ATLANTA, GA—STEVEN H. BALLARD, 53, of McDonough, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. to serve over five years in federal prison on a wire fraud charge involving a real estate investment scam that lasted over five years and defrauded a dozen victims in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said, “I am gratified that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was able to present the losses of so many victims to the Cou... Read Full Story

CHICAGO—A former General Motors Corp. executive who was a fugitive abroad for more than a year returned to the United States yesterday and pleaded guilty today to federal charges relating to a kickback and fraud scheme involving GM’s sale of bulk aluminum to third parties. The defendant, Daniel J. Bealko, GM’s former global commodity manager for lightweight metals, also pleaded guilty to federal income tax evasion, admitting that he concealed from the IRS approximately $6.5 million in kickbac... Read Full Story

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and JOSEPH DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), today announced charges against 14 additional Wall Street professionals and attorneys arising out of their ongoing investigation of insider trading at hedge funds and stock trading firms. The charged defendants include hedge fund managers and trading firm executives, lawyers, and corpo... Read Full Story

NEW YORK – The Eaton’s Neck Fire District on Long Island will pay $213,840 to settle a class age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The damages will be made in retroactive payments to a group of 15 fire­fighters who had been discriminated against based on their age and provide increased monthly pension amounts going forward to several firefighters.The EEOC’s suit had alleged that the Fire District refused to l... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos will deliver the keynote address today at this year’s Annual Independent Inventors Conference. The conference, co-sponsored by the USPTO and the National Inventors Hall of Fame® Foundation, will be held in Alexandria, Va., at the USPTO campus on November 5-6. Conference attendees will receive practical tips and information on marketing and lic... Read Full Story

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Tyson Foods Inc., one of the nation's largest poultry producers, has been found in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) at its Blountsville, Ala., facility. The jury's verdict in federal court in Birmingham resulted from a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor against the company."We are very pleased that the jury in Birmingham has vindicated our position that employers must pay their workers for the time that they are required to work," said Secretary o... Read Full Story

BROOKLYN, NY – Laura Wang-Woodford, a U.S. citizen who served as a director of Monarch Aviation Pte, Ltd. (“Monarch”), a Singapore company that imported and exported military and commercial aircraft components for more than 20 years, was sentenced today in federal court in Brooklyn to 46 months’ incarceration for conspiring to violate the U.S. trade embargo by exporting controlled aircraft components to Iran. Wang-Woodford was also ordered to forfeit $500,000 to the United States Treasury Dep... Read Full Story

Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, today announced the settlement of claims that Tutor Perini Corporation, formerly Perini Corporation (“Perini”), a publicly-traded construction services corporation, falsely and fraudulently reported that certain minority and disadvantaged business enterprises (“DBEs”) were performing subcontracted work on federally funded public works contracts with the City and State of New York, when in fact non-DBE subcontract... Read Full Story

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment and arrest of a man who defrauded more than 50 individuals in at least six states including Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Nevada, and Georgia by falsely holding himself out as the CEO of an online fitness magazine and soliciting investments in his fictitious company.MARK ANDREW MOORE, 40, has been indicted on charges of grand larceny, securities fraud, scheme to defraud, and tax fraud. The crimes... Read Full Story

ALBANY, N.Y. (November 5, 2009) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Long Island attorney Lawrence W. Reich will pay more than $240,000 for his nearly 30 years of abusing the state’s public pension system.Reich will pay to the State of New York and the state pension system a total of $240,565.74 to end Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation into his nearly 30 years of improper employment arrangements with six Long Island school districts where he was on the payrolls from 19... Read Full Story