New York Paralegal

Firefighter Tormented by Sexual and Religious Harassment & Disciplined in Retaliation for Participating in Another Firefighter’s Discrimination Proceeding LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Fire Department will pay $494,150 and implement widespread anti-harassment training to settle federal charges of discrimination filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Daniel Phillips Sentenced to 10 Years In Prison For Setting Major Fire in Residential Building Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of DANIEL PHILLIPS, 32, to 10 years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision, as well as $10,000 in restitution. On November 1, 2010, the defendant was convicted at trial on charges of Arson in the Second Degree, Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree, and Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, for starting a fire at 410 West 48th Street, a six-story apartment building with approximately 71 residents.

Clarence Jenkins Charged with Accepting Forged Documents to Issue Driver Licenses Unlawfully Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and New York State Inspector General Ellen N. Biben announced the indictment of CLARENCE JENKINS, 56, a clerk at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”), for unlawfully processing applications for New York State driver licenses to three individuals, including at least one deported felon who illegally returned to the country, after accepting forged driver licenses purportedly issued by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that JENKINS knew were forgeries. JENKINS is charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, Issuing a False Certificate, and Official Misconduct.

Federal Court Issues ‘Extraordinary Remedy’ in Class Male-on-Male Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suit Filed Against Albuquerque Car Dealership ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Pitre Inc., a car dealership in Albuquerque, N.M., was barred on January 26, 2012 by the U.S. District Court from threatening or retaliating against current and former employees who participate in the employment discrimination lawsuit filed against it by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC filed a motion for a preliminary injunction due to the immediate danger of “substantial and irreparable injury” to charging parties, class members, witnesses, and potential class members due to intimidation.

Company Ignored Years of Sexual Harassment by Manager, Agency Charged NEW YORK – Suffolk Laundry Services, Inc. created a sexually hostile work environment for female laundry workers over the course of many years and then retaliated against these women when they complained, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a federal lawsuit it filed today. The Southampton, N.Y.-based commercial laundry service provides linens to various establishments, including restaurants and hospitals on Long Island.

Power Supplier Fired Jehovah’s Witness for Wanting One Day Off to Attend Religious Convention, Federal Agency Charges FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corporation, an electric power supplier located in Fayetteville, Ark., violated federal law by firing an employee because of her religious practices, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced the conviction of JONATHAN GONZALES-ALVAREZ, 23, for fatally stabbing a security guard at a restaurant and bar in Washington Heights after the bar’s employees asked him to quiet down. A jury in New York State Supreme Court found GONZALES-ALVAREZ guilty of all of the charges in the indictment: Murder in the Second Degree and Gang Assault in the First Degree. The defendant will be sentenced on February 15, 2012.

Pending Inventory Reduced for First Time in 10 Years, Record Amount of Relief Obtained in FY 2011, EEOC Reports WASHINGTON—The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination and obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program and litigation in Fiscal Year 2011, the agency announced today. For the second year in a row, despite a record number of receipts, the Commission resolved more charges than it took in with 112,499 resolutions (7,500 more resolutions than FY 2010—an increase of 7%)—leaving 78,136 pending charges, a ten percent decrease in its inventory, the first year the agency has seen a reduction since 2002.

Kevin Clor Accused of Submitting 150 Bogus Receipts for CLE Classes, Legal Reference Materials Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of KEVIN CLOR, 40, for stealing more than $211,000 from the New York State Thruway Employees Local 72 (the “Union”) and for submitting forged receipts for reimbursement. CLOR was indicted on two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, 16 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, and 16 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.

Defendant Fabricated Resisting Arrest Charge Michael Daragjati, an eight-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, pleaded guilty today to violating an African-American victim’s civil rights by charging him with resisting arrest knowing that there was no probable cause to support that charge. Daragjati also pleaded guilty to attempting to violently extort property from another victim. The guilty pleas were entered before United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II, at the U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn. As part of his plea agreement, Daragjati will not oppose termination of his employment by the NYPD and has agreed never to apply for a job in law enforcement in the future. Daragjati faces a maximum sentence of 21 years’ imprisonment.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General in Charge of the Civil Rights Division; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned an indictment charging four East Haven Police officers with conspiring to violate, and violating, the civil rights of members of the East Haven community. This morning, Sergeant JOHN MILLER and Officers DAVID CARI, DENNIS SPAULDING, and JASON ZULLO were arrested without incident. The indictment was unsealed today.

HOUSTON – A Houston-area restaurant chain violated federal law when it subjected its bartenders to sexual harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. The EEOC also alleged that the company subjected the workers to retaliation after they complained about the misconduct.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of AARON HAND, 40, to Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First and Second Degrees for conspiring to murder a witness who testified against him at his 2010 trial, at which he was convicted of masterminding a $100 million mortgage fraud. HAND will be sentenced on February 6, 2012. This sentence will run consecutively with the 8 1/3-to-25 years that HAND is currently serving on his mortgage fraud conviction.

The Paralegal Association of Rochester is hosting a seminar luncheon on cyber-bullying. Erica DiRenzo, Esq. from Hiscock & Barclay Wednesday, February 29, 2012 Noon at the Powers Building, 8th Floor Conference Room, 16 W. Main Street. Click here for more information.

Dear Volunteers, CUNY Citizenship Now! is excited to announce our next citizenship event on Saturday, February 4th. Our weekend events truly highlight the dedication of volunteers like you and are an integral part of our core mission at CUNY Citizenship Now! Join us at our next event sponsored by Assembly Member Nelson L. Castro and the Office of International Student Services of Bronx Community College. The event will take place at Bronx Community College and will be our first event of 2012 in the Bronx. We have had a great turnout in our previous events in Queens and Manhattan, and we hope to assist just as many, if not more people, as we make our way around the five boroughs this year. To attend this event, please click on the appropriate button below. Please note that you must RSVP using the link in this email in order to volunteer at this event. Due to constraints on capacity, we are no longer able to accommodate walk-in volunteers. We hope to see you ther...

A new Advanced Paralegal Certification (APC) course in Commercial Bankruptcy under Chapters 7 and 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code is now available to paralegals seeking advanced certification in this specialty practice area.

Douglas Arnsten Charged With Stealing More Than $7 Million From Client Before Fleeing to Hong Kong Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the arraignment of DOUGLAS ARNSTEN, 34, a real estate attorney, for embezzling more than $7 million from a client of the Manhattan law firm Crowell & Moring, where he was formerly employed. With the assistance of officers from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and U.S. Marshals Service, ARNSTEN was returned to New York earlier today. The defendant has been charged in New York County Criminal Court with two counts of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.[1]

CHICAGO—A former Chicago lawyer was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for engaging in mortgage and bankruptcy fraud schemes involving a so-called “mortgage bailout” program that purported to “rescue” financially distressed homeowners but instead tricked victims into relinquishing title to their homes and declaring bankruptcy. The defendant, Norton Helton, participated in at least 102 fraudulent mortgage bailout transactions and more than a dozen fraudulent bankruptcies in 2004 and 2005. He was ordered to pay more than $3.2 million in mandatory restitution to various lenders and financial institutions that were not repaid by the borrowers or fully recovered through subsequent foreclosure sales, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Company Refused to Hire Blacks as Deckhands, Federal Agency Charged MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Choctaw Transportation Company, Inc., a marine construction and transportation company located in Dyersburg, Tenn., will pay $75,000 to an African-American job applicant to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), today announced charges against seven investment professionals, who worked at three different hedge funds and two other investment firms, for engaging in a scheme in which they provided each other with material, non-public information (“Inside Information”) about two publicly traded technology companies, Dell, Inc. (“Dell”) and NVIDIA (“NVDA”).

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SOLOMON KALISH, a health care consultant, pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to bribing New York State Senator Carl Kruger. KALISH pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

Company’s Former Use of Criminal Background Checks Discriminated Based On Race, Agency Found MINNEAPOLIS – Pepsi Beverages (Pepsi), formerly known as Pepsi Bottling Group, has agreed to pay $3.13 million and provide job offers and training to resolve a charge of race discrimination filed in the Minneapolis Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The monetary settlement will primarily be divided among black applicants for positions at Pepsi, with a portion of the sum being allocated for the administration of the claims process. Based on the investigation, the EEOC found reasonable cause to believe that the criminal background check policy formerly used by Pepsi discriminated against African Americans in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A former Gerber Boy Scout Camp director was sentenced to 95 years in federal prison for filming young boys dressing in a YMCA locker room and for a having a massive collection of child pornography. The sentence is the result of an extensive investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Following a three-day trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn today returned a verdict convicting Genovese Organized Crime Family associate Frank DiMattina, also known as “Frankie D” and “Frankie Ariana,” of Hobbs Act extortion and a related firearms charge.

PHILADELPHIA –Matrix, L.L.C., one of the region’s largest cleaning companies, will pay $450,000 to a class of 15 former employees and provide significant relief to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. In the lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that Matrix officials told white supervisor Barbara Palermi not to hire any more black cleaners to work at a client’s site in Concordville, Pa. When Palermi hired additional black cleaners based on their qualifications to do the job, Matrix dismissed her in retaliation for opposing the company’s racial discrimination. The EEOC alleged that Matrix management officials also discriminated against the African-American cleaners, telling them to sit in the back of the cafeteria during break times and later disallowing them from using the cafeteria at all for their breaks. Matrix later fired all of the employees at the worksite and replaced them with ...

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RICHARD LIPSKY, a lobbyist, pled guilty today to two counts of bribing former New York State Senator Carl Kruger. LIPSKY pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROBERT AQUINO, the former chief executive officer of Parkway Hospital in Queens, pled guilty today to bribing former New York State Senator Carl Kruger. AQUINO pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

Despite Earlier Consent Decree Barring Religious Discrimination and Retaliation, Security Guard Fired After Complaining of Coworker’s Threat, Federal Agency Charges NEW YORK – Grand Central Partnership, Inc. (GCP), a not-for-profit developer of real estate, offices, and facilities around the Grand Central Terminal area in New York, violated a consent decree and committed new illegal acts when it fired a black Rastafarian security officer in retaliation for his complaints about threats of violence and racism, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed Friday.