– Seven Houston-area residents who worked for a home health agency have been charged for their alleged participation in a $5 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Guillermo O. Mondino, 47, of Miami, pleaded guilty today to leading a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of more than $24 million.

"In the recent past, including many miles on the campaign trail, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know our First Lady," said Attorney General Holder.

"As we emerge from this recession, it is critical that we not only look for ways to hold those who discriminated in the past accountable. We must also find ways to repair some of the damage done to families and to communities. We must use the power of the law to encourage innovative strategies for rebuilding, and be sure that decades of investment have not been permanently lost," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting our nation’s communities from the violent and dangerous crimes alleged in this indictment,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer.

Mikalai Mardakhayeu, a Belarusian national residing in Nantucket, Mass., was arrested Wednesday night and charged for his alleged participation in an international online “phishing” scheme to steal income tax refunds intended for U.S. taxpayers around the country.

A federal grand jury in Mobile, Ala., has returned a three-count indictment charging Thomas Hayward Lewis, 24, of Mobile, with violating and conspiring to violate the civil rights of congregants of the Congregation Tree of Life Messianic Synagogue in Mobile, as well as possession of an unregistered firearm.

Three alleged members or associates of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) have been indicted for their alleged roles in a 2008 murder in Atascosa County, Texas.

Two Afghan trucking companies pleaded guilty today to paying multiple bribes to U.S. public officials in exchange for unfair advantages in procuring contract work at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

John Webster Warwick, a Virginia Beach, Va., resident, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to former Panamanian government officials to secure maritime contracts.

Technip S.A., a global engineering, construction and services company based in Paris, has agreed to pay a $240 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

The Department announced a comprehensive settlement agreement with the town of Gretna, Va., under the Americans with Disabilities Act to eliminate barriers for providers of foster care services who wish to provide community placements in their homes for persons with disabilities. 

Eight individuals were arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out long-term, “deep-cover” assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation.

A federal jury in Chicago convicted former Chicago Police Department (CPD) Commander Jon Burge, 60, of Apollo Beach, Fla., on perjury and obstruction charges related to his denials that he participated in the torture of suspects in police custody decades ago.

A settlement with El Dorado County, Calif., will ensure the beginning of the cleanup, at an estimated cost of approximately $7 million, of the Meyers Landfill Site, located outside of the city of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

A Taiwan thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel producer and seller has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $30 million criminal fine for its role in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels.

Homer Richardson of Loveland, Ohio, pleaded guilty in federal district court in Cincinnati to corruptly impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code.

Juan Javier Cardenas was charged in a three-count indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in Miami with conspiracy to buy, sell and use stolen credit card information.

Attorney General Eric Holder met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghalib and Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Aloko today to discuss the department’s ongoing efforts to foster the rule of law in Afghanistan.

Attorney Steven W. Allen pleaded guilty in federal court in Arizona to taking part in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by promoting a fraudulent offshore trust scheme to hide his clients’ income.

The founder and treasurer of the National Association of Special Police and Security Officers (NASPSO) was charged with four counts of mail fraud in connection with his operation of a pension plan for members of NASPSO, a labor union representing private security guards assigned to protect federal buildings in the metro Washington area.

A Milltown, N.J., man pleaded guilty today to a federal charge of willfully subscribing to a false tax return, admitting he concealed over $2 million in a Swiss bank account.

Arthur Batala, Darrell Batala and Steven Silas, all members of the Hopi Indian Tribe of Arizona, were sentenced for taking and possessing a golden eagle in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a federal law that protects most species of birds in the United States.

Four defendants were sentenced today in connection with their participation in an online child pornography conspiracy, while a fifth defendant was sentenced for receiving child pornography.

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.

The lawsuit alleged that the Fitchburg Housing Authority and Hill violated the Fair Housing Act by adopting and implementing policies that denied tenants with disabilities other than mobility impairments the opportunity to transfer between apartments within Fitchburg’s public housing neighborhoods.

Carline Ceneus, Cabioch Bontemps and Willy Edouard have been indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of Florida for engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor and visa fraud involving Haitian nationals.

Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V., has agreed to pay a $240 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

Gilberto Jordan, 54, a former Guatemalan special forces soldier, pleaded guilty today in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to a federal charge of unlawfully procuring his U.S. citizenship, admitting that he lied on his naturalization application about his participation in a 1982 massacre at a Guatemalan village known as Dos Erres.

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.

The Department filed a lawsuit against Garland Sales Inc., a rug manufacturer and seller located in Dalton, Ga., alleging it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work authorized individuals.

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.

Dwayne Lequire, 51, of Elgin, Ariz., was found guilty by a federal jury in Tucson, Ariz., late yesterday of eight counts of embezzling insurance premiums and one count of conspiracy.

A federal jury in Orlando, Fla., found former Bureau of Prisons corrections officer Michael Kennedy guilty late yesterday on felony federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of an inmate in March 2005.

Assistant Attorney General Breuer highlights the Criminal Division's recent successes in the fight against gangs and his intention to form an Organized Crime and Gang Section by merging the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section and the Gang Unit.

Detroit-area residents Faisal Chaudry and Guy Ross pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit for their participation in a fraudulent Medicare home health scheme

"Our future progress, I believe, will depend on our ability to bring innovative, evidence-based solutions to the work of addressing our most overwhelming and intractable challenges – namely, the prevalence and consequences of gun-, gang-, and drug-related violence, as well as the devastating impact of childhood exposure to violence," said Attorney General Holder.

"Today marks an important step forward in administering justice, in healing community wounds, in improving public safety, and in restoring public trust in this city’s police department," said Attorney General Holder.

McWane Inc., a national cast iron pipe manufacturer headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., has agreed to pay $4 million to resolve more than 400 violations of federal and state environmental laws.

The Justice Department today announced a court-approved consent decree which resolves a lawsuit against the state of New York and its public university systems for their failure to provide voter registration services at offices serving students with disabilities at each public university and college campus in New York State. 

The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with the city of Milton, Wash., under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to improve access to city parks and recreational activities for persons with disabilities.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a consent decree with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that, if approved by the U.S. District Court, will resolve the department’s complaint filed in May 2009, alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. 

The Department of Justice today announced the 24 recipients of the annual Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Achievement Awards in a ceremony hosted by Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler at the PSN national conference in New Orleans.

Jeffrey Alan Wasley of Kennesaw, Ga., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography through the surreptitious videotaping of young boys using public restrooms in Atlanta-area establishments.

A former corrections officer for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department in Potosi, Mo., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of obstruction of justice, admitting that she intentionally misled law enforcement officials about her role in the assault of an inmate housed in the Washington County Jail.

The United States has entered into a comprehensive agreement with the State of New York and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) that resolves previous findings of unconstitutional conditions at four juvenile justice facilities.

Today, the U.S. government filed civil forfeiture complaints against properties in New York and Virginia that represent a portion of illegal bribes paid to the former president of Taiwan and his wife.

"What makes Project Safe Neighborhoods so unique as an initiative is that it relies on teamwork that goes beyond law enforcement," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler.

The Justice Department today announced a comprehensive settlement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with QuikTrip Corporation, a private company that owns and operates more than 550 gas stations, convenience stores, travel centers, and truck stops in the Midwest, South and Southwestern United States. 

The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., returned an indictment charging Felix M. Mathis, an attorney practicing in Zurich, Switzerland, with conspiring to defraud the United States and structuring the importation of currency into this country.