The United States has intervened and filed a complaint in a qui tam suit accusing EMC Corp. of failing to disclose its commercial pricing practices during negotiation of its General Services Administration (GSA) contracts and of providing improper payments and other things of value to Systems Integrators and other Alliance Partners on contracts with government agencies.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Ecolab Inc. (Ecolab) that will resolve the Department’s complaint, which was filed today, that Ecolab failed to reemploy Michigan veteran Stephen Alasin in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, as amended (USERRA). The consent decree was approved by the court today as well.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Stimson Lumber Company (Stimson) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint, also filed today, that Oregon-based Stimson failed to reemploy Oregon reservist David Eckhardt in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The United States has sued tax return preparers in Placerville, Calif., and Columbia, S.C., seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the government complaints in the two cases, Teresa Marty of Pollock Pines, Calif., and Winston Able of Blythewood, S.C., prepare federal income tax returns for their customers that claim fraudulent tax refunds.

Two citizens of the United Kingdom have been charged in an indictment unsealed today in the United States for their alleged participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois against Henry County, Ill., alleging that former employee Michelle Baze was sexually harassed by her supervisor, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

A former official of the U.S. Tax Court was sentenced today in connection with a bribery conspiracy involving contracts at the U.S. Tax Court in the District of Columbia. Fred Fernando Timbol Jr., 43, of Mount Airy, Md., was sentenced by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

A grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a three-count indictment today charging a former staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives with corruption offenses. Fraser C. Verrusio, 39, was charged by the grand jury with conspiring to accept an illegal gratuity, accepting an illegal gratuity, and making a false statement in failing to report his receipt of gifts from a lobbyist and the lobbyist’s client on his 2003 financial disclosure form.

The United States has intervened in a whistleblower suit filed in the District of New Mexico against Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS) and three of its hospitals in New Mexico: Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell, Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming, and Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas. The suit alleges that CHS and its three hospitals violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly causing to be presented to the United States false claims for federal matching Medicaid funds.

John Joseph Cota, a California ship pilot, pleaded guilty today to negligently causing the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a law enacted in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Cota, who piloted the M/V Cosco Busan when it hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge on Nov. 7, 2007, also pleaded guilty today to violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of protected migratory birds.

The 60th felony conviction from Operation Fastlink, a major Department of Justice initiative to combat online piracy worldwide. Bryan Thomas Black, 30, of Waterloo, Ill., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal infringement of a copyright for his involvement in a multinational software piracy organization that was targeted by investigators as part of “Operation Fastlink,” an internationally coordinated 18-month investigation.

A former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) employee who falsified his performance evaluation to justify an annual performance award to which he was not entitled pleaded guilty today to one count of making false statements.

A former corrections officer with the Lucas County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office was sentenced today to four years in prison for violating the civil rights of inmates in his custody at the Lucas County jail, as well as private citizens on the streets of the greater Toledo area. Today in federal district court in Toledo, Ohio, Judge Jack Zouhary also sentenced the former corrections officer, Seth Bunke, to three years of supervised release following the prison term.

Carl Courtright III, of Granite City, Ill., was convicted today on child pornography and bank fraud charges in the Southern District of Illinois following a five-day jury trial. The federal jury convicted Courtright of one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography, as well as one count of bank fraud.

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.

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.

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).

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).

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 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 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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

The Department has reached agreement with New York officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to vote in the state’s March 31, 2009, special election in the 20th Congressional District.

A Jackson, Miss., computer systems administrator was found guilty late Thursday of receiving and possessing images of child pornography on his home computer. Following a four-day jury trial in Natchez, Miss., Joseph McNealy was found guilty of three counts of receiving child pornography through the Internet and one count of possessing child pornography.

Bruce Lapierre, of Pascoag, R.I., and Albert Martin and Lorraine Martin, both of Woonsocket, R.I., were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion following 2 hours of deliberations and an 8-day trial before Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi in Providence, R.I.

The Department filed a lawsuit today to challenge the at-large method of electing the Lake Park, Fla. Town Commission on the ground that it dilutes the voting strength of black citizens in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami, alleges that as a result of racially polarized voting patterns in town elections, candidates preferred by black voters are usually defeated.

“In connection with the post-trial litigation in United States v. Theodore F. Stevens, the Department of Justice has conducted a review of the case, including an examination of the extent of the disclosures provided to the defendant. After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial."

The city of Independence, Mo., has agreed to make major improvements to its sanitary sewer system, at an estimated cost of more than $35 million, to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated sewage into the Missouri River each year. Under the terms of the consent decree, lodged in Kansas City, Mo., Independence will also pay a civil penalty of $255,000 and will spend an additional $450,000 on supplemental environmental projects designed to enhance Missouri River watershed by improving storm water detention basins and stabilizing stream banks.

A current Baltimore City Police Department officer and two retired officers were charged in a six-count federal indictment unsealed today with civil rights and obstruction of justice violations stemming from an April 2004 incident during which officers allegedly assaulted a handcuffed and shackled juvenile with a baton and pool stick.

Nathan Davis, a former police officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, La., pleaded guilty today to a felony civil rights violation for use of excessive force. At today’s court hearing, defendant Davis admitted that he intentionally used excessive force in March 2007 against a man who had been arrested, handcuffed and taken to a police department holding center.

Jonathan Haynes, a former police officer with the Jackson Police Department, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Jackson, Miss., to stealing money from a citizen during an off-duty encounter.

A former contract employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a dirt, sand and gravel subcontractor were both convicted on charges of conspiracy and bribery in connection with a $16 million hurricane protection project for the reconstruction of the Lake Cataouatche Levee, south of New Orleans.

The increased efforts and reallocation of personnel recently announced by the Department of Justice builds on the foundation of expertise and experience gained from ongoing efforts to combat Mexican drug cartels in the United States and to help Mexican law enforcement battle cartels in its own country.

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and other federal officials announced that Hassan Abu-Jihaad, formerly known as Paul R. Hall, 33, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for disclosing previously classified information relating to the national defense.

The Department of Justice, through the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is providing federal law enforcement assistance to the Binghamton Police Department in response to the shootings in Binghamton.  The FBI’s Albany, N.Y., field office has sent hostage negotiators, an evidence response team and command post assistance.  ATF is providing seven special agents from the Syracuse and Albany field offices. The Department will continue to provide assistance as requested in response to this rapidly developing situation.

The Department of Justice has initiated removal proceedings against a Sharon, Penn., resident who served as an armed SS guard at two Nazi concentration camps in Germany during World War II.

Jorge Flores-Rojas, 44, an undocumented Mexican national, was sentenced to 24 years in prison by Chief Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. in Charlotte, N.C., for two counts of sex trafficking of minors and one count of interstate transportation of an adult for purposes of commercial sex. Flores-Rojas pled guilty to the charges on Oct. 7, 2008.

A physicist in Newport News, Va., was sentenced to 51 months in prison today for illegally exporting space launch technical data and defense services to the People’s Republic of China and offering bribes to Chinese government officials. Shu Quan-Sheng, 68, a native of China, naturalized U.S. citizen and Ph.D. physicist, was sentenced by Judge Henry C. Morgan, Jr. in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division.

Two former senior executives of CSK Auto Corp. (CSK), have been charged in a 31-count indictment for a scheme to manipulate the company’s reported earnings. The indictment, returned on April 7, 2009, by a federal grand jury in Phoenix, charges Martin G. Fraser, 53, of Glendale, Ariz., and Don W. Watson, 53, of Gilbert, Ariz., with conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), false books and records, and false statements to its auditor.

Six former executives of an Orange County, Calif.-based valve company were charged today in connection with a conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of foreign state-owned companies as well as officers and employees of foreign and domestic private companies. The contracts resulted in net profits to the company of approximately $46.5 million. According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly engaged in a bribery conspiracy from approximately 1998 through 2007.