The department’s complaint, filed in May 2009, alleges that the city discriminated against Stacy D. Allen, an African-American and a former part-time patrol officer in the city’s police department, when it did not appoint him as a full-time patrol officer. The complaint alleges that the police department had a history of appointing the most senior part-time patrol officer as a full-time officer when a full-time position became available. However, when Allen, who was the city’s only African-American patrol officer, became the most senior part-time patrol officer and two full-time positions opened, the city appointed two less senior white part-time patrol officers to those positions instead of Allen. The Justice Department’s complaint was based on a charge of discrimination filed by Allen with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“All Americans are guaranteed the right to know that they can pursue their career of choice without fear of discrimination based on their race,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “Title VII protects individuals, such as Mr. Allen, from having to suffer discrimination in the workplace. The Justice Department will take swift action against those employers who engage in discrimination, and we appreciate the partnership of the EEOC in these matters.”

The settlement agreement requires that the city not discriminate against on the basis of race, or in any way adversely affect the terms and conditions of employment of, any applicant or person employed in the city’s police department. The agreement also requires that the city provide Allen with a monetary award of $16,000 ($2,250 in back pay and $13,750 in compensatory damages).

The Civil Rights Division is committed to the vigorous enforcement of Title VII. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its Web sites at http://www.justice.gov/crt/; and http://www.justice.gov/crt/emp/.

A federal judge in St. George, Utah, has permanently enjoined Kent Bickmore, the founder of a so-called asset-protection business, from helping customers file fraudulent liens and create hidden nominee bank accounts, the Justice Department announced today. Bickmore agreed to the injunction without admitting the government’s allegations.

The government’s complaint alleged that Bickmore of St. George, Utah, operated the now-defunct Asset Protection Plus Inc., which helped customers place sham liens on their property to deceive creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service. Bickmore and Asset Protection also allegedly helped customers hide their income and assets by holding their money in bank accounts under nominee names.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 430 injunctions against tax fraud promoters and tax return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s Web site, as is information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

A federal judge in San Francisco has issued permanent injunctions barring four individuals from promoting what a government lawsuit describes as a complex tax-fraud scheme involving several entities located around the globe, the Justice Department announced today. U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton signed the injunction orders against Yurij Debevc and Robert Nagy, both of South Carolina; Charles Hsin of New York; and Franklin Thomason of Jilin, China. Debevc, Nagy, Hsin and Thomason agreed to the injunctions without admitting the government’s allegations against them.

The government complaint filed in the case alleges that these four men and other defendants promoted a so-called “90% Stock Loan” program, using entities located in the United States, Hong Kong and the Isle of Man, that falsely purported to enable customers to contribute appreciated stocks or other securities in exchange for payments equal to 90% of the securities’ value without paying income tax on capital gains. Through this scheme, also known as the “Derivium” scheme, named after one of the companies involved, customers were allegedly told that they could avoid income tax because the transaction was a loan rather than a sale. But in fact, the government alleges, customers’ securities were actually sold to raise the funds to pay the customers. According to the complaint, the defendants sold the scheme to approximately 1,700 customers nationwide, in transactions totaling over $1 billion. The complaint alleges that the scheme cost the U.S. Treasury an estimated $230 million or more.

The same court barred another defendant, Scott Cathcart, from promoting the 90% loan program last year, after he agreed to a permanent injunction without admitting the government’s allegations. The government’s request for injunctions against the other defendants, including Charles Cathcart, Scott’s father, remains pending with trial scheduled for Nov. 16, 2009.

“Promoter injunctions are a vital part of the Justice Department’s efforts to stop complex tax schemes that purport to help wealthy taxpayers eliminate income tax on gains,” said John DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. He thanked Justice Department trial attorneys Nathan Clukey and Ellen Weis, who handled the case, and revenue agents Marie Allen and Judy Steiner of the Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division, who conducted the investigation.

The Justice Department has obtained injunctions against more than 425 tax-scheme promoters and tax preparers since 2001. Information about those cases is available on the Justice Department Web site.

A Liberian-incorporated shipping company pleaded guilty today in federal court in Trenton, N.J., to failing to keep accurate oily water discharge records and using falsified records to conceal the discharge at sea of untreated bilge from one of its cargo ships, the Justice Department announced.

Dalnave Navigation Inc., a Liberian company with offices in Athens, Greece, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan immediately after the guilty plea to pay a fine of $1 million, the maximum fine allowable for the two counts to which the company pleaded guilty.

Additionally, the company agreed to pay a $350,000 community service payment to the congressionally-established National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used specifically for the protection, scientific study and restoration of marine and aquatic resources in the District of New Jersey or its off-shore coastal region.

On Tuesday, the chief engineer and second engineers aboard the Dalnave vessel M/V Myron N were sentenced by Judge Sheridan to three months of probation with the condition that they serve one month in a community corrections facility. Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer, and Dimitrios Papadakis, the second engineer, both of Greece, pleaded guilty on July 16, 2009, to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the M/V Myron N.

“Today’s plea and the sentences handed down in this case send a clear message that failure to comply with environmental laws and lying to authorities to cover up pollution while at sea has consequences,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute these cases as long as crewmembers and companies continue to violate pollution laws.”

“Shipping companies need to know that the cost of polluting our oceans will be steep, bad for business and bad for their crews,” said Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. “At the same time, we are pleased that the company seeks to make amends with a significant criminal fine and a community service payment that directly benefits the New Jersey coastal environment.”

“The Coast Guard is committed to working with the maritime industry and federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, to protect the U.S. maritime environment from individuals who pollute our waters,” said Rear Admiral Joseph L. Nimmich, Commander of the First Coast Guard District in Boston. “When these violations occur, the Coast Guard will work with our partners to ensure that the violators are held accountable under the law.”

“Congress passed the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to prevent the oceans and waterways from being used as dumping grounds for waste oil,” said William Lometti, Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement office in New York. “We will continue to work closely with our counterparts to vigorously prosecute those who try to conceal these illegal acts.”

Engine room operations on board large oceangoing vessels such as the M/V Myron N generate large amounts of waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge waste. International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste containing more than 15 parts per million of oil and without onboard treatment by an oily water separator – a required pollution prevention device. Law also requires that all overboard discharges be recorded in an oil record book, a required log which is regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The government’s investigation began in September 2008, when Coast Guard inspectors conducted an examination of the M/V Myron N, following the ship’s arrival in Gravesend Anchorage, N.Y. and subsequently in the Port of Newark, N.J. The inspections uncovered evidence that crew members had installed pipes to bypass the ship’s pollution control system and pump untreated bilge directly into the ocean. At their guilty pleas, Stamatakis and Papadakis admitted that they knowingly failed to record those discharges in the ship’s official oil record books and presented the false record books to the Coast Guard.

A joint factual statement between the government and Dalnave Navigation describing those and other facts was entered in court today as the basis for the company’s guilty plea.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Mooradian of the U.S. Coast Guard First District Legal Office, and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country. In calendar year 2008, for example, 1,060 federal observers and 344 Department personnel were sent to monitor 114 elections in 76 jurisdictions in 24 states.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, Alec and Mike Sou each face maximum sentences of 15 years in prison and William Khoo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Alec Sou, Mike Sou and William Khoo conspired and devised a scheme to obtain the labor of 44 Thai nationals by enticing them to come to Aloun Farms in Hawaii with false promises of lucrative jobs, and then maintaining their labor at the farm through threats of serious economic harm, according to the indictment. They arranged for the Thai workers to pay high recruitment fees, which were financed by debts secured with the workers’ family property and homes. Significant portions of these fees went to the defendants themselves, as alleged in the indictment. After arrival at Aloun Farms, the Sou defendants confiscated the Thai nationals’ passports and failed to honor the employment contracts. The Sou defendants maintained the Thai nationals’ labor by threatening to send them back to Thailand, where they would face serious economic harms created by the debts. The indictment also charges that the defendants engaged in a visa fraud conspiracy by making false representations in documents filed to obtain employment-based visas.

This case is being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys Susan French and Kevonne Small of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.