Press Releases

Jack A. Taylor, 68, a resident of Rolling Springs, Ky., pleaded guilty today to producing child pornography and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Taylor, appearing before U.S. District Court Judge David F. Hamilton in Indianapolis, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release following completion of his prison term, forfeit all items seized during the investigation that were used to commit his offense, and to pay $4,000 in restitution to his victim.

The government filed a lawsuit today in Miami against Swiss bank UBS AG. The lawsuit asks the court to order the international bank to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the identities of the bank’s U.S. customers with secret Swiss accounts. According to the lawsuit, as many as 52,000 U.S. customers hid their UBS accounts from the government in violation of the tax laws.

A federal grand jury in Newark, N.J., has returned an eight-count indictment charging a Liberian company that manages an oceangoing bulk carrier vessel, M/V Myron N, along with the ship’s chief engineer and second engineer for covering up discharges of oil-contaminated waste at sea.

Five St. Mary’s County, Md., commercial fisherman pleaded guilty today to illegally overfishing striped bass also known as rockfish.

DaJuan Jackson, a former tax return preparer in District Heights, Md., was sentenced to 51 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus for preparing false tax returns for customers.

UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As part of the deferred prosecution agreement and in an unprecedented move, UBS, based on an order by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA), has agreed to immediately provide the United States government with the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS’s cross-border business.

A federal court in Maine permanently barred Donna L. Hamilton from preparing federal tax returns for others. The court also ordered the Maine resident to provide her customer lists to the government and to mail copies of the court order to her customers. Hamilton consented to the civil injunction order.

Timothy Christenbury, of Charlotte, N.C., pleaded guilty today to possessing child pornography. Christenbury, 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl Horn III to one count of possession of child pornography. He was indicted on those charges on Dec. 16, 2008. According to the indictment, Christenbury possessed computer files containing child pornography from on or about Sept. 2 to Sept. 4, 2007.

The United States has filed a complaint against Louisiana Generating alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by operating the Big Cajun 2 Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant in New Roads, La., without also installing and operating modern pollution control equipment after the generating units had undergone major modifications.

We appreciate the diligent work of the National Research Council’s committee on forensic science in preparing this report. The Department of Justice’s principal focus in dealing with forensic evidence is on applying it dispassionately to law enforcement challenges, and we regularly use forensics to not only convict the guilty, but also to exonerate the innocent.

RE/MAX East-West, a real estate firm in Elmhurst, Ill., and one of its former real estate agents, John DeJohn, have agreed to pay $120,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and national origin. The consent decree was signed on Feb. 17, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo.

“This funding is vital to keeping our communities strong,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “As governors, mayors, and local law enforcement professionals struggle with the current economic crisis, we can’t afford to decrease our commitment to fighting crime and keeping our communities safe. These grants will help ensure states and localities can make the concerted efforts necessary to protect our most vulnerable communities and populations.”