross, 41, of Upper Marlboro, Md., was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola in Washington, D.C.

A member of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison and five years of supervised release for his participation in a racketeering enterprise. Manuel Marquez, a/k/a “Morro,” was sentenced in Nashville, Tenn., by Chief Judge Todd J. Campbell of the Middle District of Tennessee.

Four Miami-area residents pleaded guilty today in connection with a $10 million Medicare fraud scheme involving HIV infusion clinics. Dr. Roberto Rodriguez, 54; Dr. Carlos Garrido, 69; Gonzalo Nodarse, 38; and Alexis Carrazana, 41; all pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

A federal court has shut down two Dallas tax preparers during the height of tax-filing season. Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas signed a temporary restraining order barring Ethel Washington from preparing any tax returns. The court has also permanently barred Washington’s former employer, Tina Preston, and her firm, The Preston Group & Associates Inc., from preparing federal tax returns.

The Associate Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy in Hines, Ill., agreed to plead guilty to being part of a conspiracy to defraud the VA and the Small Business Administration (SBA). His wife and the temporary staffing company she founded agreed to plead guilty to participating in the same conspiracy.

An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Edward B. Bartoli, a Clearwater, Fla., resident and former attorney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle of Chicago. Bartoli is the last of six defendants to be sentenced after they were convicted of various tax crimes in May 2008. Prior to his conviction, Bartoli was a founder of Aegis and its legal director.

The owner of two elder care homes in Long Beach, Calif., has pleaded guilty on March 23, 2009 to bringing undocumented aliens into the United States and forcing two of them to work at her businesses. Evelyn Pelayo, 53, a resident of Long Beach, pleaded guilty on March 23, 2009 to forced labor and unlawful conduct of holding passports to further forced labor.

Alberto Goachet, 67, a political consultant and aide to former Puerto Rico Sen. Jorge De Castro Font, was sentenced today to three months in prison, three months of home detention and three years of supervised release. Goachet pleaded guilty on Dec. 4, 2008, to a one-count information charging him with conspiring with De Castro Font and others to launder money provided by a Puerto Rico businessman to De Castro Font.

A Newton, Conn., resident who was involved in operating three businesses in Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Mariusz Debowksi pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiracy to aid another in filing false tax returns.

The Department has entered into a consent decree with the City of Portsmouth, Va., that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint that the City of Portsmouth engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African Americans in its hiring of entry-level firefighters, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

Sikorsky Aircraft Company, a division of United Technologies Corporation, has agreed to pay the United States $2,941,000 to resolve fraud allegations in connection with its contract for the manufacture of Black Hawk helicopters for the Army. Sikorsky, located in Stratford, Conn., manufactures the Black Hawk or variations of the Black Hawk for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, as well as for other nations.

Methodist Hospital in Houston has agreed to pay the United States $9.99 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the federal Medicare program. The settlement resolves allegations that Methodist improperly increased charges to Medicare patients in order to obtain enhanced reimbursement from Medicare.

The Department is making grant funding available for public education programs concerning immigration-related employment discrimination. The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC), a section of the Department’s Civil Rights Division, announced the availability of funds for public education programs regarding employees’ rights and employers’ obligations under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

A former Michigan school official was sentenced to serve 46 months in jail and to pay $1.34 million in restitution for his role in a fraudulent scheme to obtain millions of dollars from the Detroit-area Ecorse Public School District, the federal E-Rate program and TCF National Bank. Douglas Benit, a former assistant superintendent at Ecorse Public Schools (EPS), was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Detroit today after pleading guilty on Nov. 24, 2008, to one count each of mail fraud and bank fraud.

Two Miami-area residents pleaded guilty today in connection with a $10 million Medicare fraud scheme involving HIV infusion clinics. Dr. Carmen Del Cueto, 65, and Alexis Dagnesses, 44, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck. Both defendants admitted to working at Midway Medical Center Inc. (Midway), a Miami clinic that purported to specialize in the treatment of patients with HIV.