Monty Ervin and Patricia Ervin, owners of Southern Realty in Dothan, Ala., were sentenced today to federal prison for conspiring to defraud the United States and tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. After a two-week trial that began Oct. 25, 2011, a federal jury in Montgomery, Ala., convicted the Ervins of one count of conspiracy and three counts of tax evasion. The jury also convicted Patricia Ervin of one count of structuring transactions to avoid bank reporting requirements. Monty Ervin was sentenced to 120 months in prison; Patricia Ervin was sentenced to five years of probation, with the condition that she spend 40 consecutive weekends in jail. In sentencing the Ervins, the court found that Monty Ervin was the leader and organizer of the conspiracy and exercised control over Patricia Ervin.

Adrian-Tiberiu Oprea, 28, of Constanta, Romania, was extradited to the United States and appeared in federal court in New Hampshire today, to face federal charges relating to his alleged participation in an international multimillion dollar scheme to remotely hack into and steal payment card data from hundreds of U.S. merchants’ “point of sale” computer systems.

The Justice Department settled a lawsuit today against Whiz International LLC, an information technology staffing company in Jersey City, N.J., regarding allegations that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it terminated an employee in retaliation for expressing opposition to Whiz’s alleged preference for foreign nationals with temporary work visas.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) to resolve allegations that the NYCTA is engaged in a pattern or practice of religious discrimination.

Target Ship Management Pte. Ltd., the operator of the M/V Gaurav Prem, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as making material false statements during a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the ship at the port of Mobile in September 2011.

St. Jude Medical Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $3.65 million to resolve civil allegations under the False Claims Act that the company inflated the cost of replacement pacemakers and defibrillators purchased by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Justice Department announced today. St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude Medical develops, manufactures and distributes cardiovascular and implantable neurostimulation medical devices.

SunTrust Mortgage Inc., the mortgage lending subsidiary of the nation’s 11th-largest commercial bank, has agreed to pay $21 million to resolve a lawsuit by the Department of Justice that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination that increased loan prices for many of the qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers who obtained loans between 2005 and 2009 through SunTrust Mortgage’s regional retail offices and national network of mortgage brokers.

SABIC Innovative Plastics US LLC, and its subsidiary, SABIC Innovative Plastics Mt. Vernon LLC, have agreed to pay an approximately $1 million civil penalty and improve leak detection and repair practices to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at chemical manufacturing facilities in Mt. Vernon, Ind., and Burkville, Ala., the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The Justice Department announced today that it filed a lawsuit against Tuscany Hotel and Casino LLC in Las Vegas, alleging that the company engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in the employment eligibility verification and re-verification process. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires employers to treat all authorized workers equally during the hiring, firing and employment eligibility verification process, regardless of their national origin or citizenship status.

A federal grand jury in Birmingham, Ala., today returned a five-count indictment charging former city of Tuscaloosa Police Sergeant Jason Glenn Thomas with federal civil rights offenses in connection with the aggravated sexual assault of a Tuscaloosa woman in 2011, announced Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and Patrick J. Maley, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Birmingham Field Office.

A former Army National Guard recruiter pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Texas for his lead role in a bribery and fraud conspiracy that caused more than $90,000 in losses to the National Guard Bureau, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The Justice Department announced today it has entered into a consent decree with Pierce County, Wash., that, if approved by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, will resolve allegations that the county discriminated against a female employee by retaliating against her in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is a federal statute which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion and protects employees who file complaints under any of those bases.

Richard Stewart, a resident of Mitchellville, Md., was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,414,647 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus for failing to pay over employment taxes in connection with his ownership of Montgomery Mechanical Services, the Justice Department and IRS announced today.

Richard Bonafiglia, 58, of Providence, R.I., an admitted associate of the New England La Cosa Nostra was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence today to 84 months in federal prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy to shakedown several Rhode Island adult entertainment businesses for protection money.

A federal jury today convicted two Miami-area doctors, one Miami-area therapist and two others for their participation in a Medicare fraud scheme involving more than $205 million in fraudulent billings by American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a mental health care corporation.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor elections on June 5, 2012, in the following jurisdictions to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes: Alameda, Fresno and Riverside Counties, Calif.; Cibola and Sandoval Counties, N.M.; Shannon County, S.D.; and the city of Milwaukee.

On June 1, 2012, after a two-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles, a jury found David James Garrison, 50, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

A settlement between the United States and the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, will resolve violations of the Clean Water Act and specifically violations of its Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System General Permit.

Former Arizona State Representative Richard David Miranda was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for defrauding a charity of more than $140,000 and evading income tax related to those unlawfully obtained funds.

Gustav Nauer, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra in the District of Hawaii.

Stockholm-based Autoliv Inc. has agreed to plead guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels installed in U.S. cars to one automobile manufacturer and a separate conspiracy to fix prices of seatbelts to another.

F. Harvey Whittemore, 55, of Reno, Nevada, was charged with one count of making excessive campaign contributions, one count of making contributions in the name of others and two counts of making a false statement to a federal agency.

"As someone who spent over a dozen years as a prosecutor and then nearly twenty more as a defense attorney, I know firsthand the importance that discovery plays in ensuring criminal defendants fair trials. But, at the same time, I am acutely aware of the other critical interests – such as the safety and privacy of witnesses and victims – that our criminal justice system properly takes into account," said Deputy Attorney General Cole.

"Here at the Justice Department, we can all be proud of the robust efforts that are underway to combat discrimination – in all its forms – in every community, every workplace, and every school," said Attorney General Holder.

"We hope that establishing SART teams on every Montana reservation will bring healing and justice to victims of sexual violence – the kind of help that will also strengthen the faith and confidence that native women have in their criminal justice system," said Acting Associate Attorney General West.

The Justice Department announced today the filing of a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina against Forsyth County, N.C., and the county sheriff, William T. Schatzman, for violating the employment rights of North Carolina Army National Guard soldier Michael Russell under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Justice Department announced today that it has moved to intervene in Hawkins, et al. v. Summit County, Ohio, et al., a private lawsuit alleging sex discrimination by Summit County, Ohio, and the Summit County Sheriff, as well as other defendants. The United States’ complaint in intervention alleges that the county and sheriff discriminated against twenty female deputy sheriffs who filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and other similarly-situated female deputies because of their sex and engaged in a pattern or practice of sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Shaun Kuykendall, 32, of South Carolina; Richard Szulborski, 21, of Pennsylvania; Javahn Algere, 23, of Louisiana; and Jeremy Labrec, 22, of Texas, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson.

" am proud of the work that’s been done – by the Department’s 116,000 employees, as well as our government and law enforcement partners worldwide – to help fulfill the promises that I made before this Committee more than three years ago," said Attorney General Holder.

"Protecting taxpayer dollars is one of the Attorney General’s core priorities. This includes a commitment to increase our efforts to reduce fraud at the outset," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Delery.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with United Airlines Inc., resolving Ten Eyck LaTourrette’s allegation that the airline violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by under compensating his retirement plan during his military service. LaTourrette is currently a major serving in the Colorado Air National Guard and a first officer for United Airlines.

Paul Solofa, the former chief financial officer for the Department of Education for the government of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa was sentenced today to 35 months in prison following his conviction earlier this year for his efforts to obstruct a federal grand jury and law enforcement investigation into a bribery scheme.

The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor primary elections on June 12, 2012, in Fairfield and Williamsburg Counties in South Carolina to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Leyanes Placeres, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz in the Southern District of Florida.

"The benefits of Plyler are felt by all of us, wherever we or our ancestors were born. Three decades after Plyler, immigrant students have made and continue to make vast and deep contributions to America’s cultural, civic, and economic landscape," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

Haji Bagcho, an Afghan national and large scale drug trafficker, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in the District of Columbia.

Silford Warren, a resident of Queens, N.Y., was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for failure to pay over employment taxes in connection with his ownership of Silford Warren, CPA PC., the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Judge William F. Kuntz II of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York also ordered Warren to pay $184,263 in restitution to the IRS.

The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida and the Florida Secretary of State in his official capacity alleging that the state has violated its obligations under Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Former Fort Deposit, Ala., Police Officer Carlos Tyson Bennett was arrested today on charges of stealing money from motorists on Interstate 65 in central Alabama and subsequently trying to conceal his criminal activity, announced the Justice Department.

"I am proud of all that’s been achieved by the 116,000 men and women who serve the Department in offices around the world. Their dedicated efforts – and those of our government and law enforcement partners at every level – have allowed me to fulfill the commitments that I made during my first appearance before this Committee as Attorney General," said Attorney General Holder.

The Justice Department announced today that Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich will be leaving the department to join the University of Baltimore School of Law as its new dean.

Clifford Ubani, a former co-owner and chief financial officer at Family Healthcare Group, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in the Southern District of Texas.

The U.S. Department of Justice has transferred to the state of Tennessee approximately 1,000 acres of undeveloped land in Cannon County, Tenn., as a result of a federal criminal conviction of two individuals for distribution of marijuana.

Derrick L. Shoemake, 50, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee in the Central District of California.

Today in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, a jury found Anes Subasic, 35, guilty of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad.

R. Allen Stanford, the former board of directors chairman of Stanford International Bank (SIB), was sentenced today in Houston to a total of 110 years in prison for orchestrating a 20-year investment fraud scheme in which he misappropriated $7 billion from SIB to finance his personal businesses.

Seven individuals and four check cashing businesses were charged today in the Eastern District of New York and the Central District of California for their alleged roles in separate schemes to violate the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Grayson County, Va., that will allow for the county and its four political subdivisions, the Grayson County School District and the towns of Independence, Fries and Troutdale, Va., to bail out from their status as “covered jurisdictions” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt these jurisdictions from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and must be approved by the court.

Andrew James Miller, 23, of Devon, Penn., was arrested this morning on charges contained in a four-count indictment filed in the District of Massachusetts.

Sergeant Regionald Dixon, 30, pleaded guilty yesterday in the District of Hawaii to one count of bribery and Specialist Larry Emmons, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on June 8, 2012.