Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia and Under Secretary Eric L. Hirschhorn of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced Wednesday that Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. (SOHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Schlumberger Ltd., has agreed to enter a guilty plea and to pay a $232,708,356 penalty to the United States for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by willfully facilitating illegal transactions and engaging in trade with Iran and Sudan.

On March 25, a federal jury convicted a man from Lewis Center, Ohio, and his business partner of Powell, Ohio, of defrauding their company’s investors and diverting investors’ funds for their own personal use. Preston Harrison and his wife, Lovena E. Harrison, 42, were also both convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and filing a false income tax return, and Lovena Harrison was convicted of structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements.

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment charging a Brooklyn on March 25, New York, tax return preparer with 31 counts of 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.

The United States has sued a former attorney and certified public accountant to bar him from promoting and implementing tax fraud schemes and preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced on March 23.

The former principal vice president of Bechtel Corporation and general manager of a joint venture operated by Bechtel and an Egyptian utility company was sentenced to 42 months in prison for accepting $5.2 million in kickbacks to manipulate the competitive bidding process for state-run power contracts in Egypt on March 23.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company has agreed to pay $44 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that it knowingly issued insurance policies that were ineligible under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) federal crop insurance program and falsified documents, the Justice Department announced on March 23. Fireman’s Fund, an Allianz SE subsidiary headquartered in Novato, California, provides personal and commercial property insurance throughout the United States.

In March 2012, during an investigation into the Grape Street Crips, members of the New Haven Safe Streets Task Force executed a number of search warrants, including one for the above residence of the gang’s leader, Donald Ogman. Investigators found crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and other illegal items.

The former global head of liquidity and finance for Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank) has waived extradition and appeared in U.S. federal court for an arraignment on charges related to his alleged role in a scheme to manipulate the U.S. Dollar (USD) and Yen London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), a benchmark interest rate on March 20.

A former resident of North Bellmore, New York, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Long Island to one count of tax evasion and one count of filing a false federal income tax return, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division on March 19.

Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation (Adventist) has agreed to pay $5,412,502 to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by providing radiation oncology services to Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries that were not directly supervised by radiation oncologists or similarly qualified persons, the Department of Justice announced on March 19. Adventist is a non-profit healthcare organization operating a large network of hospitals in the South and the Midwest, and doing business in Florida as Florida Hospital.