The United States has settled with two German moving companies relating to allegations of bid rigging in violation of the False Claims Act.

Sims Lawson Jr., a resident of Killen, Ala., pleaded guilty yesterday to filing false tax returns for years 2002 through 2004. Lawson appeared before Judge R. David Proctor in Birmingham, Ala., and admitted that he failed to pay federal income taxes of $369,038 and state income taxes of $50,938.

“As demonstrated by today’s charges and arrests, we will strike back against those whose fraudulent schemes not only undermine a program upon which 45 million aged and disabled Americans depend, but which also contribute directly to rising health care costs that all Americans must bear,” said Attorney General Holder.

There is no tension between a sentencing scheme that is effective and fair and one that is tough and equitable. We must work toward these twin goals and we must do so now.

UBS client, Steven Michael Rubinstein of Boca Raton, Fla., pleaded guilty today to filing a false tax return for tax year 2004. On April 1, 2009, Rubinstein was charged with filing a false tax return that intentionally failed to disclose the existence of a Swiss bank account maintained by UBS of which he was the beneficial owner and failed to report any income earned on that account.

The co-owner of a Martinsville, N.J., landscaping company pleaded guilty to participating in a fraud conspiracy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site, Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J. Frederick Landgraber pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey today to one count of conspiracy to defraud the EPA from approximately March 2002 until approximately June 2005 at the Federal Creosote site.

A Tampa federal grand jury has charged a Florida man with criminal contempt of a federal court order in connection with the operation of a fraudulent vending machine business opportunity. The criminal charges form part of the government’s continued nationwide crackdown on business opportunity fraud.

Tijani Ahmed Saani, a former civilian employee of the U.S. Department of Defense, pleaded guilty today to filing false tax returns for tax years 2003 through 2007. Saani, 53, a former resident of Kuwait City, Kuwait, worked as a contracting officer in Kuwait from 1994 until his arrest in May 2008. According to the indictment to which Saani pleaded guilty, he worked on detail from 2002 to 2007 at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

Eight Miami-Dade County, Fla., residents have been indicted in connection with an alleged $22 million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of Miami businesses purporting to specialize in home health care services. A temporary restraining order freezing assets of the indicted defendants and their companies was also filed.

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has agreed to settle claims that the school district violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program. Under the terms of the settlement, the DISD will relinquish more than $150 million in requests for federal funds, and will pay a total of $750,000.

A former executive of Philadelphia-based Nexus Technologies Inc. pleaded guilty today in connection with his participation in a conspiracy to bribe Vietnamese government officials in exchange for lucrative contracts to supply equipment and technology to Vietnamese government agencies, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Haji Bagcho, aka Haji Bagh Chagul, an Afghan national, was ordered detained today by Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia while he awaits trial on U.S. narcotics charges.

A former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) social work associate was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud the United States of her honest services in connection with her work finding suitable housing and daily care for mentally ill and disabled military veterans and then obstructing the VA’s investigation into the fraudulent scheme.

The chief executive officer of a former Virginia marine products company pleaded guilty and has agreed to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and serve time in jail for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids and allocate customers with respect to marine products purchased by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other public and private entities.

Herbert L. Corn, the former superintendent of the city of Rochester Wastewater Treatment Plant in Rochester, Ind., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Ind., to falsifying monthly discharge monitoring reports that concealed violations of the Clean Water Act at the Rochester plant.

Additional charges and defendants have been added to a federal case arising from the abduction of a boy from his Las Vegas home in October 2008.

"Keeping guns out of the hands of the Mexican drug warlords is a top priority for the Department. It is a priority that the President and the Attorney General have promised to address quickly and aggressively."

John Reece Roth, 72, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sentenced to 48 months in prison for violating the Arms Export Control Act by conspiring to illegally export, and actually exporting, technical information relating to a U.S. Air Force (USAF) research and development contract.

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted a physician assistant late yesterday for his role in a $7.7 million Medicare fraud scheme.

A federal judge in Tampa, Fla., has permanently barred eight men – including five tax preparers and two Certified Public Accountants (CPA) – from promoting an alleged tax fraud scheme involving bogus income tax credits.

Joseph McNealy, a former Jackson, Miss., computer systems administrator, was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for receiving and possessing images of child pornography.

A Kansas woman pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI during an investigation into allegations of fraud against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate program. According to the plea agreement, filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., Mary Jo LaDuron, aka Mary Jo Gault, of Leavenworth, Kan., lied to FBI agents who were investigating allegations of fraud against the E-Rate program.

A former executive of Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEI), a Canadian-based company that treats and disposes of contaminated soil, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks and commit fraud at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site, Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J. The former executive also pleaded guilty to participating in a money laundering conspiracy and impeding a proceeding before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Paul Tillis, a former Florida Department of Corrections officer, was sentenced today in federal court in Jacksonville, Fla., on a federal civil rights charge related to assaulting an inmate.

An individual pleaded guilty today in federal court in Detroit for his role in creating and marketing software designed and used to send bulk commercial e-mails, known as "spam," in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act.

A former State Department employee was sentenced today to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for illegally accessing more than 50 confidential passport application files.

A fourth individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files.

Everett Cooney waived indictment and pleaded guilty in court in Little Rock, Ark., to a federal charge of sex trafficking an underage female. Chief U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes accepted Cooney’s guilty plea.

The Department of Justice, UBS and the Swiss government have requested a stay with a rescheduled hearing date of Aug. 3, 2009, in the proceedings for enforcement of the summons ordering UBS to turn over records of account holders.

George Michael Lee, Duc Cong Nguyen, Hop Nguyen and Tien Duc Vu were sentenced today in San Diego for their roles in a scheme by the "Tran Organization" to cheat casinos across the United States and Canada.

The former director of information technology for a non-profit organ and tissue donation center was sentenced today to two years in prison for hacking into her former employer’s computer network.

A Greek citizen, Panagiotis Lekkas, the captain of the bulk cargo ship the M/V Theotokos, pleaded guilty today to four felony counts in federal court in New Orleans for violating anti-pollution laws, ship safety laws and obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard investigation.

A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County, Calif., was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that $500,000 in Recovery Act funds have been awarded to the Support for Harbor Area Women’s Lives (SHAWL) House, a program of the Volunteers of America of Los Angeles (VOALA).

The Department released a new technical assistance fact sheet on legal requirements relating to admitting individuals with HIV or AIDS to occupational training schools and granting state licensure in occupations such as barbering, massage therapy and home health care assistance.

Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/V Myron N, and the second engineer, Dimitrios Papadakis, both citizens of Greece, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the cargo ship.

A federal court has permanently barred a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,-area woman and her company from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the government complaint in the case, Carole Exantus of Plantation, Fla., operated a company called J’s Corporation in Miami. The court found that J’s Corporation repeatedly prepared federal income tax returns claiming false tax credits and deductions that it knew would result in understating customers’ tax liabilities.

A Georgia temporary staffing company and its owner/president have agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Patriot Services Inc. and its owner/president, Stephanie Blackmon, have each agreed to plead guilty to a one-count charge of making a false statement to the SBA, which was filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted the owners and operators of a Los Angeles-area durable medical equipment company of Medicare fraud. After a one-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles, the jury found Gevork Kartashyan, 45, guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud; and Eliza Shurabalyan, 42, guilty of health care fraud. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the Central District of Los Angeles scheduled sentencing for Oct. 5, 2009.

Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden today announced plans by the Department of Justice to significantly expand its training and education operations at the National Advocacy Center (NAC), the core training facility for local, state and federal attorneys, law enforcement agents and support personnel.

Today the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury announced coordinated actions against the Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas drug trafficking organization, now known as the "Company," in the latest in a series of efforts by the U.S. government to neutralize and dismantle this violent cartel.

The Department’s Civil Rights Division held a conference today titled 2009 Title VI Conference: Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the Legislation and Exploring Current Issues in Enforcement at the FDIC Conference Center in Arlington, Va. Approximately 400 representatives from federal, state and local agencies, community organizations and advocacy groups gathered to share new ideas and discuss trends in Title VI enforcement.

Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr., a former Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, pleaded guilty on July 20, 2009, in federal court in Wyoming to depriving a man of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures by kidnapping him. Ryle also pleaded guilty to one count of using his firearm in relation to the crime.

The Department filed a lawsuit against the owner and employees of Rolling Oaks Apartments, a 72-unit complex in Clanton, Ala., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race or color in the rental of apartments. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleges that the employees, Kenneth R. Scott and Frankie L. Roberson, told white testers that a selling point of Rolling Oaks Apartments was the lack of African American tenants and that they had adopted rental policies intended to discourage African American rental applicants.

A federal judge today sentenced Waquita Wallace to 20 years in prison and five years of supervised release for a federal civil rights charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion for compelling a young St. Louis woman to commit acts of prostitution.

William Travis Brown, 39, of Sellersburg, Ind., was convicted today by a federal jury in Indianapolis of transporting and possessing child pornography. Brown was charged on July 8, 2009, in an amended indictment with one count of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography.

A federal grand jury in Casper, Wyo., Thursday returned an indictment charging Randy Lee (a/k/a Jimmy Lee) and Jay Lee (a/k/a John Marks, a/k/a Anthony Romero) of Cheyenne, Wyo., with odometer tampering, title fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit these offenses. The indictment alleges that the defendants worked as used car dealers at Lee’s RV’s, Inc., a dealership in Cheyenne.

Robert Young, 56, a former captain in the U.S. Army, pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

A Virginia man pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

A father and son pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., to illegally over fishing striped bass, also known as rockfish, from 2003 through 2006.