Today, the Department of Justice released the Fiscal Year 2011 Report of the Disaster Fraud Task Force.  The task force, originally created as the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force in September 2005, operates to deter, detect and prosecute individuals who attempt to take advantage of natural and man-made disasters by committing frauds and related crimes, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In cases related to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma alone, the task force through FY 2011 prosecuted 1,439 individuals in 47 federal districts throughout the country.  These prosecutions involved a wide variety of fraudulent activity, including charity scams, government and private-sector benefit fraud, identity theft, contract and procurement fraud, and public corruption.

A key component to the success of the task force is its National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF), based in Baton Rouge, La.  “The NCDF provides the public with a single nationwide point of contact to report information about disaster-related fraud,” said Donald J. Cazayoux Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana and Executive Director of the NCDF.  ”Moreover, it provides law enforcement agencies with an efficient centralized process for receiving those complaints — whether by phone, email, fax, or letter — and referring matters to the appropriate agencies for investigation.”

Complaints received by the NCDF to date encompass 49 states, three territories, three foreign countries and 32 named disasters, including hurricanes, severe storms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and wildfires.

The Disaster Fraud Task Force includes the Criminal, Civil and Antitrust Divisions of the Department of Justice; U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country; the FBI; the Internal Revenue Service Criminal investigation Division; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the U.S. Secret Service; the Federal Trade Commission; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and Inspectors General from 19 other federal agencies; and representatives of state and local law enforcement.

For more information, read the Disaster Fraud Task Force Report, 2011 (PDF). 

Members of the public can report fraud, waste, abuse, or allegations of mismanagement related to any disaster through the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Disaster Fraud Hotline at 877-NCDF-GCF (623-3423), the Disaster Fraud Fax at 225-334-4707 or the Disaster Fraud e-mail at disaster@leo.gov.

This blog post appears courtesy of the Criminal Division

For decades, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division has aggressively pursued justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and human rights violations.  The division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) employs a number of different criminal and civil enforcement tools to hold accountable the perpetrators of these unspeakable crimes and to ensure such perpetrators are not granted safe haven in the United States. 

Recently, the Obama Administration announced the creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board to strengthen government-wide efforts to prevent and respond to genocide and atrocities. 

To further the mission of the Atrocities Prevention Board and the Justice Department’s human rights enforcement program, on June 13^th, the Criminal Division, the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) co-hosted a roundtable discussion with more than 30 human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to discuss how law enforcement and NGOs can work together in this area. 

Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Chief of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division Ralph Boelter, ICE Director John Morton, HRSP attorneys, and FBI, ICE and State Department officials participated in the discussion on behalf of the government. 

Government and NGO participants discussed strategies to increase coordination in human rights enforcement.  Human rights investigations and prosecutions present unique challenges for law enforcement and NGOs can play a critical role in overcoming these challenges by providing information regarding potential evidence, witnesses, suspects and area expertise.

Strong NGO partnerships will ensure the Justice Department’s continued success in holding accountable human rights violators.  In recent years, the department secured a 10-year sentence in an immigration fraud case against a former Guatemalan special forces soldier who lied about his participation in the Dos Erres massacre; a 97-year sentence against Chuckie Taylor for crimes related to the torture of people in Liberia; and a trial conviction in an immigration fraud case against a former member of the Zvornik Brigade who lied about his participation in the  Bosnian war, among other cases.

In addition to working with NGOs, the department actively seeks out information from members of the public that may assist in identifying human rights violators in the United States.  To report information, visit this website.

Learn more about HRSP here.  Learn more about the Atrocities Prevention Board here.

Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (@CivilRights) joined the Equal Pay Twitter Chat hosted by the Department of Labor to discuss the gap in pay between women and men. Participants were invited to ask questions related to pay equality using the hashtag, “#equalpaychat.”

Pay equality is an issue that affects all Americans. The Department is part of the National Equal Pay Task Force, which was established by President Barack Obama to crack down on violations of equal pay. The Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation section enforces against state and local government employers the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and other federal laws prohibiting employment practices that discriminate on grounds of race, sex, religion, and national origin.

During the chat, staff from the Civil Rights Division answered questions related to pay discrimination by public employers and offered tips and links to information about equal pay. For example, the department tweeted about the damage done when compensation is kept secret:

@CivilRights: Pay secrecy makes it harder to find violations. Good public employers make pay data available, which is a great practice.

During the chat, the Department of Justice joined the Department of Labor in recognizing the winners of the Equal Pay App Challenge, which asked developers to address the wage gap through innovative use of data.

Officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also participated in the chat.

For more information and resources about equal pay, visit http://www.dol.gov/equalpay. | Follow the Civil Rights Division on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/civilrights.

Attorney General Holder visits the Potomac Job Corps Training Center

Today, Attorney General Eric Holder joined the Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis for a tour of the Potomac Job Corps Center in Washington, D.C. With 120+ nationwide campuses in over 40 states and Puerto Rico, Job Corps centers train over 60,000 students each year.

The U.S. Department of Labor administers the Job Corps career technical and education training program free-of-cost to help youth ages 16 through 24 improve their quality of life and find a career.  Since Job Corps’ beginning in 1964, the program has remained committed to offering students a positive environment for professional and educational success.

The Potomac Job Corps Center lives up to the mission of teaching eligible young people the skills they need to become employable, independent and professionally trained in variety of technical and academic areas.

Attorney General Holder and Secretary Solis speak with young people at the center.

During the tour of the Center,  Attorney General Holder joined students of all career areas in a round table discussion to listen to their personal stories, passions and plans for the future, saying:

 “I want to thank all of the students for their inspiring stories. They are the future leaders of this nation and I know their futures will be bright.”

During lunch, students in the Culinary Arts career program showcased their culinary skills for the Attorney General and Department of Labor Secretary Solis. Jobs Corps Center Director, Steven Belk, along with the center’s Student Government Association President, Andrea Williams, thanked Attorney  General Holder and Secretary Solis for visiting and taking time to talk with  the young people there. 

For more information, youth interested in applying to Job Corps should visit: http://www.jobcorps.gov/home.aspx

Earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division represented the U.S Department of Justice as a keynote speaker at the 5th International Law Enforcement Intellectual Property (IP) Crime Conference in Madrid, hosted by INTERPOL, EUROPOL, and the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia. Breuer joined China, Ghana, Nigeria, Canada, Chile, Sweden and other countries to discuss solution-driven proposals to IP crime enforcement at the conference, which brought together more than 400 law enforcement and customs personnel from more than 50 countries.

Criminals manufacture and distribute counterfeit and pirated goods across the globe. While advances in technology bring our world closer together, those same advances allow those who would commit intellectual property crimes to operate globally without ever needing to leave their homes.

Assistant Attorney General Breuer spoke about the importance of devoting time and effort toward IP crime and raising global awareness about its harmful consequences:

“Counterfeit pharmaceuticals, counterfeit automotive and defense-industry parts, and other counterfeit consumer products can cause serious harm to people and endanger their lives; and . . . companies whose trade secrets are stolen or whose goods are counterfeited may be forced to downsize or go out of business, costing individuals their jobs. Nevertheless, the public perception at times persists that IP crime is victimless. It is therefore one of our important duties here this week to spread the message about the significant, and very real, costs of IP crime.”

The conference emphasized the importance of an organized and collaborative international strategy. International cooperation to disrupt the distribution of counterfeit goods improves the quality and safety of goods being sold and distributed to citizens in all countries. IP crime is an international problem and economic road block for businesses, both large and small. Coordinating with our foreign law enforcement partners enables our partners all over the world to address and work toward eliminating IP crimes happening beyond our borders.

For instance, German authorities provided vital assistance that led to the indictment of a Dow AgroSciences LLC research scientist on economic espionage charges for his alleged misappropriation and transportation of company trade secrets to China and Germany. Elsewhere, because of the Israeli government’s help and cooperation, a Massachusetts individual pleaded guilty to economic espionage after providing company trade secrets to an undercover agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.

In addition to cooperating on law enforcement matters, the department works to build partnerships through international training programs. In the last six years, the Justice Department has participated in IP enforcement training and education programs for more than 12,000 prosecutors, investigators, judicial officers, and other officials from more than 30 countries.

We also send prosecutors overseas to take the lead on our IP protection efforts in key spots around the globe through the Department’s Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordinator, or IPLEC, program.

We know IP crime is a serious threat. It jeopardizes the health and safety of consumers. It stifles innovation and creativity. And it has negative effects on the global economy. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our criminal IP statutes, and bring trade secret thieves, counterfeiters, intellectual property pirates, and others to justice.

To learn more about our efforts, visit the website of the IP Task Force

A message from Attorney General Eric Holder on the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.