Indian Government Officials Provided Access to Terror Defendant David Headley

by admin on 10. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

As part of the cooperation and partnership between the United States and India in the fight against international terrorism, Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Coleman Headley, the Justice Department announced today.

Mr. Headley and his counsel agreed to the meetings and Headley answered the Indian investigators’ questions over the course of seven days of interviews. There were no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators. To protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by both India and the United States, both countries have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews.

Headley pleaded guilty on March 18, 2010 in the Northern District of Illinois to 12 federal terrorism charges, admitting that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as later planning to attack a Danish newspaper.

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Three Upstate New York Men Sentenced to Prison for Environmental Crimes

by admin on 09. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

Three men, a father and two sons, were sentenced to prison today in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., for multiple violations of asbestos-related environmental laws, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resource Division, and Richard S. Hartunian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.

Paul Mancuso was sentenced to 78 months in prison, three years of probation and a $20,000 fine. Steven Mancuso was sentenced to 44 months in prison and three years of probation. Lester Mancuso, the father, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and three years of probation. The three men were sentenced today by Frederick Scullin, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of New York.

After a two-week trial on Oct. 28, 2009, a jury found brothers, Paul and Steven Mancuso guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States, violating the Clean Air Act’s asbestos-related regulations, illegally dumping asbestos in Poland, N.Y, and committing mail fraud. Lester Mancuso pleaded guilty the day before the trial started. Ronald Mancuso, who cooperated with the investigation and prosecution, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2010. (more…)

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Cincinnati Area Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Tax Crimes

by admin on 08. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

Idrissa Bassoum, a former resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, pleaded guilty today in federal district court in Cincinnati to aiding in the filing of false tax returns for others and filing his own false tax return, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Bassoum has been held since his arrest on March 18, 2010.

According to court documents, Bassoum began offering tax preparation services under the name Bassoum’s Consulting Service (BCS) in February 2003, operating out of his residence and catering primarily to immigrants. Bassoum prepared and electronically filed tax returns for his clients that included inflated or fictitious expense deductions, such as moving expenses, which resulted in his clients claiming fraudulent tax refunds.

Bassoum took his fees out of his clients’ fraudulent refunds. Despite preparing hundreds of tax returns for his clients during tax years 2003 and 2004, Bassoum failed to report any of his fee income on his personal tax returns. Bassoum received at least $69,915 in unreported fee income during tax year 2004 and $80,771 in unreported fee income during tax year 2005. (more…)

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Ship Management Firm Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced for Violating Federal Pollution Law

by admin on 07. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

Cooperative Success Maritime S.A., the operator of the M/T Chem Faros, a 21,145 gross-ton ocean-going cargo ship that regularly transported cargo between foreign ports and the United States, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and to making material false statements, the Justice Department announced.

U.S. District Court Judge James C. Dever III for the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced the company to pay a $850,000 penalty of which $150,000 will be paid to the congressionally-created National Fish and Wildlife Fund as a community service payment. The judge also sentenced the company to serve five years of probation, during which time they will implement an environmental compliance plan.

Federal and international law requires that all ships comply with pollution regulations requiring the proper disposal of oily waste water and sludge by passing the oily waste through an oil-water separator (OWS) aboard the vessel or burning the sludge in the ship’s incinerator. Federal law also requires the ship’s crew to record accurately in an oil record book (ORB) each transfer or disposal of oily waste water and sludge. These laws are designed to prevent pollution of ocean waters. (more…)

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Fifth New Orleans Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Danziger Bridge Case

by admin on 04. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

Former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Officer Ignatius Hills pleaded guilty today in federal court to misprision of a felony and to conspiring with fellow officers to obstruct justice by covering up a police-involved shooting that occurred on the Danziger Bridge in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

The conviction was announced today by Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and David Welker, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office.

On Sept. 4, 2005, Hills was one of several officers who rode in a large Budget rental truck to the Danziger Bridge, where officers engaged in two shooting incidents that left two civilians dead and four others seriously injured. According to court documents, officers first arrived on the east side of the bridge, where they fired at the group of civilians who were walking to a supermarket to get food and supplies. One of the civilians was killed, and four members of a family were severely wounded. Officers then traveled to the west side of the bridge, where they encountered Lance and Ronald Madison, who were crossing the bridge on their way to the dentistry office of one of their other brothers. An officer shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man with severe mental and physical disabilities. Officers then arrested Lance Madison and charged him with eight counts of attempted murder of a police officer. (more…)

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Border Patrol Agent Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violation

by admin on 03. Jun, 2010 in Legal News

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eduardo Moreno pleaded guilty today in federal court in Tucson, Ariz., to a federal criminal civil rights charge for assaulting a Mexican national who was in his custody, the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced today. Sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 12, 2010.

The underlying incident occurred on May 10, 2006, while Moreno was on duty at the U.S. Border Patrol Processing Center in Nogales, Ariz. During the plea proceedings and in documents filed in court, Moreno admitted that while escorting the victim at the center, he kicked the victim, struck him in the stomach with a baton, threw him down to ground, and punched him, all without any legitimate law enforcement reason to use force. As a result of the defendant’s actions, the victim suffered bodily injury.

“We place a great deal of trust in federal law enforcement officers, and the Civil Rights Division will aggressively prosecute any officer who violates the rights of others and abuses the power they are given to perform their critical duties,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. (more…)

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