The Department of Justice today settled a civil complaint against Richard A. Retta, of Rockville, Md, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

A Los Angeles check cashing store, its head manager and its designated anti-money laundering compliance officer were sentenced today in the Central District of California for failing to follow reporting and anti-money laundering requirements for over $8 million in transactions in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

"Our Declaration of Independence declared in 1776 that “all men are created equal,” but it took 100 years and a civil war that took hundreds of thousands of lives to end slavery; another hundred years to create legal equality for African Americans; and we struggle to this day to make equality a reality. I see this every day in my work as the chief civil rights law enforcement official for the United States," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

Community State Bank of St. Charles, Mich., will open a loan production office in an African-American neighborhood in Saginaw, Mich., invest $165,000 in majority African-American areas in and around Saginaw and take other steps as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race.

A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today for coercing and enticing a minor and possessing child pornography.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will not challenge a proposal by the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) to offer a gainsharing program to member hospitals in New York.

Isaacs, 61, of Los Angeles, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge George H. King in the Central District of California. In addition to his prison term, Isaacs was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Ronald E. Burrell, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Caremerica Inc., and Michael R. Elliott, former chief financial officer (CFO) of Caremerica Inc., were sentenced today in Wilmington, N.C.

"The United States was able to become more inclusive not because we changed our principles, which reflect universal and timeless values, but because we learned to apply our principles more consistently. Over time, we also developed tools that help us to better apply our principles," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

The United States has asked a federal court in Jacksonville, Fla., to stop Thomas G. Bandzul from preparing tax returns for others.

In a settlement with the United States on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, automotive electronics manufacturer Edge Products LLC (Edge) has agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty for manufacturing and selling electronic devices that allowed owners of model year 2007 and later diesel pickup trucks to remove emission controls from their vehicles.

Six Detroit-area residents and one Chicago-area resident were arrested today by federal agents on charges arising from the ongoing investigation into an alleged $22 million home health care fraud scheme. The indictment was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan; Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Detroit Field Office.

A federal grand jury in Macon, Ga., returned an indictment charging Kimberly Michelle Banks, a resident of Cordele, Ga., with crimes involving the use of stolen identities on false federal income tax returns in order to obtain refunds to which Banks was not entitled.

A former special agent of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG) pleaded guilty today in a Southern District of Texas federal court to participating in a scheme to falsify records and to obstruct an internal field office inspection.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has permanently barred Cash Management Systems, a Virginia corporation, from promoting two tax schemes that allegedly involve disguising wages as tool-reimbursement or tool-rental payments.

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia unsealed an indictment yesterday charging Kyle Novitsky, 45, and Judith Aloe, 52, both of North Miami Beach, Fla., with making false odometer statements, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit these offenses.

A former minister pleaded guilty today in North Carolina to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in Haiti.

James M. Davis, 64, formerly of Baldwyn, Miss., the former chief financial officer of Stanford International Bank (SIB) and Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in helping Robert Allen Stanford perpetrate a fraud scheme involving SIB, and for conspiring to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into SIB.

Former Fort Deposit, Ala., police officer Carlos Tyson Bennett, 37, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller to 37 months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $500 in restitution. Bennett was sentenced for stealing money from motorists during traffic stops, with another former Fort Deposit police officer, Jessie Alan Fuller, on Interstate 65 in 2009.

Joseph McDaniels, 43, of Shoreline, Wash., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for interstate transportation of a 22 year old woman for purposes of prostitution.

Linda Weston, her daughter and three co-defendants are charged in a 193-count indictment, unsealed today, with racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, hate crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, theft, fraud and other crimes.

Stephen Thomas of York, Penn., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for tax evasion.

Martina Montero-de-Ortiz, 52, formerly of Elizabeth, N.J., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí in the District of Puerto Rico.

A former Miami HIV infusion clinic director was sentenced today to serve 70 months in prison for his role in a $26.2 million HIV infusion fraud scheme.

David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen partly of Pakistani descent, was sentenced today to 35 years in prison for a dozen federal terrorism crimes relating to his role in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and a subsequent proposed attack on a newspaper in Denmark.

A federal judge in Cleveland today sentenced William R. Herder of Bellville, Ohio, to 20 months in prison for tax crimes.

A former co-owner of a U.S. civilian contractor company was sentenced today in San Antonio to serve 30 months in prison for falsifying official documents in connection with Iraq reconstruction government contracts.

The owners of three Miami-area assisted living facilities and an affiliated psychologist were sentenced to prison today in connection with a health care fraud scheme, involving now-defunct Miami-area health provider Health Care Solutions Network Inc. (HCSN), in which Medicare was billed for mental health treatments that were unnecessary or not provided.

PNC Bank N.A. has agreed to pay the United States $7.1 million to settle claims under the False Claims Act that it failed to engage in prudent underwriting practices in connection with the issuance of loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The former program director and two former marketers for Miami-based mental health care company American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC) have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a $205 million Medicare fraud and kickback scheme in which patients were forced to attend inappropriate treatment programs.

"These realities indicate that stalking is a serious issue for every community across the United States that requires a multidisciplinary approach – Fortunately, many of the agencies that are needed to appropriately address and respond to the crime of stalking are represented on this panel today," said Acting Director Hanson.

U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson, of the Eastern District of Michigan, entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Green Hope LLC, dba Rosewood Products, and its president, Phil G. Ye.

Miami-area resident Nichole Eckert, former therapist at the mental health care company American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), was sentenced today to serve 48 months in prison for participating in a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme.

An Orange County, Va., man was sentenced today to serve 168 months in prison following his March 2011 guilty plea to child pornography charges that originated in three different federal districts.

Two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green, Ky., who admitted using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against U.S. soldiers in Iraq and who attempted to send weapons and money to Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) for the purpose of killing U.S. soldiers, were sentenced today to serve federal prison terms by Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

BP Exploration and Production Inc. pleaded guilty today to 14 criminal counts for its illegal conduct leading to and after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, and was sentenced to pay $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties, the largest criminal resolution in U.S. history.

A Dominican national was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for his leading role in trafficking the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and corresponding identity documents.

Following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Puerto Rico today convicted a former executive of a Florida-based coastal water freight transportation company for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for water transportation of freight between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

A federal court in Indianapolis has barred David Ray Franklin and his company, Instant Refund Tax Service (IRTS) – which does business as Instant Tax Service—from preparing tax returns and from operating a tax-preparation business.

Willie C. Grant, a tax return preparer from Macon, Ga., was sentenced to 60 months in prison by for filing false claims for tax refunds, theft of government money and aggravated identity theft.

Delane F. Alston, a resident of Rocky Mount, N.C., pleaded guilty today before Judge Terrence W. Boyle to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns.

The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today challenging Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (ABI) proposed acquisition of total ownership and control of Grupo Modelo.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with Houston Community College resolving allegations that the college violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Justice Department announced today that, as part of its Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative, it has reached a settlement with the Fayetteville Pain Center under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The settlement resolves allegations that the Fayetteville Pain Center violated the ADA by refusing to treat a woman because she has HIV.

U.S. District Court Judge Lesley Wells entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., a Bedford, Ohio-based drug manufacturer.

A Kansas City, Kan., federal court permanently barred an Instant Tax Service franchisee, A&S Tax Services LLC, from further operating or preparing federal tax returns for others.

A Maryland man was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday and sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for his participation in a global online child pornography conspiracy.

The United States has asked a federal court to shut down a tax-preparation office in Riverview, Fla.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement with the city of Lomita, Calif., resolving allegations that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 when it denied the Islamic Center of the South Bay’s application to build a new mosque on its property.

Six individuals have been were sentenced to federal prison by U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas for filing false claims for tax refunds.