DOJ

Claimed More Than $1 Billion of Fraudulent Tax Losses

March 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Adrian Dicker, a United Kingdom chartered accountant and former vice chairman and board member at a major international accounting firm, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with certain tax shelter promoters to defraud the United States in connection with tax shelter transactions involving clients of the accounting firm and the law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist (J&G), the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.    » read more »

March 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Department of Justice is now accepting applications for $1 billion in Recovery Act Funds for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program. Approximately 5,500 law enforcement officer jobs will be created or saved in law enforcement agencies across the country through funding provided by the Department of Justice.

"This investment of Recovery Act funds will pump new resources into our communities through a program with a proven track record," said U.S. Attorney General Holder. "We will not just create and preserve jobs, but also increase community policing capacity and crime-prevention efforts."    » read more »

March 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts: Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice; Linda A. Puchala, Member, National Mediation Board; James W. Miller, Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Service, United States Department of Agriculture; Dallas P. Tonsager, Under Secretary for Rural Development, United States Department of Agriculture; and Ines Triay, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, Department of Energy.    » read more »

March 13, 2009 -- In a filing today with the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice submitted a new standard for the government’s authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.

The definition does not rely on the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief independent of Congress’s specific authorization. It draws on the international laws of war to inform the statutory authority conferred by Congress. It provides that individuals who supported al Qaeda or the Taliban are detainable only if the support was substantial. And it does not employ the phrase "enemy combatant."    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- Washington D.C. -- NEIL M. BAROFSKY, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), announced today, in coordination with the Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB-OIG), the formation of a broad, multi-agency task force designed to deter, detect and investigate instances of fraud in the soon-to-be-launched Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program.    » read more »

Mar. 12, 2009 -- Lev L. Dassin, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joseph M. Demarest Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, and Alan D. Lebowitz, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL-EBSA), today announced that Bernard L. Madoff pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to 11 felony counts related to a massive Ponzi scheme.

Madoff pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and theft from an employee benefit plan.    » read more »

March 12, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Beverly L. Masek, a former elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced.

Masek pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline in Anchorage to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. In court documents, Masek admitted to conspiring with Bill J. Allen, the former chief executive officer of VECO Corporation (VECO), a now-defunct multinational oil field services company, and Richard L. Smith, a former VECO vice president, to soliciting and accepting bribes.    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- "Today I have signed into law H.R. 1105, the "Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009." This bill completes the work of last year by providing the funding necessary for the smooth operation of our Nation's Government.

As I announced this past Monday, it is a legitimate constitutional function, and one that promotes the value of transparency, to indicate when a bill that is presented for Presidential signature includes provisions that are subject to well-founded constitutional objections. The Department of Justice has advised that a small number of provisions of the bill raise constitutional concerns.    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – A securities attorney pleaded guilty today to defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 different publicly traded companies, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

David B. Stocker, 49, of Phoenix pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme. Stocker is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. The maximum penalties for the conspiracy charge are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.    » read more »

Approximately 100 Participants from 14 Countries Attending Second IP Crimes Enforcement Network Conference in Bangkok

March 11, 2009 -- BANGKOK, THAILAND – Building upon the successes of earlier efforts, the U.S. Department of Justice today announced the opening in Bangkok of a regional conference of approximately 100 key law enforcement and industry officials from more than a dozen nations with the goal of strengthening international cooperation in fighting large-scale intellectual property crimes.    » read more »

March 6, 2009 -- Today President Barack Obama announced that Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice are making available $2 billion Recovery Act 2009 funding allocations for state and local law enforcement and criminal justice assistance, available through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.

This funding will be used to help communities keep their neighborhoods safer with more cops, prosecutors, and probation officers; more radios and equipment; more help for crime victims and more crime prevention programs for youth.    » read more »

March 6, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – An indictment was unsealed today charging Clark Alan Roberts, 46, and Sean Edward Howley, 38, both engineers with Wyko Tire Technology Inc., located in Greenback, Tenn., with conspiring to steal trade secrets from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and scheming to defraud Goodyear of confidential and proprietary information, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee James R. Dedrick.

Roberts and Howley were arrested this morning by federal authorities and were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley.    » read more »

March 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Two citizens of the United Kingdom have been charged in an indictment unsealed today in the United States for their alleged participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.    » read more »

March 5, 2009 -- The FBI continues to receive reports of individuals victimized while attempting to purchase vehicles via the Internet. Victims find attractively priced vehicles advertised at different Internet classified ad sites. Most of the scams include some type of third-party vehicle protection program to ensure a safe transaction. After receiving convincing e-mails from the phony vehicle protection program, the victims are directed to send either the full payment, or a percentage of the payment, to the third-party agent via a wire payment service. No vehicles are delivered to the victims.    » read more »

March 4, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — A Middlesex, N.J., industrial pipes, valves and fittings supply company and its co-owner pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund sites in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. The sites are Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali, located in Newark, N.J.    » read more »