A former Detroit-area physician pleaded guilty today for his role in an $11.5 million health care fraud scheme. Jose Mercado-Francis, 60, formerly of Brownstown Township, Mich., prepared medical documentation that licensed physicians signed as if they had provided services to Medicare beneficiaries, when, in fact, they had not.

A former state marshal and a correctional officer in Puerto Rico were sentenced today for attempting to smuggle heroin to inmates in exchange for payment.

Sea Star Line LLC and Horizon Lines LLC have agreed to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by fixing the price of government cargo transportation contracts between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

The leader of an identity theft ring that stole more than 600 identities from U.S. government employees and others was sentenced today to serve 12 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

On Feb. 26, 2014, a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia returned a 17 count indictment charging Sherri Davis for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns and filing false individual income tax returns, the Justice Department and IRS announced following the unsealing of Davis’ indictment today.

Calling the rise in overdose deaths from heroin and other prescription pain-killers an “urgent public health crisis,” Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Monday that the Justice Department would combat the epidemic through a mix of enforcement and treatment efforts. As an added step, the Attorney General is also encouraging law enforcement agencies to train and equip their personnel with the life-saving, overdose-reversal drug known as naloxone.

The United States has sued The Tax Helper Corp, a tax preparation business with a store located in Chicago, and seeks to permanently bar the company and its alleged co-owner, Johnnie Pernell Jr., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The Department of Justice announced that this morning John W. Ng, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., made his initial appearance in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with a hate crime offense.

Frederic Cilins, 51, a French citizen, pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of New York to obstructing a federal criminal investigation into whether a mining company paid bribes to win lucrative mining rights in the Republic of Guinea.

Lanny Harris, a former sergeant at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., and Philip Mayo, a former correctional officer at RCI, were sentenced today for conspiring with other RCI officers on March 8-9, 2008, to assault an inmate at the prison, identified as K.D.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and a subsidiary, IVAX LLC, have agreed to pay the government and the state of Illinois $27.6 million for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by making payments to induce prescriptions of an anti-psychotic drug for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Halifax Hospital Medical Center and Halifax Staffing Inc. (Halifax), a hospital system based in the Daytona Beach, Fla., area, have agreed to pay $85 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to the Medicare program that violated the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law.

A federal inmate pleaded guilty today for the murder of United States Correctional Officer Jose Rivera, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner for the Eastern District of California.

Richard Castle, 47, a resident of the United Kingdom, has been sentenced to serve 192 months in prison in connection with a trip he made to Ohio from his home in the United Kingdom to have illicit sexual activity with a minor in June 2011.

Two Northern California real estate investors pleaded guilty for their roles in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

Anthony Merrell Tyler, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act for his role in a 2011 racially motivated attack on a white man and an African-American woman in Marysville, Calif.

Wilfredo Blanco-Diaz, 40, formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, was sentenced to serve 61 months in prison and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí in the District of Puerto Rico.

The Justice Department today announced a settlement under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Blair County, Pa., to greatly improve physical accessibility at the county’s polling places for individuals who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids and for individuals who are blind or have vision impairments.

Following a four-week trial, a federal jury today convicted two real estate investors for conspiring to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Calif. One of the investors was also convicted of obstruction of justice for destroying evidence related to the crimes

"As you know, this Sunshine Week we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines. Issued during Sunshine Week on March 19, 2009, those Guidelines address the presumption of openness that the President called for in his FOIA Memorandum, the necessity for agencies to create and maintain an effective system for responding to requests, and the need to improve timeliness and to work to reduce backlogs," said Pustay.

Andreas Bachmann, 56, of Switzerland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service in connection with his work as a banking and investment adviser for U.S. customers.

A federal jury in Houston today convicted two owners of a former Houston mental health care company, Spectrum Care P.A. (Spectrum), several of its employees and the owners of certain Houston group care homes for their participation in a $97 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Today, the Justice Department sought a federal court order temporarily restraining the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) from unlawfully secluding boys with mental health needs in its juvenile correctional facilities.

In testimony delivered before the U.S. Sentencing Commission Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder endorsed a proposed change to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that would reserve the harshest penalties for the most serious drug offenders.

John Bryan Villegas, 23, of Kittery, Maine, was sentenced today in federal court in New Hampshire to serve 33 months in prison for engaging in a type of cyber stalking known as “sextortion.”

A U.S. Army soldier was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in prison for his role in stealing fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Fenty near Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Dustin Norris and Ryan Lohr, former officers at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Md., were sentenced today for conspiring with other RCI officers on March 9, 2008, in connection with the assault of an inmate at the state prison, identified as K.D.

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service announced today that construction company owner Tomas Olazabal, of Fresh Meadows, N.Y., was convicted of two counts of filing false corporate tax returns for his corporation, Tupac Construction Corporation.

Memorial Hospital (Memorial), an Ohio nonprofit corporation that operates an acute care hospital in Fremont, Ohio, has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians.

Christopher Davis, of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced today to serve 60 months in prison, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama.

A former correctional officer in Puerto Rico was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into state prison by delivering it to an inmate in the parking lot of the Medical Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Several patient recruiters, including a medical clinic owner, were sentenced today for their participation in a health care fraud scheme involving Flores Home Health Care Inc., a defunct home health care company.

The owner and operator of a Miami medical clinic, Merfi Corp., was sentenced today to serve 108 months in prison for her participation in multiple health care fraud schemes.

Dmitry Firtash, 48, a Ukrainian businessman, was arrested Wednesday by Austrian authorities in Vienna on a provisional arrest request based on charges filed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Steven A. Murray, 54, of Pelham, Ala., and his company, Bio-Tech Management Inc., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Macon, Ga., to charges of conspiracy, unlawful use of pesticides, false statements and mail fraud in connection with the misapplication of pesticides in Georgia nursing homes.

It is a pleasure to be with you today. And it’s an honor to join so many distinguished jurists, dedicated public servants, devoted members of the private bar, hardworking students, and good friends in discussing the challenges we face – and the opportunities now before us – to expand access to justice; to strengthen the rule of law; and to improve America’s legal system across the board – so we can move our nation closer to its founding ideals of equality, opportunity, and justice for all.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle with the city of New York and intervening plaintiffs to settle an employment discrimination lawsuit involving the New York City Fire Department.

Alexander Beltran Herrera, 37, a commander of the FARC terrorist organization, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to hostage-taking charges stemming from the 2003 kidnappings of three U.S. citizens in Colombia.

A Florida man who had been the straw owner of a physical therapy rehabilitation facility has been sentenced to serve 30 months in prison for his role in a $28.3 million Medicare fraud scheme.

American Family Care Inc. has agreed to pay the government $1.2 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that it knowingly submitted claims to Medicare for outpatient office visits that were billed at a higher rate than was appropriate.

The Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration announced that Matthew Bender, of Detroit, was convicted today of obstructing the IRS and nine counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns following a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Alex Wisidagama, a citizen of Singapore formerly employed by Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for his role in a scheme to overbill the U.S. Navy for ship husbanding services.

California attorney Christopher M. Rusch was sentenced to serve 10 months in prison for helping his clients Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel, both businessmen from Phoenix, hide millions of dollars in secret offshore bank accounts at UBS AG and Pictet & Cie in Switzerland, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation Calvin L. Scovel, III, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator David Friedman, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director Joe Campbell announced a criminal wire fraud charge against Toyota Motor Corporation, an automotive company headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, that designs, manufactures, assembles, and sells Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles.

Tonawanda Coke Corporation was sentenced in federal court in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday to pay a $12.5 million penalty and $12.2 million in community service payments for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Kristopher Michael Montemayor, a county commissioner for Precinct 1 of the Webb County Commissioners Court in Texas, was arrested today on charges of bribery.

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors around the world, including power generation, entered a plea of guilty today for its participation in a scheme to pay bribes to high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project.

Today’s announcement underscores the fact that the Departments of Justice and Transportation remain firmly committed to protecting consumers, ensuring the safety of the American people, and combating fraud in all its forms.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Flint Hills Resources of Port Arthur has agreed to implement innovative technologies to control harmful air pollution from industrial flares and leaking equipment at the company’s chemical plant in Port Arthur, Texas.

A federal jury convicted Jean Claude Roy, aka Dredd the Don and Dreddy, age 31, of Germantown, Md., late yesterday of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, three counts of interstate transportation for prostitution and witness and evidence tampering.