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A former bank officer admitted his role in soliciting and accepting bribes in connection with financial transactions, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jose Dominguez, 46, of Newark, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with soliciting and accepting bribes as a bank officer in excess of $1,000. Dominguez solicited and accepted corrupt payments of $55,529, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with a bank transaction. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court.

Brandon Jewell-Wright, 25, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was charged by information with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, bank fraud, and aiding and abetting bank fraud, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.

William P. Danielczyk, Jr. was sentenced to 28 months in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally reimbursing $186,600 in contributions to the senate and presidential campaign committees of a candidate for federal office and then obstructing the subsequent law enforcement investigation.

The U.S. Justice Department issued a findings letter detailing the results of its investigation into the use of solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illness at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Cresson in Cambria County, Pa. The department found that Cresson’s use of long-term and extreme forms of solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illness, many of whom also have intellectual disabilities, violates their rights under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Former Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos faces federal prison time after a jury convicted him of federal charges related to a bribery and extortion scheme in South Texas, announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Armando Fernandez, San Antonio Division.

Manssor Arbabsiar, aka “Mansour Arbabsiar,” was sentenced in New York City federal court to 25 years in prison for participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. while the ambassador was in the U.S., announced John Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division at the Department of Justice and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Following a two-week jury trial, F. Harvey Whittemore, a prominent lawyer and former lobbyist in Nevada, was convicted of making unlawful campaign contributions to a Senate campaign committee in 2007 and causing a false statement to be made to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Ralph M. Mariano, of Warwick, Rhode Island, a former senior systems engineer with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Newport, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence, Rhode Island, to conspiracy and to defrauding the U.S. government of between $7 million and $20 million by directing co-conspirators to bill the navy for work that was never performed, announced Peter F. Neronha, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island.

A former senior partner at the accounting firm KPMG LLP has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud for his involvement in an insider trading scheme in which he provided confidential information to a man who paid him with cash bribes and luxury items.

Total, S.A., a French oil and gas company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has agreed to pay a $245.2 million monetary penalty to resolve charges related to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with illegal payments made through third parties to a government official in Iran to obtain valuable oil and gas concessions, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern of Virginia.