New York Paralegal

CHRISTOPHER DALY and MICHAEL ABREU, two former executives at the Sheldrake Organization (“Sheldrake”), a real estate development and management company, were sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 15 months and one year and one day in prison, respectively, for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently obtain $2.2 million from a foreign-owned bank (the “Lender”).

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Mary Galligan, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Ronald J. Knapp, the Chief of the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department, and Adrian H. Anderson, the Dutchess County Sheriff, announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging 11 defendants with conspiracy to distribute heroin in and around Poughkeepsie, New York.

HONOLULU - A Panda Express restaurant, part of the giant Chinese fast-food chain, subjected a class of female employees, including teenagers, to sexual harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit filed in Hawaii yesterday.

JACKSON, Miss. - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) announced today that it has filed a lawsuit for race discrimination and retaliation against Dollar General Corporation, asserting that it violated federal law when it denied a black lead sales associate in a Long Beach, Miss., store a promotion to a vacant assistant store manager position because of her race. The EEOC said the store also retaliated against her for complaining, and filing a charge of discrimination with the EEOC.

SAN ANTONIO - A federal jury awarded $200,000 in punitive damages yesterday to three former employees of AA Foundries in a racial harassment lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Thomas O’Donnell, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), announced today the arrest of JOHN R. REYNOLDS, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital for Special Surgery (the “Hospital”), in connection with a decade-long kickback scheme involving $1.4 million in payments that he allegedly extorted or solicited from Hospital vendors, a Hospital employee, and a United Kingdom-based healthcare organization. REYNOLDS is also charged with making false statements to law enforcement. He was arrested this morning at his home in Massachusetts and is expected to appear later today in federal court in Boston.

A criminal complaint was unsealed in Brooklyn federal court today charging Ming Suan Zhang with attempting to illegally export thousands of pounds of aerospace-grade carbon fiber from the United States to China.1 According to the complaint, Zhang was arrested in the United States after trying to negotiate a deal to acquire the specialized carbon fiber, a high-tech material used frequently in the military, defense and aerospace industries, and is therefore closely regulated by the United States Department of Commerce to combat nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Zhang is scheduled to make his initial appearance today at 2:00 p.m. at the United States Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York, before United States Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon.

HOUSTON - Sandia Drilling Company, Ltd, L.L.P. and Sandia Drilling of Texas, L.L.C., Bossier City, La., oil drilling companies, violated federal anti-discrimination laws when their supervisors and other employees subjected two African-American and a Hispanic worker to a racially hostile work environment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. The companies also fired one discrimination victim in retaliation for complaining, the agency said.

By LUCILE SCOTT BROOKLYN (CN) - The New York Daily News defamed an innocent man by publishing his photo atop an article about a dentist who pleaded guilty to bilking Medicaid for $500,000, the pictured man claims in court.

Washington, D.C., Sept. 25, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based brokerage firm and three executives for allowing traders outside the U.S. to access the markets and conduct manipulative trading through accounts the firm controlled.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Mary Galligan, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned a superseding indictment today charging East Haven Police Officers David Cari, Dennis Spaulding, and Jason Zullo with conspiring to violate and violating the civil rights of members of the East Haven community.

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that SDS Fontana Holdings, Inc., which formerly did business as Scully Distribution Services, will pay $630,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit which alleged widespread harassment and discrimination against a class of African-American, Latino and East Indian workers, mostly truck drivers, in Northern and Southern California.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of JOEL LUCIANO, 30, a ringleader of a well-organized check fraud ring responsible for stealing at least $450,000 from more than 90 accounts at TD Bank. He was sentenced to 3-to-9 years in state prison. On August 28, 2012, LUCIANO pleaded guilty to the top charge of the indictment, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.

By SAM REYNOLDS DENVER (CN) - Three moviegoers who were shot at the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" say in Federal Court that better security could have prevented the massacre.

Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Tyco International Ltd. with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when subsidiaries arranged illicit payments to foreign officials in more than a dozen countries.

RAJIV GOEL, a former executive at Intel Corporation (“Intel”), was sentenced today to two years of probation for his participation in an insider trading scheme in which GOEL provided material, nonpublic information (“Inside Information”) about Intel to Raj Rajaratnam, the head of Galleon Group (“Galleon”). Rajaratnam then traded based, in part, on the Inside Information. GOEL pled guilty in February 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the government. He was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones.

OKLAHOMA CITY—Today, an 81-count federal indictment was unsealed charging 10 defendants with crimes involving an illegal gambling operation and the money laundering of proceeds derived from that operation, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma; Jim Finch, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Andrea D. Whelan, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation.

By DARRYL GREER GLENDALE, Calif. (CN) - He's seen fire and he's seen rain, but James Taylor claims in court that he hasn't seen nearly $2 million in royalty checks from Warner Bros.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James T. Hayes, Jr., the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (“ICE-HSI”), announced the unsealing yesterday of a six-count indictment charging 27 members of a Chinese alien smuggling and drug trafficking organization based in the Chinatown section of Brooklyn, New York with alien smuggling, narcotics, stolen property, and related offenses. Also filed were two complaints charging six additional defendants with attempted home invasion, and a third complaint charging two other defendants in connection with narcotics-related offenses. A total of 35 defendants were charged.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Mary Galligan, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that East Haven Police Sergeant JOHN MILLER, 43, pleaded guilty today, before Chief United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford, to violating an individual’s civil rights by using unreasonable force during the course of an arrest.

PHOENIX -- A federal judge ruled yesterday ruled in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that a Phoenix company that provides services to the disabled illegally discriminated against a hearing-impaired job applicant.

Ying Wai Phillip Ng and his wife, Pui Kuen Ng, each pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit mail fraud as part of a scheme to help non-English speakers cheat on the written commercial driver’s license (CDL) test offered by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Nelson Burtnick, who previously served as director of payments for Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker, pled guilty in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to commit unlawful Internet gambling, bank fraud, money laundering, and gambling offenses in connection with a scheme to deceive banks into processing hundreds of millions of dollars of Internet gambling transactions. Burtnick, a Canadian citizen and resident of Ireland, pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein.

DALLAS -- Hill Country Farms Inc., doing business as Henry's Turkey Service, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by paying 32 workers with intellectual disabilities severely substandard wages, a judge has ruled in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The court ordered the company, based in Goldthwaite, Texas, to pay its former employees lawful wages totaling $1.3 million for jobs they performed under contract at a turkey processing plant in West Liberty, Iowa between 2007 and 2009.

DENVER - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) won a victory in federal court in Denver yesterday afternoon in its employment discrimination lawsuit against major communications equipment retailer RadioShack. A unanimous jury of nine decided that RadioShack intentionally fired an employee in retaliation for his complaints about age discrimination.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Michael Dasaro and Gary Supper, two former Long Island Railroad (LIRR) employees, pled guilty to federal charges in connection with their participation in an alleged massive fraud scheme in which LIRR workers claimed to be disabled upon early retirement so that they could receive disability benefits to which they were not entitled. Dasaro and Supper each pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein.

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.

SAN ANTONIO - Dependable Health Services, Inc. (DHS), a San Antonio company which provides contract workers to U.S. military facilities, violated federal law when it fired an employee after she had an attack of Bell's palsy, a neurological disorder, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of GORDON FRANCIS, 54, for the murder of James Hawkins, who was found dead in his apartment in Chelsea in 1993. The case remained unsolved for 19 years, but investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York City Police Department’s Cold Case Squad re-interviewed witnesses and used new forensic techniques. The defendant is charged with Murder in the Second Degree.[1]

PHILADELPHIA—Joseph M. Braas, 46, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for his role in a fraud conspiracy that caused the Bank of Lancaster County, which was chartered in 1863 and is one of the five oldest banking organizations in the country, to cease its independent existence. As a result of the fraud, hundreds of jobs were lost. Braas was chief operating officer of Equipment Finance LLC (EFI), when he and his co-defendants—Michael J. Schlager, Mary C. Stankiewicz, Misty L. Kroesen, Curtis A. Kroesen, John Wiley Spann, Harold W. Young, and John S. Tomberlin—engaged in a sophisticated loan fraud scheme that caused losses of approximately $53 million at EFI. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond also ordered Braas to pay restitution in the amount of $53 million.

MIAMI – Four individuals were arrested in Naples, Fla., Aug. 31, for conspiring to commit immigration fraud. These arrests resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Professional Responsibility, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Collier County Sheriff's Office.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - US Foods, Inc., formerly known as U.S. Foodservice, Inc., a Rosemont, Ill.-based food product distributor, will pay $165,000 and furnish other relief to settle a race 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 Mary Galligan, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced that Michael McManus pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to committing four bank robberies on the Lower East Side of Manhattan earlier this year. McManus, who was arrested in April 2012—one day after his final robbery—pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman.

JACKSONVILLE, FL—U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard yesterday sentenced Steven Beumel (49, Jacksonville) to 30 years in federal prison for one count of tampering with a consumer product resulting in death, four counts of tampering with a consumer product resulting in serious bodily injury, and five counts of stealing Fentanyl by deception.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced the sentencing of MARQUIS PHILLIPS, 36, to 78-years-to-life in state prison for robbing a woman in an elevator, before dragging her into stairwells within her East Harlem apartment building and sexually assaulting her. On August 10, 2012, the defendant was convicted by a jury in New York State Supreme Court of five counts of Predatory Sexual Assault and one count each of Burglary in the First Degree as Sexually Motivated Felony, Robbery in the Second Degree, and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.

TRENTON, NJ—Trenton Mayor Tony F. Mack; the mayor’s brother, Ralphiel Mack; and his close associate, Joseph A. “JoJo” Giorgianni, were arrested by federal agents this morning and charged by criminal complaint in connection with a scheme to extort payments of more than $100,000 from others who were purportedly developing a public parking garage, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

DOLORES TEJADA and NORMA JIMENEZ, Manhattan-based tax preparers, pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to charges related to their participation in a scheme to file false tax returns using stolen identities. TEJADA and JIMENEZ pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - Trinity Medical Center in Rock Island, Ill., violated federal law when it permitted the sexual harassment of an employee and then fired her for complaining about it, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of SAM CHIHLUNG YIN, 35, to 2-to-6 years in state prison for tampering with the corporate computer network of Gucci America, Inc. (“Gucci”), the Manhattan-based American affiliate of the Italian luxury goods retailer. On July 18, 2012, the defendant pleaded guilty to Computer Tampering in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of Computer Related Materials.

Washington, D.C., Sept. 7, 2012 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that New York-based investment advisory firm ICP Asset Management and its founder and president Thomas C. Priore have agreed to settle the agency’s charges that they defrauded several collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) they managed.

NEW YORK- Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the felony conviction of fake "plastic surgeon" Carlos Arango. In a felony complaint filed in April 2012, the Attorney General charged Carlos Arango and William Ordonez, who are not licensed doctors, along with licensed physician Marlon Castillo, for allegedly performing cosmetic surgeries on women without general anesthesia and leaving them permanently disfigured as a result.

By JOSEPH CELENTINO CHICAGO (CN) - School officials may be liable for firing a math teacher who brought criminal charges after a student threatened to stab him, the 7th Circuit ruled.

ATLANTA - A 37-year-old Douglasville, Ga., man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty of six counts of human trafficking, two counts of aggravated child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes and pandering by compulsion.

LEXINGTON, N.C. - A Lexington, N.C., restaurant violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment, retaliating against her by reducing her work hours and then firing her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

ROANOKE, Va. - Southwest Virginia Community Health System, Inc. violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. Southwest Virginia Community Health System consists of a group of eight non-profit community healthcare centers throughout the Southwest Virginia region. The EEOC said that the misconduct occurred at a healthcare facility in Troutdale, Va.

NEW YORK— Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office secured a $13.4 million settlement with New York Downtown Hospital to resolve a Medicaid fraud case involving illegal payments the hospital received on claims for unlicensed inpatient drug and alcohol treatment services and rendered to patients who were unlawfully referred there.

BALTIMORE - The world's largest home improvement specialty retailer will pay $100,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that Home Depot, U.S.A., Inc. failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for a cashier with cancer at its Towson, Md., store and then fired her because of her condition.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced the sentencing of JASON QUINONES, 22, to 20 years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision for raping a woman in her East 90th Street apartment on August 13, 2011, and for sexually abusing another woman in her East 83rd Street apartment on July 2, 2011. On May 8, 2012, QUINONES pleaded guilty to Rape in the First Degree and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.