New York Paralegal Blog

WASHINGTON—The chief executive officer (CEO) of Axius Inc., a Nevada corporation; and a finance professional were indicted today on multiple charges for their alleged roles in a scheme to bribe stock brokers and manipulate the share price of Axius stock, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the Eastern District of New York.

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that DAVID ROSEN, the former CEO of MediSys Health Network, was found guilty in Manhattan federal court for participating in a scheme to bribe New York State Senator CARL KRUGER, New York State Assemblyman WILLIAM BOYLAND, JR., and former New York State Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio with hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for their official acts. ROSEN was convicted after a three-week bench trial before U.S. District Judge JED S. RAKOFF.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of DARYL JONES, 53, a caseworker for the New York City Human Resources Administration (“HRA”), for receiving bribes in exchange for information regarding clients of the Home Energy Assistance Program (“HEAP”), a federally-funded program administered by HRA that helps low-income New Yorkers pay for heating bills and repairs. A separately-charged defendant, ALVARO BLAKE, 54, a former HRA supervisor, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court for receiving a bribe. On June 8, 2011, a third separately-charged defendant, RODCLIFF LEVY, 44, the owner of several plumbing and heating companies, pled guilty to charges of Bribery and Offering a False Instrument for Filing.

A former trustee for the Weslaco Independent School District (WISD) has pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe in exchange for using his official capacity to influence the award of a contract on a school renovation project, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. Joe Marines, 55, of Weslaco, Texas, pleaded guilty today to a Hobbs Act violation. Marines admitted that in August 2006, while serving as a trustee for WISD and the district was involved in the bidding process for the renovation of Roosevelt Elementary School, he met with an FBI informant who was soliciting a contract on the project. Marines admitted he received $500 in exchange for Marines exerting his influence as a trustee to award a subcontracting job on the project. Later that same month, the FBI informant paid Marines an additional $1000 for the same purpose. A conviction for a violation of the Hobbs Act is punishable by no more than 20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. District J...

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced the unsealing today of a one-count indictment charging 10 defendants with conspiracy to commit sports bribery, to operate an illegal sports bookmaking service, and to distribute marijuana. The indictment alleges that the defendants enriched themselves by operating an illegal sports bookmaking business and distributing marijuana, and with their criminal proceeds, conspired to bribe National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball players to alter the outcome of games so that the defendants could profit by betting on the games at Las Vegas, Nevada casinos. A federal grand jury sitting in San Diego handed up the indictment on April 8, 2011. The defendants include a former assistant coach at the University of San Diego (USD), and two former college basketball players, including Brandon Johnson. The indictment alleges that Johnson, while he was playing for USD, took a bribe to influence the result of a game in Fe...

WASHINGTON – JGC Corporation has agreed to pay a $218.8 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced today. With today’s resolution, each of the four companies in the TSKJ joint venture, the former chairman of the U.S. joint venture partner, and several other individuals have now been held accountable for a massive conspiracy to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain lucrative construction contracts,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The approximately $1.5 billion in criminal and civil penalties that have been imposed on the members of the joint venture far exceed their profits from the scheme. Foreign bribery is a serious crime, and as this ca...

WASHINGTON - Charles N. Kriss, a former New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services engineer, pleaded guilty to a one-count indictment, which was filed on June 5, 2008 in the U.S. District Court in Islip, N.Y., and charged him with accepting money in return for ensuring that a co-conspirator corporation received orders for plastic marine pilings on a project overseen by New York City to repair Pier 86. Plastic marine pilings are reinforced synthetic pilings, resembling telephone poles, used as substitutes for traditional wood timber pilings in port and pier construction projects and other marine applications. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Kriss has agreed to plead guilty, serve a sentence and pay a fine that will be determined by the court, and cooperate in the ongoing investigation. According to the charge, the conspiracy to bribe Kriss began in or about 1999 and continued until in or about 2003. See, USDOJ. "Bribery u...