Gunther Wenzek, a German national, was sentenced today to serve three years on probation and pay a criminal penalty of over $35,000 by Judge Anna J. Brown of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for smuggling coral into the Port of Portland, Ore.

The chief executive officer of Sterling Seafood Corporation located in Cresskill, N.J., pleaded guilty to importing falsely labeled fish from Vietnam and evading over $60 million in federal tariffs, as well as selling over $500,000 in similarly misbranded fish purchased from another importer in the United States.

“There is nothing more basic, or more important, to our work than keeping our law enforcement officers safe,” Attorney General Holder said.

A federal court has issued a permanent injunction barring Karen Liane Miller of Nashville, Tenn., from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

“Today’s extradition brings a criminal to justice and paves the way forward in our law enforcement partnership with El Salvador,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

Yi-Lan Chen, aka "Kevin Chen," 40, a Taiwan passport holder, was arrested on Feb. 3, 2010, on charges of illegally exporting commodities for Iran’s missile program.

An allegedly high-ranking leader of one of Mexico’s largest drug cartels, whose father allegedly heads a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and is among Mexico’s most powerful drug kingpins, was extradited today from Mexico to face federal narcotics trafficking conspiracy charges in the United States.

The Department announced a settlement with KeySpan Corporation that requires KeySpan to pay $12 million for violating the antitrust laws by entering into an agreement restraining competition in the New York City electricity capacity market.

Michel Jamil, 60, was sentenced today to 40 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to steal approximately 10 million gallons of fuel from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

The Swiss Government, with the support of the Canton of Jura, accepted the two Chinese nationals of Uighur ethnicity for resettlement in Switzerland.

A U.S. District Court has issued an order permanently barring Shawn Robin Gibson, a Detroit tax preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others.

Albert Gonzalez, of Miami, the leader of the largest hacking and identity theft ring ever prosecuted by the U.S. government, has been sentenced to 20 years and one day in prison for his role in a series of hacks into a major payment processor and several retail networks.

A federal district judge in New Hampshire has permanently barred Faith A. Bartlett, individually and operating as Atlantic Bookkeeping & Tax Services and Newbury Business Services Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today

A federal judge in St. Louis has barred two St. Louis tax preparers and their businesses from certain conduct the Justice Department announced today

The federal government announced today that it would remove the remaining 52 ships that currently sit in the Suisun Bay as part of an agreement with environmental groups that was filed in federal court in Sacramento, Calif.

A superseding indictment unsealed this afternoon in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania charges Jamie Paulin Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Colorado, and Colleen R. LaRose, aka "Fatima LaRose," aka "JihadJane," a resident of Pennsylvania, with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Mobil Natural Gas Inc., Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. and their affiliates have agreed to pay the United States $32.2 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and American Indian leases.

The former chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment Standards Administration pleaded guilty today to falsely certifying his Fiscal Year 2003 Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

A federal judge in Chicago has permanently barred Matoi Rimes, individually and operating as Rimes Accounting Service, from preparing federal tax returns for anyone who is not a member of his immediate family.

Miami residents Jose and Denisse Martinez were each sentenced today to three years in prison for their role in running a Canton, Mich.,-based drug infusion clinic designed to defraud Medicare.

A federal judge in Fayetteville, Ark., has barred Wayne Hicks and his company, My Icis Inc., from operating a private banking system that allegedly helped customers avoid taxes by shielding their identities and other financial transactions from the Internal Revenue Service.

“Today, we mourn the loss of Dr. Benjamin Hooks, one of our nation’s great civil rights leaders," said Attorney General Holder.

A federal court in Salt Lake City has permanently barred Dick Jenkins, a CPA from Heber City, Utah, from preparing tax returns for others.

Operation Network Raider, a domestic and international enforcement initiative targeting the illegal distribution of counterfeit network hardware manufactured in China, has resulted in 30 felony convictions and more than 700 seizures of counterfeit Cisco network hardware and labels with an estimated retail value of more than $143 million.

A federal judge in Kansas City, Mo., has permanently barred Allen R. Davison from promoting a variety of tax fraud schemes, including some that used sham companies, sham chicken-flock contracts, and sham pension plans.

Yi-Lan Chen, aka Kevin Chen, 40, a Taiwan passport holder, and his Taiwan corporation, Landstar Tech Company Limited, pleaded guilty today in Miami to charges of conspiring to illegally export dual-use commodities to Iran.

A federal court has barred Robert Knupp of Marietta, Ga., from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

Georgi Vasilev Pletnyov, 49, of Svishtov, Bulgaria, was extradited from Poland to the United States on Friday, May 21, 2010. 

The Department of Justice has recovered more than $40.2 million in fraud proceeds from a $1 billion Ponzi scheme and is working with the Japanese Ministry of Justice to return the forfeited fraud proceeds to the victims in Japan.

A federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., has permanently barred a Garden City, Kan. tax preparer, Jose Lares, from preparing federal tax returns.

The former managing director of Pamrapo Saving Bank’s investment company was arrested today and charged with allegedly diverting and embezzling more than $600,000.

A federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., has permanently barred brothers Archie J. Pugh Jr. and Theodore Pugh from promoting tax evasion schemes and preparing federal income tax returns for others.

Pedro Antonio Bermudez, also known as “El Arquitecto,” was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., following his extradition on June 15, 2010, from Mexico to the United States on charges of participating in an international drug trafficking conspiracy.

Omid Khalili, an Iranian national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama to attempting to illegally export fighter jet or military aircraft parts from the United States to Iran.

The Department has filed a stipulated settlement agreement resolving a portion of its lawsuit against Erie County, N.Y, regarding the limited issue of suicide prevention and related mental health care.

“Faisal Shahzad plotted and launched an attack that could have led to serious loss of life, and today the American criminal justice system ensured that he will pay the price for his actions,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. 

Italian citizen Flavio Ricotti, a former executive of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.-based valve company Control Components Inc. (CCI), has been extradited to the United States from Germany in connection with his alleged participation in 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.

U.S. Army Major Charles E. Sublett, 46, of Huntsville, Ala., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Memphis, Tenn., to making false statements to a federal agency.

Ten individuals pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to serve as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation within the United States and will be immediately expelled from the United States.

The United States has asked a federal court to permanently bar a Utah man from promoting an alleged false church-based tax fraud scheme.

A federal district judge in Chicago has permanently barred Natalie Bradford, individually, and operating as K & N Tax Pros Inc., and Kristine Burkland-Valdez, individually, and operating as K & N Tax Pros Inc. and Tax Pros Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others.

Former Choctaw County, Okla., deputy sheriff Ben Westley Milner was sentenced today in Muskogee, Okla., to serve 18 months in prison and two years supervised release for violating the civil rights of three men by assaulting them without legal justification.

CF Industries Inc. has agreed to spend approximately $12 million to implement facility-wide operational changes to reduce and properly manage hazardous wastes generated at its Plant City, Fla., phosphoric acid and ammoniated fertilizer manufacturing facility.

The United States has sued Gwenn Wycoff and Frank Ozak of Los Angeles seeking to bar them from promoting the formation and operation of “common-law” trusts for the purpose of tax avoidance.

A federal court in Kansas City, Mo, has permanently barred Missouri lawyer A. Blair Stover Jr. from promoting a variety of improper tax schemes.

Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc. and Marathon Oil Company have agreed to pay the United States $2,219,974.98 and $4,697,476.57, respectively, to resolve claims that the two companies separately violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases.

A federal district judge in Atlanta has permanently barred Saloum A. Njie and his company, MIAAS Associates LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others.

According to an indictment dated June 24, 2010, and unsealed today, James Dale Brown, 27, is alleged to have used the Internet social networking website Facebook to communicate with a minor female identified as Jane Doe. 

The owner of a Detroit-area medical clinic, Juan De Oleo, and a doctor who helped falsify files at the clinic, Dr. Rosa Genao, were convicted today by a federal jury in Detroit for their roles in a $2.3 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Cesar Carranza, a resident of Long Beach, Calif., was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for his role in laundering $2.5 million dollars in proceeds derived from several stolen credit card information schemes.