Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

A former Highland Park police officer was sentenced to prison for taking a $10,000 bribe and for conspiring with three other police officers to protect shipments of cocaine, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced.

Jeffrey E. Thompson pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from a scheme in which he and his companies secretly channeled more than $3.3 million in illegal contributions to at least 28 political candidates and their campaigns, including people running for the offices of president of the United States and mayor of the District of Columbia.

Frederic Cilins, 51, a French citizen, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to obstructing a federal criminal investigation into whether a mining company paid bribes to win lucrative mining rights in the Republic of Guinea.

The United States has sued The Tax Helper Corp, a tax preparation business with a store located in Chicago, and seeks to permanently bar the company and its alleged co-owner, Johnnie Pernell Jr., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced.

On Feb. 26, 2014, a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia returned a 17 count indictment charging Sherri Davis, previous owner and operator of 2FT Fast Facts Tax Service, a tax return preparation business located in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns and filing false individual income tax returns, the Justice Department and IRS announced following the unsealing of Davis’ indictment.

A former owner and operator of a Florida-based airline fuel supply service company pleaded guilty to participating in a kickback scheme to defraud Illinois-based Ryan International Airlines, a charter airline company located in Rockford, Ill., the Department of Justice announced.

Ranti Azeez-Taiwo of Staten Island, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Azeez-Taiwo was also ordered to pay $24,802 in restitution. On Sept. 30, 2013, a federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted Azeez-Taiwo of 16 counts of aiding or assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns for clients.

The Department of Justice has frozen more than $458 million in corruption proceeds hidden in bank accounts around the world by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and conspirators. A civil forfeiture complaint unsealed n the United States District Court in the District of Columbia seeks recovery of more than $550 million in connection with the largest kleptocracy forfeiture action brought in the department’s history.

A federal jury in San Francisco has found two individuals and one company guilty of economic espionage, theft of trade secrets, bankruptcy fraud, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice for their roles in a long-running effort to obtain U.S. trade secrets for the benefit of companies controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), announced U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag

In Del Rio this afternoon, 35-year-old Hipolito Amaya, owner of AM-ROD Construction based in Eagle Pass, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in connection with an alleged bribery, kickback, and bid-rigging scheme in Maverick County, announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Acting FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse.