Qiang Wang, a/k/a Jeffrey Wang, a New York antiques dealer, pleaded guilty today in federal court in New York City to conspiracy to smuggle Asian artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory and violate wildlife trafficking laws, announced Robert G. Dreher, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Justice Department announced today that the United States has filed a civil injunction suit against Michael I. Turner, of San Diego to stop him from preparing federal tax returns.

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Jimmie Duane Ross of Lehi, Utah, and formerly of Sevierville, Tenn., was convicted today of five counts of tax evasion following a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

A second superseding indictment against five Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) officers was announced today by Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico; and Carlos Cases, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office.

The Justice Department announced today an agreement with the city of Fort Morgan, Colo., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.

The Justice Department announced today that Gary Mach, a Palm Desert, Calif. resident who operated Crystal Springs Pool Service (CSPS), pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that April J. Rampton, 42, formerly of Heber City, Utah, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison for filing false claims for income tax refunds.

An Athol, Mass., man has been charged in a criminal information with engaging in a practice known as “swatting,” which involves making hoax emergency telephone calls in order to elicit an armed police response (from a SWAT team) for the purpose of harassing someone believed to be at a specific location.

The United States has filed suit against PharMerica Corp. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The lawsuit alleges that PharMerica violated the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act by dispensing controlled drugs without valid prescriptions and causing claims for illegally dispensed drugs to be submitted to the Medicare program.

The Justice Department will not pursue federal criminal civil rights or other federal criminal charges against the United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent involved in the shooting incident that resulted in the death of Carlos LaMadrid, the Department announced today.

The Justice Department will not pursue federal criminal civil rights or other federal criminal charges against the United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent involved in the shooting incident that resulted in the death of Ramses Barron-Torres, the department announced today.

"Today, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. And many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate these problems, rather than alleviate them," said Attorney General Holder.

The Department of Justice, six state attorneys general and the District of Columbia filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today challenging the proposed $11 billion merger between US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines’ parent corporation, AMR Corp.

Michael Kerry Deevy, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced today in connection with a series of business opportunity fraud ventures based in Costa Rica, the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced. Beginning in 2006, Deevy and his co-conspirators in Costa Rica are alleged to have fraudulently induced purchasers in the U.S. to buy business opportunities from companies known as Cards-R-Us Inc., Premier Cards Inc. and Nation West. The business opportunities cost purchasers thousands of dollars each, with most paying at least $10,000. Today’s sentencing forms part of the government’s continued nationwide crackdown on business opportunity fraud.

Two health care clinic owners pleaded guilty today in connection with an $8 million health care fraud scheme involving the now-defunct home health care company Flores Home Health Care Inc.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Highland Management Group Inc., Edina Park Apartments LLC, and Amy Koch violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by discriminating against Somali prospective renters at Edina Park Apartments in Edina, Minn. a suburb of Minneapolis.

The Justice Department announced today that the Townhomes of Kings Lake HOA Inc. (HOA) and Vanguard Management Group Inc. have agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

Consumers will also pay more on routes where US Airways and American today offer competing nonstop service. We know from prior mergers that elimination of head-to-head competition on nonstop routes results in substantial price increases for consumers.

Jamaican citizen charged in connection with the operation of a fraudulent lottery was arrested Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., following his indictment by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2012, the Justice Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Marshals Service announced today.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara and Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office George Venizelos announced the unsealing of criminal complaints against Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to hide the true extent of losses in a credit derivatives trading portfolio maintained by the Chief Investment Office (CIO) of JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPMorgan). Martin-Artajo served as a Managing Director and Head of Credit and Equity Trading for the CIO, and Grout was a Vice President and derivatives trader in the CIO.

Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, jointly announced today that James S. Faller II, of Russell Springs, Ky., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Bowling Green, Ky.

Bradley Eberhart, 51, of Garden Valley, Idaho, and Douglas Greiner, 53, of Eagle, Idaho, were sentenced this week in federal court for violating the asbestos work practice standards of the Clean Air Act, announced Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Wendy J. Olson, U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho.

The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Forever 21 resolving allegations that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it rejected a work-authorized individual’s Department of Homeland Security-issued Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and required her to produce a Permanent Resident Card (commonly known as a “Green Card”) as a condition of employment.

The Justice Department today reached an agreement with SOS Employment Group, based in Salt Lake City resolving claims that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Charles M. Oberly III announced today the filing of a lawsuit alleging that Regal Contractors LLC, Regal Builders LLC and Noble Pond Homes willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by terminating U.S. Air Force Reserve Member Lon Fluman following his return from required military training with his reserve unit.

The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into a comprehensive agreement with the Parish of St. Tammany, La., and the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff to correct conditions of confinement at the St. Tammany Parish Jail and to ensure that improvements made since the Department’s investigation will be maintained.

Jose Armando Bran, aka “Pantro,” was sentenced today to serve two consecutive life sentences for his role in a murder and maiming that he ordered while he was an MS-13 gang leader in Richmond, Va.

Fourteen current and former recruiters and soldiers of the U.S. Army National Guard have been charged in the Southern District of Texas for engaging in a multi-year scheme to defraud the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today that it has joined with private plaintiffs in entering an interim settlement agreement with the state of Texas intended to enable Texans with intellectual and other developmental disabilities to live in community settings rather than nursing facilities.

Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinics Inc., Shands Jacksonville Medical Center Inc. and Shands Jacksonville Healthcare Inc., which operates a network of health care providers in Florida, will pay the government and the state of Florida a total of $26 million to settle allegations that six of its health care facilities submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for inpatient procedures that should have been billed as outpatient services.

The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Sacramento, Calif., charging Teresa Marie Marty, Charles Tingler and Victoria Tingler, all of Placerville, Calif., with conspiracy to defraud the United States and filing multi-million dollar liens against government officials.

Justice Department announced that a 14-count superseding indictment was unsealed today, charging JB Tax Professional Services Inc., Jacqueline J. Arias and Jose Bayron Estrada, of Spruce Pine, Ala., along with 19 foreign nationals, many of whom resided in the New Orleans area, with conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud by filing fraudulent income tax returns.

Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, announced today the guilty plea of Thomas Nastasi III, 46, of Mt. Kisco, N.Y., to one count of willful failure to pay the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the payroll taxes of his company, Nastasi Maintenance & Construction LLC.

The Justice Department announced today that Multi/Tech Engineering Services Inc., an engineering firm based in Salem, Ore., has agreed to pay more than $60,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had violated the Fair Housing Act by designing Gateway Village Apartments with steps and other features that made it inaccessible to people with disabilities.

The United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky have reached a settlement with the AK Steel Corporation (AK Steel) in Ashland, Ky., resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, AK Steel’s title V permit, and the Kentucky State Implementation Plan, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced research findings showing that, on average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not.

Robert Andres, 62, an investment manager based in Houston, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Salt Lake City for his role in a $72 million investment fraud scheme.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today on the resignation of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride:

Big West Oil LLC has agreed to pay a $175,000 penalty and to spend approximately $18 million to install emission controls at its refinery in North Salt Lake, Utah, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. Big West Oil will also invest $253,000 to improve the monitoring and management of potential releases of hydrofluoric acid at the facility.

The government filed suit in the U.S. District Court for South Dakota against Dakota Laboratories LLC and its owner, Charles L. Voellinger, Sr., to block them from violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) in connection with their alleged violations of Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP).

A former owner of a Los Angeles-area medical equipment supply company pleaded guilty today to a $2.6 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Three defendants who previously pleaded guilty in connection with an immigration services fraud scheme were sentenced in federal court.

New York-based Imagimed LLC, the company’s former owners, William B. Wolf III and Dr. Timothy J. Greenan, and the company’s former chief radiologist, Dr. Steven Winter, will pay $3.57 million to resolve allegations that they submitted to federal healthcare programs false claims for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services.

Tennie White, the owner and operator of an environmental laboratory located in Jackson, Miss., was sentenced in federal court late yesterday to 40 months in prison in connection with her conviction for faking laboratory testing results and lying to federal investigators, announced Gregory K. Davis, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The United States has requested the federal district court in Charleston, S.C. to permanently bar Jessica Geddis of Summerville, S.C., from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will provide $2.5 million in funding to the Connecticut State Police, the Newtown, Conn., Police Department and their partner agencies that provided assistance in response to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year.

B. Todd Jones received the ceremonial oath-of-office as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) administered by Vice President Joe Biden at the White House today at 10:00 a.m. EDT. With his confirmation, Jones becomes the agency’s first permanent director in seven years. Jones takes over the law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing firearms and explosives laws that protect communities from violent criminals and criminal organizations.

Conax Florida Corp. and related companies have agreed to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the company submitted false claims to the government for improperly tested inertia reels and non-conforming voltage references.

Two Los Angeles-based consulting firms, MotorScience Inc., and MotorScience Enterprise Inc., (MotorScience) and their owner, Chi Zheng, have agreed to settle alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations stemming from the illegal import of 24,478 all-terrain, recreational vehicles into the U.S. from China without testing to ensure emissions would meet applicable limits on harmful air pollution, announced the Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (ARB).

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an update to its federal marijuana enforcement policy in light of recent state ballot initiatives that legalize, under state law, the possession of small amounts of marijuana and provide for the regulation of marijuana production, processing, and sale.