News

Orlando, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces today that the United States has formally filed a lawsuit against URS Federal Services, Inc. and its subcontractor Yang Enterprises, Inc. This lawsuit is brought pursuant to the False Claims Act.

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – A federal grand jury returned a racketeering indictment today against the former director of the West Virginia Division of Highway’s Equipment Division, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.

NEWARK, N.J. - A Nigerian man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for his role in a computer hacking and identity theft scheme that defrauded vendors of nearly $1 million of office products after “phishing” e-mail login information from government employees, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

FRESNO, Calif. — Abel Martin Carreon, 57, of Fresno, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to five years and five months in prison for one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Carreon was also ordered to pay $1,253,000 in restitution.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles announced today that the United States Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina, settled claims of fraud with Covan World Wide Moving, Inc., Coleman American Moving Services, Inc., and other related entities with home offices in Dothan, Alabama. The United States contended that Covan and others increased the weights of shipments and storage of servicemember’s and federal employee’s household goods and then submitted claims for payment to the government for the inflated weights.

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Boston-based special agents recently recovered a Works Progress Administration (WPA) oil painting entitled “Portrait of a Farmer” by George Harris.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eric M. Shaffer, 42, of Modesto, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of theft of government property for taking Department of Defense property worth more than $316,000, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

SAN FRANCISCO- Jeffrey Neely, the former Acting Regional Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), was sentenced to three months imprisonment, to be followed by three months of home confinement, in connection with his guilty plea for making a false claim to the United States, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and GSA Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Theresa Quellhorst.

VMware Inc. and Carahsoft Technology Corporation have agreed to pay $75.5 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting their commercial pricing practices and overcharging the government on VMware software products and related services, the Department of Justice announced today. VMware is a Delaware corporation that specializes in computer virtualization software and has its principal place of business in Palo Alto, California. Carahsoft is a privately held Maryland corporation that distributes information technology products to federal, state and local governments and has its principal place of business in Reston, Virginia.

FRESNO, Calif. — Abel Martin Carreon, 57, formerly of Fresno, pleaded guilty today to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme involving surety bonds and government contracts, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.