New York Paralegal Blog

Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was convicted today by a federal jury in Albany, N.Y., of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe. Spargo, 66, was convicted following a three-day jury trial. Evidenced introduced at trial showed that on Nov. 13, 2003, Spargo solicited a $10,000 payment from an attorney with cases pending before him in Ulster County, while Spargo was serving as a state supreme court justice. The trial evidence showed that when the attorney declined to pay the money, Spargo increased the pressure by a second solicitation communicated through an associate. According to evidence presented at trial, on Dec. 19, 2003, Spargo directly told the attorney in a telephone conversation that he and another judge close to him had been assigned to handle cases in Ulster County, including the attorney’s personal divorce case. According to the evidence at trial, the attorney felt that if he did not pay the money, both the cases handled by his law firm an...

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the owner of College Square Apartments, in Davie, Fla., to settle allegations of discrimination against African Americans. Under the consent decree, approved today in U.S. District Court in Miami, the defendants must pay a total of up to $140,000 to victims of discrimination and a civil penalty of $74,000 to the government. The lawsuit, filed in August 2008 and later amended, alleged that the property manager at the time, Don Murroni, acting under the direction of Craig Forman, the president and sole shareholder of C.F. Enterprises, falsely told African Americans that no apartments were available and discouraged African Americans from applying. Murroni also allegedly offered to waive the application fee or other costs for white applicants, and told white testers that a selling point of College Square Apartments was the absence of black tenants. The allegations were based on evidence obtained through the Department’...

(USDOJ) WASHINGTON – A former Supreme Court Justice of the Third Judicial Circuit of the State of New York was charged today with attempted extortion and federal program bribery, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced. Thomas J. Spargo, 65 was charged in an indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York. According to the indictment, while Spargo was a state Supreme Court Justice in 2003, he allegedly solicited $10,000 from an Ulster County, N.Y., attorney who had cases pending before the judge. The indictment further charges that Spargo solicited the money by causing the attorney to fear that Spargo would use his official acts and influence to harm the attorney if he was not paid and, conversely, to help the attorney if he was paid. More...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Associate Attorney General Kevin J. O’Connor today announced more than $50 million in additional grant funds from the Justice Department to help tribal communities, bringing the total to nearly $100 million awarded to tribal communities in 2008. These awards include funds for tribal courts assistance, alcohol and substance abuse prevention, juvenile and mental health programs, victim assistance, and developing responses to violent crimes against Indian women. O’Connor made the announcement in remarks to the Four Corners Indian Country Conference in Albuqurque, N.M. “This investment will help tribes develop criminal justice strategies that meet their needs,” said Associate Attorney General O’Connor. “Tribes face unique challenges that require unique solutions. We are committed to working in partnership with tribes to improve public safety.” More...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Verizon Communications Corp. (Verizon) to divest assets in 100 areas in 22 states in order to proceed with its $28 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. The Department said that the transaction as originally proposed would have substantially lessened competition to the detriment of consumers of mobile wireless telecommunications services in those areas, and likely would result in higher prices, lower quality and reduced network investments. The divestitures cover the entire states of North Dakota and South Dakota; large portions of the states of Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming; and portions of the states of Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. The Department’s Antitrust Division, along with the Attorneys General of the states of Alabama, California, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota...

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Chicago to block the proposed acquisition by JBS S.A., currently the third-largest U.S. beef packer, of National Beef Packing Company LLC, the fourth-largest U.S. beef packer. The Department said that the proposed deal would combine two of the top four U.S. beef packers resulting in lower prices paid to cattle suppliers and higher beef prices for consumers. The Attorneys General of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming are joining the Department’s lawsuit. JBS, headquartered in Brazil, is in the process of acquiring Smithfield Beef Group Inc. from Smithfield Foods Inc. The Department is not challenging JBS’s acquisition of Smithfield Beef Group Inc. In 2007, JBS purchased Colorado-based Swift Foods Company. Beef packers purchase annually $30 billion in fed cattle from feedlots, slaughter them, and pr...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced today the filing of a lawsuit against the State of Vermont and Vermont Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz, alleging violations of the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA is designed to ensure that uniformed military members and overseas citizens may effectively participate in federal elections. Vermont and the Secretary are responsible for collecting and reporting the number of military voters and overseas citizens who are sent ballots, return them and have them successfully cast in each federal general election. Vermont has failed to fulfill this important obligation ever since it became law in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt., seeks a declaration that Vermont has previously violated the law, and seeks an injunction against any future noncompliance. "Accurate and complete information about whether our uniformed service members and over...

WASHINGTON – The United States has sued a Houston tax preparer, seeking to put him out of business, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, seeks to permanently bar Kyle C. Kasten and his business, KJ & J Tax Services, from preparing federal returns for others. According to the government complaint, Kasten prepares federal income tax returns with fabricated claims for the federal fuel tax credit. The credit is available only in limited circumstances for off-highway business use. Kasten allegedly claimed that one customer used 44,005 gallons of gasoline in 2007 when the customer’s return showed he earned only $802 that year. The complaint states that, assuming a cost of $2 per gallon, the customer would have had to spend $88,010 to purchase that amount of gasoline. In another example identified in the complaint, Kasten allegedly claimed that a customer used 55,083 gallons of gasoline in 2007....

WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice announced today that it has settled its employment lawsuit on behalf of Tracey Marshall, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve, against the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County, Fla.The Department’s complaint, filed last October in the U.S. District Court in Tampa, alleged that the Clerk’s Office violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). The Clerk’s Office failed to reemploy Marshall in her prior position as supervisor of the Clerk’s Court Clerk II Section of the Circuit Criminal Division when she return from active duty in October 2005. In addition, it is alleged that the Clerk’s Office retaliated against Marshall after she took action under USERRA, by transferring her from the Clerk’s Circuit Criminal Division to the Clerks Traffic Department, which offered a lower pay rate. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the Clerk’s Office will reinstate Marshall to Manager of the Court Cl...

WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have jointly filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to enforce a mediation settlement agreement that was entered into by the EEOC on behalf of an individual and the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (Housing Authority). The settlement agreement resolved a charge that was filed against the Housing Authority under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the bases of sex, race, national origin and religion, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The charging party claimed that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her national origin and her age when she was not selected for a promotion. In exchange for the dismissal of the charge, the Housing Authority agreed to pay the charging party $2,000, make certain changes to its promotional interview panels, and allow an outsid...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced today the settlement of a lawsuit against Salem County and the borough of Penns Grove, N.J., alleging violations of the rights of Puerto Rican voters under the Voting Rights Act. The settlement agreement requires the county and borough to ensure that elections are equally open to Latino voters, that Spanish language assistance and materials be available at the polls, and that Spanish-speaking voters be allowed to select the assistor of their choice. One of the concerns that led to the Civil Rights Division’s investigation was that the borough and county were violating the rights of voters who had been educated in Spanish in American-flag schools in Puerto Rico. The settlement agreement was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey contemporaneously with the complaint and an accompanying proposed order allowing federal observers to monitor election day activities in its polling place. The order still must be appro...