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A former Denver attorney has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to financial fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today. Prosecutors from Grissom’s office are serving as special counsel on the case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Denver.

Amine Mohamed El-Khalifi, a 29-year-old resident of Alexandria, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, in connection with his efforts to carry out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Capitol building in February 2012 as part of what he intended to be a terrorist operation.

Mendy Gorodetsky and Shalom Rabkin, both residents of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York to tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 39, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for her role in obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GARY ORTIZ, a former New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for engaging in a scheme involving the illegal interstate transport of firearms and stolen goods. ORTIZ was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

Natacia Webster, an employee of the state of Alabama, pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false claims, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

Michael J. Schlager, 51, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for his role in a fraud conspiracy that caused the Bank of Lancaster County (BLC), which was chartered in 1863 and is one of the five oldest banking organizations in the country, to cease its independent existence. Schlager was a senior vice president at Equipment Finance LLC (EFI), when he and seven co-defendants engaged in a sophisticated loan fraud scheme that caused losses of approximately $53 million at EFI.

James Farnell, a resident of Boca Raton, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Farnell was previously indicted on April 19, 2012.

Michael Wayne Davis, II, 46, of Raleigh, North Carolina, formerly of Eagle, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Boise to wire fraud and filing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson and Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division Kathryn Keneally announced.

Stephen Thomas of York, Pa., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.