Colton L. Partin, 22, of Apison, Tenn., Kyle C. Montgomery, 23, and James Smiley, 27, both of Chattanooga, Tenn., were sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Curtis L. Collier. Smiley and Montgomery were sentenced to 12 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to intimidate African-Americans in the free exercise and enjoyment of housing rights secured to them by the laws of the United States. Partin was sentenced to 18 months probation, including six months home confinement. All three men will also serve 300 hours of community service. The men pleaded guilty on Jan. 6, 2012.

The Justice Department today announced that it has resolved a lawsuit alleging that Air Methods Corp. and LifeMed Alaska, LLC willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by discriminating against and failing to reemploy Chief Warrant Officer Third Class Jonathon L. Goodwin of Wasilla, Alaska. The suit was filed in federal district court in Alaska.

AmMed Direct LLC has agreed to pay the United States and the state of Tennessee $18 million plus interest to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare and Tennessee Medicaid (TennCare), the Justice Department announced today. Under the agreement, AmMed will pay $17,560,997 to the United States and $439,003 to Tennessee.

Stephen A. Favato, a resident of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., and a former partner in BDO Seidman LLP’s Woodbridge, N.J., office, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. In August 2010, a jury sitting in Newark, N.J., found Favato guilty of one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue laws and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false income tax return.

A former chief engineer from the tuna fishing vessel San Nikunau pleaded guilty today in federal court to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

An Alabama real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty and to serve prison time for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama.

Anthony Allega Cement Contractor Inc., a Cleveland construction firm, has agreed to pay the United States $500,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims related to a federally-funded construction project, the Justice Department announced today. The United States alleged that Allega submitted false claims that made it appear that the company was in compliance with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, as required in order to obtain and maintain Allega’s contract with the government. The DBE program provides opportunities to businesses owned by minorities and women, as well as socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, to participate in federally-funded construction and design projects.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville, Fla., alleging that the city is engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-Americans in its fire and rescue department in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lawsuit challenges the fire department’s use of written examinations for the promotion of firefighters to four ranks – Lieutenant, Captain, and District Chief, all in the suppression line, and Engineer.

Ernst Pierre, a Port St. Lucie, Fla., tax preparer, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Pierre was charged with a scheme to file false federal income tax returns using stolen identity information.

Four individuals have been charged in the Eastern District of Virginia for their alleged roles in an Internet piracy group that distributed via the Internet copies of movies showing only in theaters.

Hess Corporation has agreed to pay an $850,000 civil penalty and spend more than $45 million in new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its Port Reading, N.J., refinery.

Anthony L. Dinunzio, 53, of East Boston, Mass., the alleged leader of the New England organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (NELCN), was arrested today on racketeering and extortion charges.

Garth Peterson, 42, an American citizen living in Singapore, pleaded guilty to one-count criminal information charging him with conspiring to evade internal accounting controls that Morgan Stanley was required to maintain under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

An executive of Japanese-based DENSO Corporation has agreed to plead guilty and to serve 14 months in a U.S. prison for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for heater control panels (HCPs) installed in U.S. cars.

Billie Ray Pratt, age 24, of Halethorpe, Md., pleaded guilty today to his involvement in hanging a raccoon on the porch of a family from Africa.

"Over the past couple of years OVW has made a concerted effort to prioritize sexual violence by providing grants to address the gap in services and resources for victims and survivors of rape and sexual violence," said Acting Director Hanson.

An Alabama real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty and to serve one year in prison for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama.

Richard Jaensch, 54, of Annandale, Va., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Jaensch had been found guilty on Dec. 7, 2011, by a federal jury sitting in Alexandria, Va., of corruptly endeavoring to impede the IRS, filing a false claim for a refund and four counts of failing to file tax returns for 2004 through 2007. Judge Lee also sentenced Jaensch to three years supervised release and ordered him to pay $197,984 in restitution to the IRS.

Ira Isaacs, 60, was found guilty today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on one count of engaging in the business of producing and selling obscene videos and four counts of distributing obscene videos, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California, Assistant Director in Charge Steve Martinez of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck.

An executive of Korean-based Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. (HLDS) has agreed to plead guilty and to serve time in a U.S. prison for his participation in a series of conspiracies to rig bids for the sale of optical disk drives.

Curtis Morris, 43, of Elizabeth, Colo., and Richard Kellogg Armstrong, 77, of Prescott, Ariz., were found guilty on April 30, 2012, by a jury for mail fraud, filing false claims against the United States and conspiracy to file false claims against the United States, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and IRS-Criminal Investigation. In addition to these counts, Armstrong was also found guilty of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from the mail fraud. The guilty verdicts were the result of a three week trial before U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn. Morris and Armstrong are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 10, 2012.

Deborah Clark, 52, of Portsmouth, Va., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr.

Suzanne Land, a Cincinnati attorney, pleaded guilty today to obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) while representing the estates of two deceased clients, the Justice Department and IRS announced. District Court Judge Herman J. Weber presided over the guilty plea hearing.

Mohammad Hassan Khalid, 18, a Pakistani citizen and U.S. lawful permanent resident who resided in Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, stemming from his participation in a scheme to support, recruit and coordinate members of a conspiracy in their plan to wage violent jihad in and around Europe.

Barbara Murry, Douglas Murry, Douglas Murry III, Yolanda Moses, Lee Moses, Veronica Temple, Jeffrey Temple, Almetta Johnson and Courtney Johnson were charged in an indictment by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama on a variety of counts stemming from an identity theft and tax fraud scheme, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

An indictment filed in the Northern District of Alabama and unsealed today charges Robert E. Taylor Jr., 41, of Warrior, Ala., with conspiring to bribe and bribing a public official in order to protect his interest in an illegal gambling business.

Direct Resource Inc. has agreed to pay the government $450,000 to resolve allegations that the company falsely claimed payment in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), which prohibits the sale of products to federal agencies from countries that do not have a reciprocal trade agreement with the United States, the Justice Department announced today. The Columbus, Ohio, company allegedly knowingly sold products from China, a country that does not have such an agreement with the United States.

Margaret Kirksey, a resident of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced today in the Middle District of Alabama to 81 months in federal prison for filing false tax returns using stolen identities, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson also sentenced Michael Wayne Wooten, 61, of Alabaster, Ala., to lifetime supervised release following his prison term.

Sean M. Lovelady, 28, of Pomona, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

Two stock promoters, a securities lawyer and a stock trader associated with a Costa Rican brokerage firm were sentenced today in the Southern District of Florida for their participation in a stock manipulation scheme that defrauded investors in a company called CO2 Technologies.

Jonathan Curshen, 47, the principal of Red Sea Management and Sentry Global Securities, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Goldberg.

George Anderson, 57, an anesthesiologist from Farmville, Va., pleaded guilty today to two counts of filing a false corporate and false individual income tax return, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

A federal jury in New York City today convicted three former financial services executives for their participation in conspiracies related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts

Thomas K. Frye and Kathy M. Frye, husband and wife, and residents of Andalusia, Ala., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Massoud Habibion, 49, a U.S. citizen, Mohsen Motamedian, 44, a U.S. citizen, and their Costa Mesa, Calif., company, Online Micro LLC, were sentenced today in the District of Columbia in connection with a scheme to illegally export millions of dollars worth of computer-related goods from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with QEP Field Services Co. (QEPFS), formerly Questar Gas Management Co., to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at five natural gas compressor stations on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Northeastern Utah.

Loretta Fergerson and her sister, Tracey Fergerson, both of Montgomery, Ala., were each sentenced to 115 months prison for their involvement in a conspiracy to file claims for false income tax refunds using stolen identities, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller ordered the Fergerson sisters to pay $504,305 in restitution to the IRS.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Wythe County, Va., that will allow for the county and its three political subdivisions, the Wythe County School District and the towns of Rural Retreat and Wytheville, 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.

Nicole E. Luvera, 29, of Newnan, Ga., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg in Atlanta to a criminal information charging her with one count of theft of government property.

Donald R. Megginson, a former resident of Alexandria, Va., pleaded guilty to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Markos Baghdasarian, the president of Delfin Group USA, was arrested on Saturday, May 19, 2012, at the Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, just prior to boarding an international flight to the United Arab Emirates.

BP North America Inc. has agreed to pay an $8 million penalty and invest more than $400 million to install state-of-the-art pollution controls and cut emissions from BP’s petroleum refinery in Whiting, Ind.

Tyrone Devon Thompson, Aritha Currie, Julius Thompson, Tronda Thompson and Shonda Sneed were charged in an indictment by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia on a variety of counts stemming from a tax fraud scheme, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The 22-count indictment charges all five with conspiring to defraud the United States and filing false claims against the United States. The indictment, which was returned on May 11, 2012, was unsealed following the defendants’ arrests.

Veniamin Gonikman, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Ukraine, was sentenced today in federal court for his role in an international conspiracy to compel Eastern European women to work in exotic dance clubs in the Detroit metropolitan area. U.S. District Court Judge Victoria A. Roberts sentenced Gonikman to 36 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release. He is the ninth and final member of the charged conspiracy to be sentenced.

Alan James Watson, 47, of Clinton Township, Mich., was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for fraudulently soliciting and accepting $40 million from more than 900 members of his investment club, Cash Flow Financial LLC (CFF).

The Justice Department released two technical assistance documents today regarding the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to swimming pools. The documents can be found at www.ada.gov//qa_existingpools_titleIII.htm and www.ada.gov/pools_2010.htm.

A federal judge in Washington has ruled that automobile dealers who engage in certain three-party financing transactions must disclose certain information to consumers who take out car loans if they are offered less favorable terms, such as a higher interest rate, than the most favorable terms available to the majority of consumers

Dr. Shih Chi Liu, 73, of Silver Spring, Md., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris.

Wolfgang Roessel of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida to filing a false tax return for 2007, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.