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Justice Department Files Lawsuit Alleging Racial Discrimination at Apartment Complex in Clanton, Alabama

The Department filed a lawsuit against the owner and employees of Rolling Oaks Apartments, a 72-unit complex in Clanton, Ala., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race or color in the rental of apartments. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleges that the employees, Kenneth R. Scott and Frankie L. Roberson, told white testers that a selling point of Rolling Oaks Apartments was the lack of African American tenants and that they had adopted rental policies intended to discourage African American rental applicants.



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New York State and New York City to Pay Record $540 Million to Settle Allegations of False Claims for Medicaid Funds

The state of New York and New York City have agreed to pay $540 million to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted, or caused to be submitted, false claims for reimbursement for school-based health care services, primarily speech therapy and transportation, provided to Medicaid eligible children from 1990 to 2001. The settlement is a record federal recovery by the Justice Department for the Medicaid Program.



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Colorado Interstate Gas Agrees to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations in Utah

Colorado Interstate Gas Company (CIG), the operator of the Natural Buttes Compressor Station located on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation near Vernal, Utah, has agreed to pay more than $1 million and install environmental controls at its facility as part of a consent decree that resolves violations of the Clean Air Act.



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Used Motor Vehicle Dealers Indicted by Federal Grand Jury in Casper, Wyoming for Odometer Tampering

A federal grand jury in Casper, Wyo., Thursday returned an indictment charging Randy Lee (a/k/a Jimmy Lee) and Jay Lee (a/k/a John Marks, a/k/a Anthony Romero) of Cheyenne, Wyo., with odometer tampering, title fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit these offenses. The indictment alleges that the defendants worked as used car dealers at Lee’s RV’s, Inc., a dealership in Cheyenne.



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UBS Client Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax Return, Hid $8 Million in Secret Swiss Bank Accounts

Jeffrey P. Chernick, of Stanfordville, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to charges of filing a false tax return. Chernick, who owns a corporation which represents toy manufacturers in China and Hong Kong, appeared today before Judge James I. Cohn in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $8 million in Swiss bank accounts.



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Fourteen Motorcycle Gang Leaders and Members Plead Guilty in Detroit to Violent Crime, Drug and Firearms Charges

Fourteen members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club have pleaded guilty in Detroit to charges including violent crimes in aid of racketeering, illegal drug distribution and firearms violations.



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New Mexico-based Computer Assets Inc. Agrees to Settle False Claims Allegations Involving the E-Rate Program

Computer Assets Inc. and its principals, Abraham Salazar and Damon Salazar, have agreed to pay $350,000 over three years and surrender up to $35 million in pending E-Rate applications to settle allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program.



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Aluminum Recycler Agrees to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations

Aleris International Inc., one of the nation’s largest aluminum recyclers, and 13 of its subsidiaries have committed to implementing environmental improvements and controls projected to cost $4.2 million at 15 plants located in 11 states.



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Boston-Based Bus Company Agrees to $650,000 Penalty for Violating the Clean Air Act and Anti-Idling Regulations

Paul Revere Transportation LLC, a bus company based in Boston, has agreed to pay a $650,000 civil penalty after being found liable by a jury in June for violating federal and state clean air laws for idling their buses for extended periods of time. The company was found liable on June 8, 2009, after a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Boston, for 234 separate violations of the Clean Air Act and a Massachusetts anti-idling regulation.



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Business Owner Sentenced to 100 Years for His Role in Scheme to Defraud Clients of Funds Allegedly Held in Trust

Edward H. Okun, the former owner of The 1031 Tax Group LLP (1031TG), was sentenced today to 100 years in prison for his leading role in a scheme to defraud and obtain approximately $126 million in client funds held by 1031TG.



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Ready-Mix Concrete Producer Agrees to Resolve Clean Water Act Violations

Aggregate Industries - Northeast Region Inc., will pay a $2.75 million civil penalty and implement a regional evaluation and compliance program to resolve numerous violations of the Clean Water Act at 23 facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.



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Union Pacific Railroad Company Agrees to Settle Clean Water Act Violations in Nevada

Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has agreed to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act in Nevada by restoring 122 acres of mountain-desert streams and wetlands, implementing storm water controls at its construction sites, and paying a civil penalty.



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Dynamics Research Corporation to Pay $15 Million to Resolve Allegations of Kickbacks and False Claims Related to Air Force Contracts

Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC), a defense contractor based in Andover, Mass., has agreed to pay the United States $15 million plus interest to settle allegations that two of its former executives engaged in a fraudulent kickback scheme in connection with two technical services contracts with the Air Force.



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Two Virginia Residents Sentenced for Their Role in Scheme to Defraud Clients of Funds Allegedly Held in Trust

Two former employees of Edward H. Okun, who was sentenced to 100 years in prison on Aug. 4, 2009, after a three-week jury trial, were sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne for their roles in a scheme to defraud and obtain approximately $126 million in client funds held by The 1031 Tax Group LLP (1031TG).



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Pipeline Firms to Pay $3.65 Million to Settle Claims Related to 2004 Ammonia Spills in Nebraska and Kansas

A pipeline company and two of its former operating firms will jointly pay a civil penalty of $3.65 million to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act resulting from anhydrous ammonia spills in Nebraska and Kansas, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The spills which occurred in 2004 resulted in significant fish kills in surrounding waterways.



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Consortium of 49 Massachusetts Law Enforcement Agencies to Pay U.S. $200,000 for Alleged False Claims

The North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) will pay the United States $200,000 to settle allegations that it made false claims related to the use of Justice Department grant funds. Based in Boston, NEMLEC is a non-profit corporation and a law enforcement council. It is comprised of a consortium of 47 police departments in Middlesex and Essex Counties, as well as two county sheriff’s departments.



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Detroit Clinic Owner and Patient Recruiter Plead Guilty in $15 Million Fraud Scheme

Miami residents Jose and Arnaldo Rosario pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program of approximately $15.3 million. Both defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen.



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Home Development Company Agrees to Settle Federal Lawsuit for Clean Water Act Violations

Cooper Land Development, Inc., a luxury home development company headquartered in Rogers, Ark., has agreed to pay a civil penalty and implement a storm water compliance program at its construction sites to settle allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act.



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U.S. Discloses Terms of Agreement with Swiss Government Regarding UBS

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today announced that the agreement with the Swiss government has been finalized. As a result of the agreement, the United States will receive substantially all of the accounts of interest when it initiated the John Doe summons against UBS on June 30, 2008.



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Two Manufacturers Agree to Settle Clean Air Act Claims Resulting from Explosions at Plants in Kentucky and Mississippi

Two manufacturing companies, in separate settlements, have agreed to pay civil penalties and take corrective measures to settle Clean Air Act violations resulting from explosions at two plants in 2002 and 2003 in Louisville, Ky., and Pascagoula, Miss.



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Covenant Medical Center to Pay U.S. $4.5 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa has agreed to pay the United States $4.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. This settlement resolves allegations that Covenant submitted false claims to Medicare by having financial relationships with five physicians that violated the Stark Law.



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Tennessee Demolition and Salvage Companies Indicted for Clean Air Act Violations and Defrauding the United States

Two demolition and salvage companies and three of their respective owners and supervisors were indicted today by a federal grand jury in Chattanooga, Tenn. The indictment describes a year-long scheme in which the former Standard Coosa Thatcher plant in Chattanooga was illegally demolished while still containing large amounts of asbestos.



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Spokane, Washington, Man Indicted on Civil Rights Charges Related to Threats to Reproductive Health Services Clinic

A federal grand jury in Denver has charged Donald Hertz with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for allegedly threatening an employee of a Colorado abortion clinic.



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United States & Illinois File Clean Air Act Lawsuit Against Midwest Generation

The United States and the state of Illinois have filed a civil complaint against Midwest Generation LLC, alleging that the company violated, and continues to violate, the Clean Air Act, announced the Justice Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Attorney General’s office.



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Detroit Clinic Manager Pleads Guilty in Medicare Fraud Scheme

Denver resident Lil Vargas-Arias pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.



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Brooklyn Resident Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy to File False Claims for Tax Refunds

Odell Folks, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced to prison today by District Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the Eastern District of New York for his participation in a false tax return scheme. Folks, who pleaded guilty in March 2009 to mail fraud, a false claims conspiracy, and making and subscribing a false return, was sentenced to 77 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $489,292.



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City of Jeffersonville, Indiana, Agrees to Upgrade Sewer Systems to Comply with Clean Water Act

The city of Jeffersonville, Ind., has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems that will significantly reduce the city’s longstanding sewage overflows into the Ohio River in a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with federal and state government.



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Detroit Clinic Owner and Manager Plead Guilty to Medicare Fraud Charges

Clinic owners and operators Jose Martinez and Denisse Martinez pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.



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UBS Client Pleads Guilty to Failing to Report $6.1 Million in Swiss Bank Accounts

A Saddle River, N.J., man pleaded guilty today to failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank or Financial Accounts (F-BAR. Juergen Homann appeared today before Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark, N.J., and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $5 million in Swiss bank accounts.



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Jury Convicts Defense Department Official of Unlawful Communication of Classified Information and Making False Statements

James Wilbur Fondren Jr., was convicted by a federal jury today on charges involving providing classified information to a man working with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and lying to the FBI about it.



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Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia, Agrees to Settle Clean Water Act Violations in Chesapeake Bay Area

Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), based in Virginia Beach, Va., has agreed to pay a $900,000 civil penalty and to take corrective actions to reduce alleged sanitary sewer overflows from its collection system and nine sewage treatment plants that have polluted the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.



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New Jersey Hospital to Pay $8.3 Million for Alleged Kickbacks and Causing Submission of False Claims to Medicare

“Today’s settlement reflects the Justice Department’s ongoing commitment to protect the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.



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Seattle Area UBS Client Pleads Guilty to Filing a False Tax Return

According to court documents and statements made in court, Cittadini, a retired sales manager for Boeing, failed to report income from bank accounts under his control at UBS AG in Switzerland on his individual income tax returns from 2001 through 2003.



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Sulfuric Acid Manufacturer Agrees to Resolve Clean Air Violations

Mosaic Fertilizer will spend approximately $30 million on air pollution controls that are expected to eliminate harmful emissions from its sulfuric acid production plant in Uncle Sam, La.



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Detroit Clinic Owner, Doctor and Office Manager Indicted in Medicare Infusion Fraud Scheme

Three Miami-Dade County, Fla., residents have been indicted in connection with an alleged $2.3 million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of X-Press Center, a Detroit-area clinic that purported to specialize in providing injection and infusion therapies.



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AT&T Missouri Agrees to Settle False Claims Act Lawsuit Involving E-Rate Program

AT&T Missouri (formerly known as Southwestern Bell Telephone L.P.) has agreed to pay the United States $1.4 million as part of a settlement of a civil lawsuit alleging that the company violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission's E-Rate program.



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Maryland Tax Preparer Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison for Preparing False Tax Returns for Clients

Marcel J. Toto-Ngosso of Silver Spring, Md., was sentenced to 70 months in prison today for preparing and filing false tax returns in connection with a scheme to generate fraudulent tax refunds for his clients.



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BASF Corporation Agrees to Clean Air Act Upgrades to Protect Stratospheric Ozone

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a Clean Air Act settlement filed today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.



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Four Pharmaceutical Companies Pay $124 Million for Submission of False Claims to Medicaid

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs.



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Indiana Home Health Agency Pays Nearly $2 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

“With the nation’s focus on health care, this settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that federal health care dollars are spent appropriately,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.



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New York Man Indicted for Clean Air Act Violations

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging David Vega and Francis Rowe with committing violations of the Clean Air Act while they were project managers for Gordon-Smith Contracting, Inc., an asbestos removal company owned by Keith Gordon-Smith



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Government Files Seven Lawsuits Nationwide to Block Alleged Scheme Involving Fraudulent Tax-Refund Claims

The federal suits – filed in Los Angeles; Panama City, Fla.; Salt Lake City; Nashville, Tenn.; and Pocatello, Idaho – allege that the defendants promote a tax fraud scheme designed to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury through fraudulent tax refund claims.



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Alabama Grease Haulers Charged with Clean Water Act Violations for Dumping into Mobile Area Sewers

A Mobile, Ala., grand jury has indicted a waste disposal company, its president and top manager for offenses involving the illegal disposal of waste into the sewage treatment systems of Mobile and of neighboring municipalities.



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U.S. Sues Canadian Company and U.S. Subsidiary for False Claims Act Allegations

The United States today sued Lincoln Fabrics Ltd., a Canadian company, and Lincoln Fabrics Inc., aka Lincoln Textiles Inc., its American subsidiary, under the False Claims Act in connection with the companies’ weaving and sale of defective Zylon fabric which was used as the key ballistic material in bullet-proof vests.



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Texas Hospital Group Pays U.S. $27.5 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

A hospital group based in McAllen, Texas, has agreed to pay the United States $27.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute between 1999 and 2006, by paying illegal compensation to doctors in order to induce them to refer patients to hospitals within the group



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Detroit Clinic Owner Pleads Guilty in Medicare Fraud Scheme

Miami resident Daisy Martinez pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.



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Michigan Attorney and Client Sentenced for Tax Crimes in Connection with a Fraudulent Insurance Tax Shelter

John A. Campbell, a resident of Portage, Mich., was sentenced to 60 months in prison today by the Honorable Janet T. Neff of the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Michigan for conspiring to defraud the United States.



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Nation’s Largest Nursing Home Pharmacy and Drug Manufacturer to Pay $112 Million to Settle False Claims Act Cases

The nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy, Omnicare Inc. of Covington, Kentucky, will pay $98 million, and drug manufacturer, IVAX Pharmaceuticals of Weston, Florida, will pay $14 million to resolve allegations that Omnicare engaged in kickback schemes with several parties, including IVAX.



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United States Intervenes in False Claims Act Suit Against Virginia Medicaid Providers

The United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia have intervened in a False Claims Act suit in the Western District of Virginia against the Medicaid providers Universal Health Services Inc., Keystone Marion LLC and Keystone Education and Youth Services LLC.



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Regional Home Builder Agrees to Clean Water Act Settlement

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc., and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga., have agreed to pay a $350,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.



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