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.

Benjamin Montgomery, a former correctional officer at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta pleaded guilty today to a two-count information charging him with civil rights crimes for assaulting an inmate and for subsequently writing a false report about the incident.

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.

The president of an Iowa ready-mix concrete company pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices for sales of ready-mix concrete.

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.

Kos Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, has agreed to pay more than $41 million to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from conduct relating to its drugs Advicor and Niaspan.

"This conference is a unique opportunity – a chance to forge and reinforce relationships, to share effective strategies, and to help ensure the strength and integrity of our justice system."

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.

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.

"Each of this year’s award recipients should take great pride in the fact that their efforts have made a positive and lasting impact on the citizens we serve and will leave an enduring imprint on the Department’s work for years to come," said Attorney General Holder.

Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell today in opposition to language in the proposed 2011 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act.

A federal grand jury in Springfield, Ill., returned a 23-count felony indictment today charging Jeffrey B. Foiles with conspiracy, wildlife trafficking, and making false writings in connection with the illegal sale of guided waterfowl hunts, the Department of Justice announced today.

Christian Fernando Borda and Alvaro Alvaran-Velez, two narcotics traffickers aligned with the Autodefenses Unidas de Colombia (AUC), were found guilty today in U.S. District Court of conspiring to import ton-quantities of cocaine into the United States.

A federal jury convicted Clark Alan Roberts, 47, and Sean Edward Howley, 39, both former engineers with Wyko Tire Technology Incorporated, located in Greenback, Tenn., of stealing trade secrets from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

A federal jury in New Orleans convicted three current and former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers, David Warren, Greg McRae and Lt. Travis McCabe, in relation to the post-Katrina shooting death of Henry Glover, and the subsequent burning of Glover’s remains and obstruction of justice.

Attorney General Eric Holder served as the keynote speaker at the 12th National Indian Nations Conference in Palm Springs, Calif., during a week of outreach events organized by the Department of Justice that brought together tribal leaders and youth, law enforcement officers, lawyers and judges, policy experts and health and social services providers, and representatives from federal, state, local and tribal governments.

Restitution trust funds for the benefit of two minor victims of sex tourism in the Philippines were executed and implemented yesterday through the signing of trust documents by Filipino social welfare authorities and a U.S. based trustee.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Virginia officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in future federal general elections.

The former CEO of The Morgan Crucible Company plc, a United Kingdom corporation, was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation into price fixing of carbon brushes and other carbon products sold in the United States and elsewhere.

RAE Systems Inc., a publicly-traded U.S. corporation headquartered in San Jose, Calif., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $1.7 million penalty for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Tanja Anamary Nijmeijer, a Dutch national who moved to Colombia and joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2002, and 17 other members of the FARC designated foreign terrorist organization were indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., today on seven counts of terrorism and weapons charges arising out of their participation in the hostage-taking of three American citizens in the Republic of Colombia.

The Department of Justice today has reached a settlement that will require Pittsburgh-based L.B. Foster Company to divest a West Virginia plant used in the development, manufacture and sale of certain railroad joints to Koppers Inc., in order to proceed with Foster’s acquisition of Portec Rail Products Inc.

The owner and the vice president of a Detroit-area physical therapy clinic were sentenced to 151 months and 108 months in prison, respectively, for their leading roles in a $23 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Attorney General Holder convened the inaugural meeting of the Justice Department’s Tribal Nations Leadership Council (TNLC), a group of tribal leaders from around the country who will advise him on issues critical to tribal communities.

Irish pharmaceutical manufacturer Elan Corporation PLC and its U.S. subsidiary Elan Pharmaceuticals Inc. have agreed to pay more than $203 million to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of the epilepsy drug Zonegran

The Justice Department announced today the filing of a complaint against the city of Brockton, Mass., and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for violating the rights of an Iraq war veteran.

Jeffrey Robert Libman, the vice president and co-director of Webe Web Corporation, a Florida corporation, was sentenced yesterday to 108 months in prison for transporting child pornography.

A grant administrator and her daughter have been charged with participating in a scheme resulting in the theft of approximately $150,000 in federal grant funds awarded to a non-profit corporation in the Territory of American Samoa.

Madhatta Asagal Haipe, a citizen of the Philippines and founding member of Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyyah, also known as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), was sentenced today to 23 years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to four counts of hostage taking in the 1995 abduction of 16 people, including four U.S. citizens, in the Philippines.

Jorge Granados and Manuel Caceres, the former chief executive officer and the vice president of business development, respectively, for Miami-based telecommunications company Latin Node Inc. (LatiNode) have been indicted for allegedly paying more than $500,000 in bribes to government officials in Honduras.

The Justice Department today announced the settlement of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaint against Modern Hairstyling Institute Inc. in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

Renzo Gadola, 44, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of Robin C. Ashton to serve as head of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of Juan Osuna as Acting Director for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

A judge sentenced Feliciano Sanchez, a former officer with the Bell, Calif., Police Department, to nine years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for sexually assaulting a female motorist and violating her civil rights.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Collins Management Corporation, a forestry products company in Oregon, to resolve allegations that it unlawfully fired and later refused to rehire a lawful permanent resident in violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that he has appointed Gary G. Grindler to be chief of staff to the Attorney General, effective Jan. 17, 2011.

The director of the school bus division of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa’s Department of Education pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery.

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment today charging Phillip A. Hamilton, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, with allegedly soliciting employees of Old Dominion University for a paid position at the same time he was introducing legislation to fund the position.

The city of Evansville, Ind., has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems that will significantly reduce the city’s longstanding sewage overflows into the Ohio River.

A former CIA officer was arrested today on charges that he illegally disclosed national defense information and obstructed justice.

Marsha Parenteau of Dublin, Ohio, has been sentenced for conspiring to commit money laundering, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

A New Orleans-area medical doctor and the owner and operator of a medical equipment company were sentenced today to 48 and 30 months in prison.

Today’s tragedy in Arizona was a senseless act of violence that has already resulted in devastating loss, including the death of Chief United States District Court Judge John Roll and four other individuals and the wounding of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a number of others.

The Justice Department announced today that it has settled its suit against the town of Garner, N.C., and the town’s Board of Adjustment alleging that they violated the Fair Housing Act when refused to allow up to eight men recovering from drug and alcohol addictions to live together as a reasonable accommodation.

A former leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, pleaded guilty today in federal court in San Francisco to racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and the use or possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

An Illinois commercial print broker pleaded guilty today to making false statements in a bid submitted to the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO).

Nicholas J. Faranso of Farmington Hills, Mich., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.