Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

A Colorado business owner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impair and impede the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for his role in a $7.2 million renewable fuel tax credit scheme, on August 8, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

The Justice Department on August 7 announced that Richard A. Olsen agreed to pay $124,440 to resolve claims that he violated the False Claims Act by submitting inflated prices in connection with a subcontract between Mission Support Alliance, LLC (MSA), a prime contractor at the Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and Lockheed Martin Services, Inc. (LMSI), a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC).

The former Minister of Industry of Barbados was arrested Friday and had his initial court appearance in connection on August 6 with an indictment charging him with laundering bribes that he allegedly received from a Barbadian insurance company in exchange for official actions he took to secure government contracts for the insurance company.

A federal grand jury has returned an indictment, which was unsealed, charging a Roanoke, Virginia tax return preparer with aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and filing a false personal tax return, on August 3, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen for the Western District of Virginia.

William Beaumont Hospital, a regional hospital system based in the Detroit, Michigan area, will pay $84.5 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act of improper relationships with eight referring physicians, resulting in the submission of false claims to the Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE programs, the Justice Department announced on August 2.

The Justice Department, on August 1, announced that Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and several of its affiliates (Wells Fargo) will pay a civil penalty of $2.09 billion under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) based on the bank’s alleged origination and sale of residential mortgage loans that it knew contained misstated income information and did not meet the quality that Wells Fargo represented.

A dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen who controlled multiple companies was arrested on foreign bribery charges for conspiring to make, and making, on July 31, corrupt payments to an official of Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), in exchange for favorable business treatment with PDVSA.

A federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Michigan, on July 31, returned an indictment charging a Walled Lake, Michigan restaurant owner with 24 counts of failing to account for and pay over employment taxes and one count of willful failure to file an income tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

United States Attorney Mike Stuart, on July 31, announced that former West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Menis E. Ketchum II, age 75, was charged by Information with wire fraud. Justice Ketchum served as a Supreme Court Justice from January 1, 2008 through July 27, 2018.

A Coral Springs, Florida, tire retailer was sentenced in the Southern District of Florida for conspiracy to defraud the Government, on July 26, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida.