American pharmaceutical manufacturer Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations in connection with the marketing of the morphine-based drug, Kadian.

Nexus Technologies Inc., a Philadelphia-based export company, pleaded guilty today in connection with 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 (FCPA).

"Although unprecedented challenges and new demands have emerged, our key priorities remain clear," Attorney General Holder said.

Jodi Hoskins, the operator of an escort service in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been found guilty of one count of tax evasion.

Two individuals were charged today in a nine count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Baton Rouge, La., for illegally hunting threatened species of alligators.

A Texas-based pipeline company has agreed to pay a $450,000 civil penalty to the United States to settle allegations that it failed to prepare and maintain proper facility response plans to deal with spills and environmental accidents at eight of its oil storage terminal facilities in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, a New Jersey-based hospital, has agreed to pay $6.35 million to settle allegations that the hospital defrauded Medicare.

Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned. Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots.

“The Justice Department is committed to vigorously pursuing those who defraud Medicare,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.

A State Department employee was sentenced today to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 60 confidential passport application files.

Sterling Heights, Mich., resident Solomon Nathaniel was sentenced today to 62 months in prison for his role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade;

A federal jury in the Western District of North Carolina convicted Ugochukwu Enwerem yesterday on charges stemming from an advance-fee fraud scheme.

A federal jury in Sacramento, Calif., today convicted, Eric Clawson, 28, of San Francisco, of a federal hate crime for assaulting an African-American man in a Chico, Calif. bar.

A federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., has issued a preliminary injunction barring a Garden City, Kan., tax preparer, Jose Lares, from preparing returns with false dependent exemptions and false filing statuses.

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.

The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), a component of the Department of Justice and the nation’s principal center for strategic drug intelligence, has released the National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 (NDTA 2010), detailing drug trafficking and abuse trends within the United States.

The Attorney General announced that new investments included in the FY 2010 budget will soon be distributed to combat mortgage fraud.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel R. Dominguez sentenced former San Juan, Puerto Rico Police Officers, Carlos Pagan Ferrer, 32, and Juan Morales Rosado, 32, today for their role in the fatal assault by San Juan officers against Jose Rivera Robles, an unarmed civilian.

"Mortgage fraud schemes must be stopped in their tracks. And those willing to exploit our national financial crisis for personal gain will be brought to justice," said Attorney General Holder.

Christian Rodney Ice, of Mobile, Ala., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Mobile to one count of violating the Church Arson Act by placing threatening graffitti and neo-Nazi markings on a synagogue in Mobile.

Donna J. Scott, a former U.S. Department of Energy employee, pleaded guilty to criminal conflict of interest for personally participating in DOE’s purchase of furniture when she knew her husband had a financial interest in the deals.

Raja Lahrasib Khan was charged with two counts of providing material support to terrorism in a criminal complaint that was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and unsealed today following his arrest.

The Department entered into a settlement agreement with the Monroe City School District to address the educational inequities between schools serving virtually all black student populations and those schools that serve most of the district’s white students.

“This investigation was a model of international cooperation between the United States and the European Commission,” said Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division.

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

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an out-of-court settlement in the matter of J.L. v. Mohawk Central School District, a lawsuit which the United States sought to join to address alleged violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, both of which prohibit discrimination based on sex, including discrimination based on gender stereotypes

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

Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, 23, an Eritrean national, has pleaded guilty to helping smuggle illegal aliens to the United States for private financial gain, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton

The Justice Department today announced a federal court has approved a consent decree resolving an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) discrimination lawsuit against attorney Patric LeHouillier and his law firm, LeHouillier & Associates, P.C., based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The consent decree was approved by Judge Marcia S. Krieger in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) member John Guzman, 31, of Big Spring, Texas, was sentenced today to 210 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks for the Northern District of Texas

Today Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division announced the formation of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP), the first new section to be formed in the Criminal Division since 2008.

Shell Chemical L.P. and Shell Chemical Yabucoa have agreed to install pollution reduction equipment on two petroleum refining facilities at an estimated cost of $6 million as part of two comprehensive Clean Air Act settlements.

A settlement with Honeywell International Inc. estimated to be worth more than $10 million will ensure that cleanup of the remaining areas of the Allied Chemical and Ironton Coke Superfund Site in Ironton, Ohio, will move forward.

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.

Two Baton Rouge, La., tax return preparers were indicted today on charges of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced

An indictment by a Manhattan grand jury was unsealed today charging a former contractor for participating in a bid-rigging conspiracy related to contracts at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) and for filing a false tax return.

The Department of Justice announced today that it supports a proposal by The Associated Press (AP) to develop and operate a voluntary news registry to facilitate the licensing and Internet distribution of news content created by the AP, its members, and other news originators

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that KBR knowingly included impermissible costs for private armed security in billings to the Army.

Daimler AG, a German corporation, and three of its subsidiaries have resolved charges related to a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation into the company’s worldwide sales practices.

Francisco Cortes-Meza, 26, of Mexico, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story in the Northern District of Georgia for sex trafficking in an organization that targeted young Mexican women.

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Department of Justice today reaffirmed its commitment to ending sexual violence

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the redesign and enhancement of its Tribal Justice and Safety Web site: www.TribalJusticeandSafety.gov.

The United States has intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that Satilla Health Services Inc., dba Satilla Regional Medical Center, and Dr. Najam Azmat submitted claims for medically substandard and unnecessary services to Medicare and Medicaid.

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.

Guidant LLC pleaded guilty today in St. Paul, Minn., before U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank to criminal violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

The indictment charges Mario Perciavalle with engaging in a conspiracy to rig bids on Mount Sinai contracts for maintenance and insulation services between June 2004 and September 2005.

Miriam Freytes, 49, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood of the Eastern District of Michigan.

Learning Tree International Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $4.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act when it improperly invoiced federal agencies in advance for information technology training courses and kept federal funds for training courses that were never actually provided.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Algerian Minister of Justice Tayeb Belaiz today signed a treaty between the United States and Algeria on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, the first ever criminal law enforcement agreement between the two countries.

Six Miami-area residents have been charged for their alleged role in a $13.6 million health care fraud scheme involving a Miami-area HIV infusion clinic, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).