A former senior employee of a U.S. military contractor pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to pay $360,000 in bribes to U.S. Army contracting officials stationed at a U.S. military base in Kuwait, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

Polar Air Cargo LLC has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $17.4 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the air transportation industry.

Harold Hutcheson, a former captain at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NCC), in Tiptonville, Tenn., and Joshua Ryan Jones and Roger Forrester, former officers at NCC, were sentenced today in federal court in Jackson, Tenn., for violating the civil rights of an inmate and then lying about it during the state and federal investigations.

A former U.S. Army contracting official based at Fort Carson, Colo., pleaded guilty to submitting a false statement to the U.S. Army.

Willoughby Farr of West Palm Beach, Fla., has been sentenced to 262 months in prison and three years of supervised release for perpetrating a “cramming scheme,” which was designed to place charges on consumers’ telephone bills for collect calls that were not made.

Cisco Systems and Westcon Group North America (formerly d.b.a. Comstor) have agreed to pay the United States $48 million to settle claims that they made misrepresentations to the General Services Administration (GSA) and other federal agencies in violation of the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department today announced that the Housing Authority for the city of Eastman, Ga., (EHA) has agreed to pay up to $320,000 to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against applicants for housing and tenants based on race.

A former agent of a financial products and services company pleaded guilty today for his participation in fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts.

A former employee of a national bank pleaded guilty today for his participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts.

Three principals of a group of businesses that acquired and marketed life settlements to investors were arrested and charged in an 18-count indictment for their alleged roles in a $100 million fraud scheme with more than 800 victims across the United States and Canada.

Eric Clawson, 28, of San Francisco, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England, Jr., for depriving the civil rights of an African-American man when he assaulted the victim in a bar.

Flor Crisologo, 58, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber in U.S. District Court in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

The Justice Department today announced a comprehensive settlement agreement with McNeese State University and the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Wisconsin officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election.

"Today, as we read the names of these fallen heroes, we also reflect on their lives, their legacies, their courage, and their special calling – a calling to serve others; a calling that’s shared by every member of our nation’s law enforcement community; and a calling that’s firmly founded on the principles of self-sacrifice and personal bravery which were so vividly exemplified by each of these men and women whom we honor here this morning," said Attorney General Holder.

“Today’s report showing violent crime declined in 2009 is an encouraging sign that our nation continues to make progress in the fight against crime," said Attorney General Holder.

The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the city of Walnut, Calif., alleging that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), when, in 2008, it denied a conditional use permit to the Chung Tai Zen Center so that it could build and operate a Buddhist house of worship at property it then owned in the city.

Martin Raffol, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston to one count of engaging in a scheme to conceal material information from the FEC and one count of witness tampering.

Hundreds of American Indian and Alaskan Native communities will receive almost $127 million to enhance law enforcement, bolster justice systems, prevent youth substance abuse, serve sexual assault and elder victims, and support other efforts to combat crime.

Antonio Ochoa, a patient recruiter for Miami home health agencies, was convicted today by a federal jury in Miami of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and of three counts of soliciting and receiving kickbacks and bribes, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS)

Two intermediaries were indicted for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to pay and launder bribes to Mexican government officials at the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), a state-owned utility company, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney André Birotte for the Central District of California; Steven M. Martinez, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; and Leslie DeMarco, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Alaska officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election. The agreement was necessary to ensure Alaska’s compliance with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act)

"I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Justice is awarding nearly $127 million to support the public safety initiatives of federally recognized Indian tribes," said Associate Attorney General Perrelli.

Three former employees and a partner of Nexus Technologies Inc., a Philadelphia-based company, were sentenced late yesterday for their roles in a conspiracy to bribe officials of the Vietnamese government in exchange for lucrative contracts to supply equipment and technology to Vietnamese government agencies, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Former Indianapolis and Marion County, Ind., City-County Councilman Lincoln Plowman has been charged with attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe.

Paul Solofa, the director of the school lunch program for the government of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, has been arrested on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

Frederick Allen and Kimberlee Allen, both of Harwich, Mass., were sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy, tax evasion and failure to file tax returns.

Gilberto Jordan, a former Guatemalan special forces soldier, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch in the Southern District of Florida to 10 years in prison for unlawfully procuring his U.S. citizenship by lying about his participation in a 1982 massacre at a Guatemalan village known as Dos Erres.

The Justice Department today announced that a scientist and his wife, who both previously worked as contractors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, have been indicted on charges of communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official and conspiring to participate in the development of an atomic weapon for Venezuela, among other violations.

A federal judge in St. Louis has permanently barred a Missouri attorney and his law firm from promoting any Individual Retirement Account-based arrangement.

The Justice Department today settled a lawsuit against the city of Satsuma, Ala., and the city’s Board of Adjustment, alleging housing discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached agreements with Colorado, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii officials to help ensure that military service members and U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010 federal general election.

A federal court in Pensacola, Fla., has sentenced three of nine promoters of a fraudulent tax-and-debt-elimination scheme to prison terms for their roles in tax fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The El Centro Regional Medical Center in Imperial County, Calif., has agreed to pay the United States $2.2 million, plus interest, to settle allegations that it defrauded Medicare.

Bidemi Bello, formerly of Buford, Ga., and presently from Nigeria, was arraigned today, following an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Sep.10, 2010.

The Justice Department today issued a report marking the 10th anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), showing that the law has had a positive impact on protecting the religious freedom of a wide range of faith groups, and had a particularly significant impact protecting the religious freedom of minorities.

An Atlanta grand jury returned an indictment today against an executive of Martinair Holland N.V. for participating in a conspiracy to fix and coordinate certain surcharges on air cargo shipments to and from the United States.

'RLUIPA was a response by bipartisan members of Congress to what they saw as a threat to one of our most fundamental freedoms," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

The United States has filed a complaint asking a Virginia federal court to permanently bar three firms and three men from promoting a nationwide “HedgeLoan” scheme that the complaint alleges involves the disguised sale of more than $268 million in securities.

Roberto Trevizo Corral, a resident of Nampa, Idaho, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and ordered to pay $771,252.11 in restitution for failing to collect and pay over employment taxes.

Roy W. Bradford pleaded guilty in federal district court in Dayton, Ohio, to willfully filing a false tax return for 2004.

The Justice Department announced that it reached agreements this week with the city of Kings Mountain, N.C., and the city of Sandy Springs, Ga., in the form of consent decrees filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) detective, was sentenced today to three years in prison for misprision of a felony in connection with the cover-up of two police-involved shootings on the Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that left two civilians dead and four others seriously injured.

"The Medal of Valor is the highest honor awarded to public safety officers in the country," said Attorney General Holder. "And today’s recipients are part of a select group,"

"The Department of Justice is busy investigating and prosecuting financial fraud in all its forms, including investment fraud schemes, mortgage-related fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, money laundering, and other crimes," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer

Three individuals pleaded guilty today in connection with a Medicare fraud scheme operated out of a Houston-area durable medical equipment (DME) company.

The Justice Department announced that it filed a lawsuit today against Post Properties Inc., Post Apartment Homes L.P. and Post GP Holdings Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for failing to provide accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act at multi-family housing developments in six states.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with six high technology companies–Adobe Systems Inc., Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp., Intuit Inc. and Pixar–that prevents them from entering into no solicitation agreements for employees.

Paul Magliocchetti, the founder and president of PMA Group Inc., a lobbying firm, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Arlington, Va., to making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions and making false statements to a federal agency.

A former U.S. Army staff sergeant pleaded guilty today to bribery in connection with a fuel theft scheme to solicit more than $400,000 in bribes from a government contractor in Afghanistan.