DOJ

WASHINGTON, Friday, July 18, 2008 -- Jesus Perez-Laguna, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced today in federal court in Columbia, S.C., on charges stemming from a sex trafficking ring involving at least one teenage girl. Perez-Laguna was sentenced to over 14 years imprisonment and ordered to pay $52,500 in restitution to his victims. After his release from prison, Perez-Laguna will be on federal supervised release for the rest of his life.

As a condition of supervised release, U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson ordered that Perez-Laguna be surrendered to immigration officials for deportation proceedings and further ordered that Perez-Laguna not return to the United States while on supervised release.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, Friday, July 18, 2008 — The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the City of Ecorse, Mich., alleging that the city discriminated against two women formerly employed in the city clerk’s office by subjecting them to sexual harassment by their supervisor that created a hostile work environment.    » read more »

Justice Department Releases Some Agreements, Names Monitors

May 22, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - Last week, the United States Justice Department sent 85 deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements, and a list of corporate monitors selected in 41 of the agreements, to the House Judiciary Committee.

Today, Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law), and Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) expressed the need for full disclosure about the agreements, and possibly legislation to set stricter guidelines for how corporate monitors are selected and how the agreements are structured. The lawmakers previously requested the information in January.    » read more »

May 22, 2008 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued a subpoena to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for testimony about the politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ), including former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's case. Yesterday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, sent a letter to the committee expressing that Rove would not agree to testify voluntarily, per the committee's previous requests.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., today released the following statement regarding the report released by the Department of Justice Inspector General entitled “A review of the FBI’s involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq.”

Bush protesters, March 2007: Photo by Andrew Ciscel (CC)

“Some have suggested that the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody was simply the result of a few bad apples acting on their own. The report released today by the Department of Justice Inspector General is proof that that is simply not true.    » read more »

20 May 2008 -- A U.S. Justice Department report says Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raised concerns about controversial interrogation techniques other U.S. agencies used on terror suspects.

The report, issued Tuesday, describes frequent clashes between the FBI and the military and Central Intelligence Agency over interrogation methods used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Guantanamo protest, Washington, D.C.: Photo by Keith Ivey (CC)

It says the FBI raised concerns about questionable tactics including the use of snarling dogs and forced nudity.    » read more »

SAN FRANCISCO, 05/19/2008 – Motorola, Inc., Siemens Corp. and GlaxoSmithKline will collectively pay a $500,000 civil penalty for system failures that led to the release of trichloroethylene (TCE) into the public drinking water system in Scottsdale, Ariz., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice announced today.

The settlement resolves violations of the North Indian Bend Wash consent decree, filed in 2003, which occurred when TCE above contamination limits was released from the Miller Road Treatment Facility on two separate occasions, in October 2007 and January 2008.    » read more »

May 14, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to a request from U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL), Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip today announced the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s intention to hold an anti-gang training program this summer in Chicago, Illinois as a component of the Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Chicago gang graffiti: Photo by Samuel A. Love (CC)

Additionally, in today's meeting, Durbin pressed Filip for a greater commitment from DOJ and reiterated his request for Chicago to be included in the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative which would devote more federal resources to Chicago.    » read more »

Montana man’s history of committing sexual assaults on minors spans more than 25 years

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 – A child sex offender with multiple prior convictions for offenses against children has been sentenced to life in prison on both counts for which he was convicted, to run concurrently, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Timothy J. Fuhrman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Division, announced today.    » read more »

Falsely Told Customers He Could Provide a Defense to Criminal Tax Charges

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 – A California-based tax scam promoter, Steven Hempfling, has been permanently barred by a federal court in Fresno, Calif., from selling a tax fraud scheme that falsely claims to give customers a legal defense against criminal prosecutions for income tax evasion, the Justice Department announced today.

In selling the scheme, Hempfling falsely advised customers that the federal income tax is invalid because the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was never ratified. For many years, federal courts have repeatedly held that such claims are legally frivolous and imposed fines and other sanctions against those who continue to assert them.    » read more »

Tax Preparer Allegedly Fabricated Education Credits & Various Deductions to Secure Fraudulent Refunds for Customers

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 – Lilia A. Gomez of Hialeah, Fla., was barred by a federal court today from preparing federal income tax returns for others. Gomez operated tax return preparation businesses under the names Tax Prep Inc., 1 Tax Prep Inc. and TFD Services Inc. Judge Patricia Seitz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued the permanent injunction order against Gomez and her businesses. Gomez consented to the court order.    » read more »

March 17, 2008 -- Today, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report entitled “Audit of the Department of Justice’s Consolidated Terrorist Watchlist Nominations Processes.” The report references many of the effective practices used by the FBI in the terrorist-screening process. In response, FBI Assistant Director John Miller made the following statement:

“We are working with the Department of Justice and our partner agencies to evaluate the OIG’s recommendations to ensure the proper balance between national security protection and the need for accurate, efficient, and streamlined watchlisting processes.    » read more »

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008, WASHINGTON – Dr. Lucien A. Moolenaar II, DDS, former acting commissioner of the Virgin Islands Department of Health, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after having been found guilty on charges of stealing government funds, grand larceny and making false statements, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Jenkins of the District of the Virgin Islands announced today.    » read more »

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008, WASHINGTON - Acculab Laboratories and its president/owner, Joseph T. DeGregorio, have agreed to pay the United States $461,000 to settle allegations that Acculab submitted false claims to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that the Sarasota, Fla.-based company, at the direction of DeGregorio, submitted claims to Medicare for laboratory services that were not ordered, were not provided, were not medically necessary or were improperly unbundled.    » read more »

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008, WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced that it has settled a Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the Georgetown County, S.C., Board of Education. The Justice Department simultaneously filed a complaint and negotiated consent decree pertaining to the method of election for the Georgetown County Board of Education.    » read more »