Every March, we pause to honor the extraordinary contributions and innumerable sacrifices that American women have made throughout our history – and that they continue to make today – in order to move our nation, and this Department, forward. Leaders like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Ada Kepley – the first woman to graduate from law school in the United States – have left indelible marks on the fabric of our country.

A federal court in the Northern District of Georgia permanently barred Andrew R. Heath, an Acworth, Ga., area tax preparer from preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

Dmitry Firtash, 48, a Ukrainian businessman, was arrested Wednesday by Austrian authorities in Vienna on a provisional arrest request based on charges filed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Steven A. Murray, 54, of Pelham, Ala., and his company, Bio-Tech Management Inc., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Macon, Ga., to charges of conspiracy, unlawful use of pesticides, false statements and mail fraud in connection with the misapplication of pesticides in Georgia nursing homes.

It is a pleasure to be with you today. And it’s an honor to join so many distinguished jurists, dedicated public servants, devoted members of the private bar, hardworking students, and good friends in discussing the challenges we face – and the opportunities now before us – to expand access to justice; to strengthen the rule of law; and to improve America’s legal system across the board – so we can move our nation closer to its founding ideals of equality, opportunity, and justice for all.

Alexander Beltran Herrera, 37, a commander of the FARC terrorist organization, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to hostage-taking charges stemming from the 2003 kidnappings of three U.S. citizens in Colombia.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation Calvin L. Scovel, III, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director Joe Campbell announced a criminal wire fraud charge against Toyota Motor Corporation, an automotive company headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, that designs, manufactures, assembles, and sells Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles.

LSB Industries Inc. (LSB), the largest merchant manufacturer of concentrated nitric acid in North America, and four of its subsidiaries have agreed to reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by meeting emission limits that are among the lowest for the industry in the nation.

Tonawanda Coke Corporation was sentenced in federal court in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday to pay a $12.5 million penalty and $12.2 million in community service payments for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Kristopher Michael Montemayor, a county commissioner for Precinct 1 of the Webb County Commissioners Court in Texas, was arrested today on charges of bribery.

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors around the world, including power generation, entered a plea of guilty today for its participation in a scheme to pay bribes to high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project.

Today’s announcement underscores the fact that the Departments of Justice and Transportation remain firmly committed to protecting consumers, ensuring the safety of the American people, and combating fraud in all its forms.

Now more than ever, we are fighting global corruption on multiple fronts and in real time. We are going after corrupt individuals and corporations using all of the investigative and legal tools at our disposal.

Okland Construction Co. Inc. has agreed to pay the government $928,000 to resolve allegations that it made false statements and submitted false claims under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) Program for Small and Disadvantaged Businesses.

Schools must support children as they learn expectations about behavior and conduct. But a routine school discipline infraction should land a student in a principal’s office – not in a police precinct.

In a new step to further the Justice Department’s efforts towards enhancing reentry among formerly incarcerated individuals, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will impose new requirements on federal halfway houses that help inmates transition back into society.

Joshua Vandyk, a U.S. citizen, and Eric St-Cyr and Patrick Poulin, Canadian citizens, were indicted for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service announced today.

That's why we are all gathered here this morning. Under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, the U.S. Department of Justice has used a variety of tools to respond when law enforcement misconduct is uncovered. Those include everything from technical assistance provided by our Office of Justice Programs and our COPS Office to full-fledged enforcement actions by our Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country, and everything in between.

The Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Competition Bureau Canada today issued a set of “best practices” to make more transparent how they coordinate merger reviews that affect the United States and Canada.

Detrick and Natashia Tucker, a husband and wife who owned and operated a tax preparation business named T&T Express Tax located in Pine Mountain, Ga., were sentenced to serve 12 months and one day and 46 months in prison, respectively, for crimes relating to the preparation of false tax returns.

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today met with 35 international antitrust enforcement agencies and dozens of private antitrust practitioners in Washington, D.C.

More funding will be available this year, and I am also pleased that President Obama’s budget request for next year includes $11 million for programs to support responses to child maltreatment. This funding will potentially provide critical operational assistance to child advocacy centers and valuable training and technical assistance that will further strengthen the multidisciplinary response to child abuse cases.

On Wednesday, a federal jury in Manhattan found Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, the son-in-law of Usama bin Laden and a senior member of al Qaeda, guilty on three counts, including conspiracy to kill Americans.

Five men have been charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to defraud the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union (NMDU) and Hudson News newsstands to obtain a union card and employment at Hudson News newsstands for the son of the alleged underboss of the Colombo family.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced today that a federal grand jury in Houston returned a six count indictment charging Dante Phearse, 33, with calling in bomb threats to two Houston synagogues, a municipal courthouse and a private business.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to recommit ourselves to breaking the cycle of violence that affects far too many transgender Americans.

This training has been in the works for some time now. For the last several years, the Justice Department at various levels has engaged in a constructive dialogue, animated by common aspirations and common concerns, with LGBT leaders throughout the country. And one of the many ideas we’ve received finds its manifestation in today’s gathering: a transgender law enforcement cultural professionalism training.

“Earlier this year in a speech at the Department of Justice, President Obama announced a transition that would end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it existed, and that the government would establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk data," said Attorney General Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today on the status of same-sex marriages performed in the state of Michigan.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the retirement of H. Marshall Jarrett, Director for the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) as well as the appointment of Monty Wilkinson as the new Director for EOUSA.

The calculus that many businesses make today is similar to the decisions that the mom and pop stores had to make several decades ago: Does the cost of paying out – that is, failing to tell the authorities about cyber attacks – outweigh the costs of potential retaliation?

Seven individuals have been indicted in the Southern District of Florida for their alleged participation in a mortgage fraud scheme in the Miami area.

A Los Angeles physician assistant pleaded guilty today to defrauding Medicare by signing fraudulent prescriptions for durable medical equipment while working at two separate medical clinics in California.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement today after the confirmation of John P. Carlin to serve as Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Today, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota sitting in Bismarck, N.D., convicted Lindrith Tsoodle, 58, of one felony count and one misdemeanor count of using excessive force on persons in his custody in November and December of 2010.

A federal indictment returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed today charges six foreign nationals, including a Ukrainian businessman and a government official in India, with participating in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy.

Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin James L. Santelle announced today that a federal grand jury indicted two men for odometer tampering and related crimes.

Edward N. Levine, 63, of Mill Valley, Calif., and Lumsden W. Quan, 46, of San Francisco, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas today for the illegal sale of two horns from an endangered black rhinoceros.

A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan issued a judgment against the law firm Hatchett, DeWalt & Hatchett PLLC for unpaid federal employment and unemployment taxes and penalties for late filing partnership income tax returns for various tax periods from 2003 to 2012.

As we convene this morning, I know we’re all mindful of yesterday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood. I am being regularly briefed on the situation and have directed that the full resources of the Department of Justice and the FBI be made available to ensure the security of everyone on base. We will work with local officials and the Department of Defense to provide assistance to those who need it and to help conduct a full and thorough federal investigation.

Romano Pisciotti, an Italian national, was extradited from Germany on a charge of participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids, fixing prices and allocating market shares for sales of marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere.

Despite significant challenges, the past year has been characterized by remarkable progress – from expanding civil rights for all Americans to holding private corporations accountable for wrongdoing. In the financial sector, concerns have been raised recently about a practice called “high-frequency trading.”

I also come to this discussion as my father's son. He was a man born and raised deep in the Jim Crow south. And when the time came for his eldest child and only son to take up driving lessons, dad was my teacher, imparting all the familiar lessons of keeping my eyes on the road and signaling before I turned.

As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, Attorney General Eric Holder warned U.S. tax filers to beware a “rising threat” of scammers seeking fraudulent refunds based on stolen identities, and vowed aggressive enforcement against the practice. Speaking in a recorded video message released on the Justice Department’s website, Attorney General Holder explained that a growing pool of criminals are engaged in the activity, including gangs and drug sellers seeking quick access to cash.

The office manager of a Detroit-area home health agency was sentenced today to serve 46 months in prison for her role in a $5.8 million Medicare fraud scheme.

"Unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities is harmful to people with disabilities and to our communities. We cannot wait another day to change. And we won’t. Because today, the Justice Department, the state of Rhode Island and the business community, together, embrace real integration of people with disabilities – committing to make Rhode Island a model for other states to follow."

More than ever before, the Department’s law enforcement work today must contend with new and emerging technology, including virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Virtual currencies can pose challenges for law enforcement given the appeal they have among those seeking to conceal illegal activity. This potential must be closely considered. We are working with our financial regulatory partners to account for this emerging technology.

I believe that the only real, sustainable choice – the only safe and humane option – is the one that broadens opportunity and widens the path to success. Each of you is helping to lead us in that direction, and we are marching forward with you. And I am optimistic that we will continue to see an America that is safer, healthier, and more just.

Five California-based masonry subcontractors and two individuals paid the government nearly $1.9 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting their disadvantaged small business status in connection with military construction contracts.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with the New Jersey Judiciary to provide comprehensive language assistance services to limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.