Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

The United States filed a civil injunction suit seeking to bar a Tampa, Florida, man from owning, operating or franchising a tax return preparation business and from preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced on May 5. The complaint also requests that the court order the defendant to disgorge the fees that he obtained through alleged fraudulent tax return preparation.

BNP Paribas S.A. (BNPP), a global financial institution headquartered in Paris, was sentenced Friday for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) by processing billions of dollars of transactions through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions.

Two federal indictments were unsealed on April 30 in the Southern District of Florida charging two Miami area tax return preparers with aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Former Puerto Rico Police Officers Jimmy Rodriguez Vega and David Colon Martinez were sentenced on May 1 for civil rights and obstruction of justice violations related to the fatal beating of Jose Luis Irizarry Perez, 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez of the District of Puerto Rico and Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI San Juan Field Office. Rodriguez Vega was sentenced to serve 33 months months in prison for violating Irizarry Perez’s civil rights by striking him with a police baton during the incident, and Colon Martinez was sentenced to serve 24 months for making false statements to a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and to the federal grand jury during the federal civil rights investigation.

Flora Magdaline Mendes, 37, of Hitchin Road, Luton, was convicted in her absence at Luton Magistrates’ Court on 4 offences of providing unregulated immigration advice.

Kolon Industries Inc., a South Korean industrial company, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to conspiracy to steal trade secrets involving E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.’s (DuPont) Kevlar technology. The company was sentenced to pay $85 million in criminal fines and $275 million in restitution.

Chad Ducey, 39, of Fishers, Indiana, pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel incentives. His two brothers, Chris Ducey, 48, of North Webster, Indiana, and Craig Ducey, 44, of Fishers, pleaded guilty last week for their roles in the same scheme. The Ducey brothers operated E-biofuels LLC, from a facility in Middletown, Indiana.

A U.S. citizen charged in connection with the operation of a series of fraudulent business opportunities based in Costa Rica pleaded guilty in Miami, the Justice Department announced on April 29.

A Smiths Creek, Michigan, resident who specialized in repairing classic and rare cars was convicted by a federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan of one count of tax evasion and four counts of failure to file income tax returns on April 29, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

A Cranston, Rhode Island, man was sentenced to prison for tax fraud in the District of Rhode Island on April 28, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.