A former residential sales manager and a former contractor at a Florida property management company pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

A 10-count indictment was unsealed today charging six people with various offenses related to a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of at least $1.7 million in fraudulently obtained tax returns, often filed in the names of recently deceased taxpayers, the Justice Department and IRS announced today.

At the direction of the President, this Working Group brings together the Department of Justice (DOJ), several state attorneys general and other federal entities to investigate those responsible for misconduct contributing to the financial crisis through the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.

A former owner and operator of a Florida-based airline services company was sentenced today to serve 24 months in prison and to pay restitution for conspiring to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud in a kickback scheme to defraud Ryan International Airlines.

"I am confident that this new effort will improve our ability to ensure justice for victims; help restore faith in our financial markets and institutions; and allow us to answer the call that President Obama issued earlier this week, in his State of the Union address," said Attorney General Holder.

Yazaki Corporation and DENSO Corporation have agreed to plead guilty and to pay a total of $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in multiple price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracies in the sale of parts to automobile manufacturers in the United States.

Two corrections officers were sentenced to prison today for civil rights and obstruction charges stemming from prisoner abuse that took place at the South Florida Reception Center (SFRC), a state prison in Doral, Fla.

Phoenix-area businessmen Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel and former San Diego attorney Christopher M. Rusch were charged in Phoenix with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for concealing millions of dollars in assets in numerous secret Swiss bank accounts held at UBS and elsewhere, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Natalie Evans, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in the Southern District of Florida.

A federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Fla., returned an indictment charging Ernst Pierre with filing false federal income tax returns and identity theft, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

A Manhattan jury today convicted four individuals and three corporations for their participation in an eight-year conspiracy, involving kickbacks in excess of $2 million, to defraud New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Fla., alleges that Lee County discriminated against tradesworkers Marco Ferreira, Eduardo Rivera and Leonides Sepulveda by subjecting them to racial and ethnic harassment over a period of approximately two years beginning in 2007 and ending in 2009.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Hayes sentenced James Lee Wallis Jr. to eight months in prison, Tony L. Johnson to six months in prison and Brian Wallis to five months in prison.

James Cummings, a resident of Boca Raton, Fla., has been sentenced for committing fraud in connection with a coffee machine business opportunity scheme, the Justice Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced today.

An eight-member jury has unanimously found that a former Jackson Hewitt tax preparer, Frances Carlson of Bradenton, Fla., prepared 27 federal tax returns that she knew would understate her customers’ tax liabilities, the Justice Department announced today.

Three Northern California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty today for their roles in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California.

Thomas W. Richardson was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle in Dallas to 105 months in prison and ordered to pay $30,649 in restitution, following his guilty plea in August 2011 to one count of theft of government property and one count of aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department announced today.

Roanne Eye, 57, of Plantation, Fla., was found guilty of tax charges late Thursday after a four-day jury trial, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced

A U.S. citizen and a Canadian citizen were arrested last week in Costa Rica in connection with the operation of a series of fraudulent business opportunities following their indictment by a federal grand jury in Miami on Nov. 29, 2011, the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced.

Freedman Farms Inc. was sentenced today in federal court to five years probation and ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines, restitution and community service payments for violating the Clean Water Act when they discharged hog waste into a stream that leads to the Waccamaw River.

Gary Rogers, of East Meadow, N.Y., was arrested today after being charged with identity theft and tax fraud after filing more than 200 false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced.

John P. Miller, a Certified Public Accountant, was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida with obstructing the Internal Revenue laws and preparing false tax returns the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Massoud Habibion, 49, aka “Matt Habibion” and “Matt Habi,” a U.S. citizen and co-owner of a Costa Mesa, Calif., company, Online Micro LLC, pleaded guilty today in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to illegally export computers from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates.

Jeng “Jay” Shih, 54, a U.S. citizen, was sentenced today in the District of Columbia to 18 months in prison, while his Queens, N.Y., company, Sunrise Technologies and Trading Corporation, was sentenced to 24 months corporate probation for conspiracy to illegally export U.S.-origin computers from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Amine El Khalifi, an immigrant from Morocco who is illegally present in the United States, was charged today by criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned and used by the United States.

Michael Schoenwald of Hollywood, Fla., has pleaded guilty before Judge Herman Weber in Cincinnati to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a drug diversion scheme in which he was involved, the Justice Department announced.

Butler Moultrie, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in the Southern District of Florida.

Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) officer Guruba Griffin, 32, was sentenced by District Judge Cecilia Altonaga to serve one year in prison, followed by one year of supervised release.

Two financial investors pleaded guilty today for conspiring to rig bids for the sale of tax liens auctioned by municipalities throughout New Jersey.

Seven people have been arrested on charges of trafficking in endangered black rhinoceros horn over the past week in Los Angeles, Newark, N.J., and New York.

Bobby Joe Rogers, 41, of Pensacola, Fla., has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the fire that destroyed the American Family Planning Clinic in Pensacola on Jan. 1, 2012.

The Justice Department announced today that Ross Hack, 40, Leland Jones, 31, and Melissa Hack, 37, have been charged with first degree murder and firearms offenses in relation to the 1998 deaths of Lin Newborn and Daniel Shersty.

Cynthia Cooley, of Hattiesburg, Miss., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett in the Southern District of Mississippi.

Odyssey HealthCare, a subsidiary of Gentiva, has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve civil liability under the federal False Claims Act arising from its billing of claims for certain hospice services, the Justice Department announced today. Odyssey Healthcare currently provides hospice services in approximately 27 states, including Wisconsin. Odyssey was purchased by Gentiva Healthcare in 2010.

The United States has filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against the Florida-based Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA), the Justice Department announced today.

Enrique Gomez De Molina, 48, of Miami Beach, Fla., was sentenced in federal court in Miami today to 20 months in prison for illegal trafficking in endangered and protected wildlife.

Cheng Yi Liang, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chemist from Gaithersburg, Md., was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for engaging in insider trading on multiple occasions based on material, non-public information he obtained in his capacity as an FDA scientist.

Joshua Wall, 20, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Baltimore for his involvement in hanging a dead raccoon from a noose on the porch of an African-American family.

A federal court has permanently barred Tracy L. Sunderlage, Linda Sunderlage and four companies from operating an alleged scheme to help high-income individuals attempt to avoid income taxes by funneling money through purported employee benefit plans, the Justice Department announced today.

Jean Rene Duperval, a former director of international relations for Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M. (Haiti Teleco), a Haitian state-owned telecommunications company, has been convicted by a federal jury on all counts for his role in a scheme to launder bribes paid to him by two Miami-based telecommunications companies.

A federal jury in San Francisco today convicted the largest Taiwan liquid crystal display producer, its subsidiary and their two former executives for their participation in a conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display panels sold worldwide.

Melinda Clayton of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced today to 61 months in prison, following a guilty plea to conspiracy to make false claims, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Mathis Moore, 56, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry L. Garber in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks.

"For the Department of Justice, our commitment to preventing human trafficking, bringing traffickers to justice, and assisting victims has never been stronger – and our approach has never been more effective. Our work has sent a clear and critical message: that, in this country – and under this Administration – human trafficking crimes will not be tolerated," said Attorney General Holder.

A Miami-area resident pleaded guilty yesterday for his role in a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Elmo Antonio George and Nasheba Necia Hunte, formerly from the U.S. Virgin Islands and currently residents of Villa Rica, Ga., were found guilty today by a federal jury in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and filing false individual income tax returns for 2005 and 2006, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.

The Justice Department announced it has reached a settlement with the Mountain Valley, Pa., Midget Football League to ensure that children with disabilities are offered an equal opportunity to play youth football.

Edward Arakelyan, 21, and Arman Vardanyan, 22, were each charged in a criminal information filed on March 5, 2012, in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Arcadio Hernandez-Soto, 35, was convicted in San Juan of three counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, four counts of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and four counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug transaction.

Two patient recruiters for several Louisiana durable medical equipment (DME) companies were sentenced today for their roles in Medicare fraud schemes involving fraudulent claims and illegal kickback payments for unnecessary DME, announced the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the FBI and the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office.