Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

The United States, on July 12, extradited Andres Felipe Arias Leiva, who served as Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2005 to 2009, to face a prison sentence in that country based on a 2014 conviction by the Supreme Court of Colombia for two offenses committed while Arias served in public office.

A computer software development company owner pleaded guilty to failing to account for and pay over employment taxes withheld from his employees’ wages, on July 8 announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney R. Trent Shores for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Michael H. Higa, the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and controller of several engineering businesses, was sentenced to 40 months in prison in Honolulu, Hawaii, on July 2, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenji M. Price for the District of Hawaii.

A Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resident was sentenced to 21 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns, on July 1, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Matthew G. T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.

A Winston-Salem, North Carolina, resident was sentenced to 21 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns, on July 1, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Matthew G. T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Wagdy A. Guirguis, owner of several engineering businesses, was sentenced to five years in prison in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 28, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney Kenji M. Price for the District of Hawaii.

A federal grand jury in Madison, Wisconsin, indicted a La Crosse, Wisconsin, dentist for tax evasion, on June 27, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Scott C. Blader for the Western District of Wisconsin.

A former Venezuelan government minister and a former officer at Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company, on June 27th, Corporación Eléctrica Nacional, S.A. (Corpoelec), were charged in an indictment returned for their alleged roles in laundering the proceeds of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with their alleged receipt of bribes to award Corpoelec business to U.S.-based companies.

A doctor who practiced in New Jersey and Pennsylvania was charged in an indictment unsealed for his alleged participation in a scheme to receive bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing large volumes of a powerful fentanyl narcotic, on June 25.

TechnipFMC plc (TFMC), a publicly traded company in the United States and a global provider of oil and gas services, and its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Technip USA, Inc. (Technip USA), have agreed to pay a combined total criminal fine of more than $296 million to resolve foreign bribery charges with authorities in the United States and Brazil.