The Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor announced today the selection of Pilot Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams) as part of a nationwide Human Trafficking Enhanced Enforcement Initiative designed to better coordinate federal criminal investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking offenses.

The United States has intervened in a lawsuit against Nurses’ Registry and Home Health Corporation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Sirtaj Mathauda, a former resident of South Florida, was sentenced today in connection with a series of Costa Rica-based business opportunity fraud ventures.

The Justice Department today announced agreements with Norfolk County, Mass.; Daviess County, Ky.; and the city of Madison, Indiana, to improve access to all aspects of civic life for individuals with disabilities.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Birmingham, Ala., returned a three-count indictment charging former Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s sergeant, Althea Mallisham, 52, with federal civil rights crimes for using a stun gun on three jail detainees in 2008.

Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney of the Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz today signed an antitrust memorandum of understanding with China’s three antitrust agencies to promote communication and cooperation among the agencies in the two countries.

One hundred and seventy five young men and women from nearly 50 tribal communities across the country have convened at the week-long 2011 National Intertribal Youth Summit in Santa Fe, N.M., which runs from July 24-28, 2011.

The Justice Department has reached an agreement with Bedford County, Va., that, if approved by the court, will allow for the county’s bailout from its status as a “covered jurisdiction” under the special provisions of Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt the county from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the act.

A former Special Agent with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in Dallas, Texas, was charged today with allegedly lying under oath and obstructing justice, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

"As the Deputy Assistant Attorney General responsible for international affairs, I am grateful for this opportunity to express the Department of Justice’s strong support for the Consular Notification Compliance Act of 2011."

"By establishing a framework for enhanced cooperation among our agencies, the Memorandum of Understanding also allows us to move to the next chapter in our collaboration on competition law and policy matters," said Assistant Attorney General Varney.

"Protecting and defending tribal resources and rights, and vigorously enforcing the nation’s environmental and natural resources laws, are crucial parts of the Justice Department’s efforts to achieve healthier communities and a sustainable future for native people."

"Your efforts – and the partnerships that your office has forged with key leaders, including many of the men and women in this room, have enhanced government-to-government communication, renewed the broad engagement of South Dakota’s diverse tribal communities, and paved the way for deeper understanding and closer collaboration between leaders and law enforcement officials across this state – and far beyond."

Attorney General Eric Holder and other administration officials met this week with tribal leaders and advocates to discuss issues of tribal safety and domestic violence in Rapid City, S.D., and Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D.

Charles Ndhlovu was convicted today for his participation in a counterfeit DVD and CD ring.

The Dow Chemical Company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conversation and Recovery Act at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Michigan.

The United States has filed a civil lawsuit against Robert S. Luce, founder and president of MDR Mortgage Corp., a mortgage lending business located in Palatine, Ill.

A former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for accepting illegal gratuities from multiple Iraqi contractors and for stealing from Iraqi fuel reserves, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor primary elections on Aug. 2, 2011, in Bolivar, Clay, Copiah, Humphreys, Jefferson Davis, Noxubee, Panola, Quitman, Sunflower, Tallahatchie and Wilkinson Counties in Mississippi to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) that, if approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, will resolve the department’s complaint alleging sex and/or national origin discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

"In their work with agencies and police departments nationwide, the COPS Office has driven vital efforts to improve public safety strategies and law enforcement operations. This collaboration has led to historic reductions in crime – and helped to secure and empower communities across the country."

Martin Lack, a former UBS AG banker who is currently an independent asset manager, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

A Pittsburgh man was sentenced today to 125 months in prison for conspiring to conduct a racketeering enterprise related to his membership in a Pittsburgh Crips gang.

Edk Kenit, 29, and Choimina Lukas, 31, a Micronesian couple living in Longview, Wash., pleaded guilty today to document servitude in connection with a scheme to compel the labor of an 18-year-old woman, also from Micronesia.

Attorney General Holder and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano announced today the unsealing of three indictments and one complaint charging a total of 72 individuals for their participation in an international criminal network dedicated to the sexual abuse of children and the creation and dissemination of graphic images and videos of child sexual abuse throughout the world.

A $1-million settlement has been reached for natural resource damages (NRD) at the Blackburn & Union Privileges Superfund Site in Walpole, Mass.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement with the city of Walnut, Calif., resolving allegations that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied the Chung Tai Zen Center of Walnut a permit to construct a Buddhist house of worship on property owned by the Zen Center, thus forcing the Zen Center to move to another facility in Pomona, Calif.

Louis Gendason of Delray Beach, Fla.; Kimberly Mackey of Pittsburgh; and John Incandela, of Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a $2.5 million Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or reverse mortgage, fraud scheme.

The Department of Justice announced today that, in order for VeriFone Systems Inc. to complete its acquisition of Hypercom Corp., it must divest Hypercom’s U.S. point-of-sale terminals business to an entity sponsored by Gores Group LLC, a private equity fund.

Nicholas J. Faranso of Farmington Hills, Mich., was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara in the Eastern District of Michigan to one year and one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems and treatment plants, at an estimated cost of $4.7 billion over 23 years, to eliminate illegal overflows of untreated raw sewage, including basement backups, and to reduce pollution levels in urban rivers and streams.

“Sharis is a highly experienced antitrust enforcer and I am confident that she will continue to lead the Antitrust Division in its mission to vigorously enforce the antitrust laws,” said Attorney General Holder.

Yumeitrius Manuel and Margaret Kirksey, both of Montgomery, Ala., were indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges of conspiracy, identity theft, wire fraud, false claims and lying to federal agents.

The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against the city of Joliet, Ill., alleging that the city violated the Fair Housing Act and the Housing and Community Development Act by taking a series of actions, culminating in the taking through eminent domain a federally-subsidized affordable housing development, that would displace more than 750 residents with low incomes, more than 95 percent of whom are African-American.

The Justice Department announced today that two Mexican nationals, Israel Cortes-Morales, 31, and Alberto Cortes-Castro, 30, pleaded guilty in federal district court in Miami to charges of conspiring to commit sex trafficking of Mexican women.

The Justice Department announced today that former Contract Security Officer Edwin Rodriguez, 30, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual abuse of a female detainee under his supervision and control.

A Peace Corps volunteer was arrested today and charged in a federal criminal complaint with traveling from the United States to South Africa to engage in illicit sexual conduct with multiple children who were all younger than six years of age.

Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, former executives of Terra Telecommunications Corp., have been convicted by a federal jury for their roles in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M.

Robert Colbert, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty today in federal court to charges of conspiring to conduct a racketeering enterprise.

Shaoxiong Zhou and Shaoxia Huang, both of Shantou, Guangdong, China, have pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit perfume.

The Department of Justice today announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with private plaintiffs and the Pickens County, Ala., Board of Education that requires the board to institute a series of educational reforms designed to eliminate the remaining vestiges of its formerly segregated school system.

Four Florida men were arrested today on charges that they defrauded homeowners in Massachusetts and elsewhere in connection with a home loan modification scam.

Emerson Winfield Begolly, 22, of New Bethlehem, Pa., pleaded guilty today in Pittsburgh to soliciting others to engage in acts of terrorism within the United States and to using a firearm during and in relation to an assault on FBI agents.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his role in managing a credit card fraud operation that operated throughout the East Coast of the United States.

Eric Scott Hamilton, 40, of Pelzer, S.C., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs in the District of South Carolina to a criminal information charging him with two counts of conspiracy to steal public property.

The Justice Department today reached a settlement agreement with Summit Steel Fabricators Inc. in Houston resolving allegations that the company engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against non-citizens in the employment eligibility verification process.

Under the terms of a settlement filed today in federal court, the city of Newport has agreed to eliminate illegal discharges of sewage into Narragansett Bay from its wastewater treatment plant and wastewater collection system.

Thomas W. Richardson of Mansfield, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property and one count of aggravated identity theft before the Honorable Jane J. Boyle in Dallas.

A former Rochester, Ill., firefighter was sentenced today to 30 years in prison and lifetime supervised release for child exploitation charges, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois James A. Lewis.

In a settlement valued at more than $1.7 million, Clean Harbors of Braintree Inc. has agreed to pay a significant penalty and perform additional projects, to settle a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding numerous violations of hazardous waste management and emergency planning laws at the company’s Braintree, Mass., facility.