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Former KPMG partner Scott London pleaded guilty this morning to a federal charge of securities fraud through insider trading.

A Jersey City, New Jersey contractor admitted that he bribed a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official so that two companies with which he was affiliated could obtain favorable treatment from the VA, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.

The day after the Senate passed a disappointing immigration reform bill, the U.S. government agreed to pay over $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees in the historic Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit NDLON v. ICE. Rights groups brought the case in 2010 to force the government to turn over documents about the so-called Secure Communities (SCOMM) program. Since its rollout in 2008, SCOMM has spread nationwide, over the protests of local and state leaders, and contributed to the Obama administration’s widely criticized, record-setting deportation numbers.

Scott N. Powers, the former CEO of Arizona-based mortgage loan originator American Mortgage Specialists Inc. (AMS), and David McMaster, a former officer of AMS, were sentenced to serve 96 and 188 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a $28 million scheme to defraud North Dakota-based BNC National Bank (BNC).

A federal jury convicted four individuals for their participation in a Medicare fraud scheme involving nearly $70 million in fraudulent billings by Hollywood Pavilion (HP), a mental health care hospital.

Kevin Richard Halligen, 51, an Irish citizen, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for carrying out a scheme in which he defrauded $2.1 million from a Netherlands-based commodities trading company, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

The Justice Department announced that a federal jury convicted Michael Smith, 38, a former corrections officer of the Alabama Department of Corrections, of two civil rights violations and five obstruction of justice-related violations in connection with the beating death of former inmate Rocrast Mack.

United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that Hussein Chery pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of access device fraud. Chery faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each mail fraud count and up to 10 years in federal prison for the access device fraud count.

Former Pontiac City Councilman Everett Seay was sentenced to 26 months in prison for accepting bribes, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.

Roger L. Baeza, 31, of Jal, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to 78 counts of securities fraud, one count of access device fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales; Carol K.O. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque Division of the FBI; and Chief Robert W. Shilling of the New Mexico State Police.