Acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and the Acquisitions of Certain Patents by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after announcing the closing of its investigations into Google Inc.’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the acquisitions by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) of certain Nortel Networks Corporation patents, and the acquisition by Apple of certain Novell Inc. patents:

As part of the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project, 30 turbines are being installed along the strait that connects the Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean in the New York Harbor. The project, led by Verdant Power, Inc., is the first ever commercially licensed tidal energy project in the United States.

The turbines are scheduled to be fully installed by 2015 and will use the flow of the river and tides to generate 1,050 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to power 9,500 New York homes. 

Care Facilities Located in New York and California

Capmark Finance LLC in Horsham, Pa., has agreed to pay the United States $3.9 million, to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit, the Justice Department announced today.   The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, alleges that Capmark made false statements in connection with two nursing home mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).   Shortly after the United States filed its complaint in 2009, Capmark filed for bankruptcy protection.  

PENSACOLA, FL—Pamela C. Marsh, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today that nine additional individuals have been federally indicted for their involvement in several multi-jurisdictional mortgage fraud schemes and that two individuals previously indicted have been sentenced to prison. The prosecution of all of these individuals is the result of ongoing investigations being handled by special agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation-Bureau of Financial Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Without Divestitures Consumers Would Pay More for Containerboard and Corrugated Boxes; Divestitures Affect Mills in Central California, Tennessee and Possibly Kentucky

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced today that it will require International Paper Company and Temple-Inland Inc. to divest three containerboard mills in order to proceed with their $4.3 billion merger.  The department said that the merger, as originally proposed, would have substantially lessened competition in the production and sale of containerboard, the type of paper used to make corrugated boxes, in the United States.   

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) - Several megabanks disguised massive mortgage fraud while dodging more than $2 billion in fees, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman claims in a lawsuit.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department recommended increasing surveillance of thousands of Shiite Muslims and their mosques, based solely on their religion, as a way to sweep the Northeast for signs of Iranian terrorists, according to interviews and a newly obtained secret police document.

 

Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley, Eileen Sullivan, Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—A jury has convicted a New York prison inmate of falsely filing tax returns seeking $890 million in refunds.

MANHATTAN (CN) - Three women claim a cookbook writer from upstate New York hired them as au pairs, then sexually enslaved them.

Richard S. Hartunian, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York; Clifford C. Holly, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division; Gary Howard, Tioga County Sheriff; and James Dadamio, Director of Broome County Security Division, make the following announcement:

As a result of an investigation conducted by the Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF)¹, defendant Larry Cole, 43, of Lockwood, New York, was sentenced today in federal court in Binghamton, New York. Defendant Cole was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

BROOKLYN (CN) - Japanese boxes inlaid with ivory from century-old elephant tusks were seized for being shipped without an endangered species permit, an art shipper says in a $700,000 claim against a logistics company.

Defendant Allegedly Recorded Images of Victims During Office Visits and Billed Insurance Companies

Rakesh K. Punn will be arraigned later today before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert at the United States Courthouse, 100 Federal Plaza, Central Islip, New York, on a 36-count indictment charging him with sexual exploitation of children and health care fraud.¹

NEWARK, NJ—The man who brought more individuals than anyone else to invest in Nevin Shapiro’s $930 million Ponzi scheme was sentenced today to a year and a day in prison for failing to report to the IRS millions of the more than $12 million in related commissions he received, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

WASHINGTON — An executive and a former executive of Rubin/Chambers, Dunhill Insurance Services, also known as CDR Financial Products, pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of New York for their participation in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies related to contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other related municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.

(CN) - The Supreme Court on Monday tossed a challenge by two Canadian citizens to the so-called Alien Gag Law, which forbids noncitizens from financially supporting their political causes in the United States.

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Nadeem Akhtar, age 46, of Silver Spring, Maryland, today to 37 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release for conspiring to commit export violations and to defraud the United States in connection with a scheme to illegally export nuclear-related materials.

  (CN) - An upstate New York police force properly discharged its chief for associating with a "notorious" suspect: his 29-year-old son, a sate appeals court ruled.

For the second straight year, law enforcement fatalities in the United States rose with 173 federal, state, and local officers killed in the line of duty during 2011; this represents a 13 percent increase over the 153 officers killed in 2010 and a 42 percent spike when compared to the 122 officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2009

BROOKLYN (CN) - Before he killed himself, a crooked securities broker who wrote the book "The Dirty, Filthy Lies My Broker Told Me" took an elderly couple for $250,000, and rolled at least nine others who also sued him, the retired couple claim in Federal Court.

Last month, the District Court for the Southern District of New York began an initiative that judges, lawyers and litigants hope will reduce both the cost of and the time spent on complex civil cases. Over the next 18 months, the court will conduct a pilot program following a set of rules and procedures affecting nearly every aspect of the management of cases designated as complex.

NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellphone company, said Thursday that it will start charging $2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards.

Following Contested Evidentiary Hearing, SEC Obtains Preliminary and Permanent Injunctions and Related Relief Against New York Businessman and Two Houston-area Firms Who Conducted a Fraudulent $10 Million Note Offering

On August 10, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas against Damian Omar Valdez of New York and two Houston-area firms he controlled, Evolution Capital Advisors (“Evolution Capital”) and Evolution Investment Group I (“EIGI”). Evolution Capital was an investment adviser registered with the Commission until June 2010. The firms and Valdez raised at least $10 million from more than 80 investors through two fraudulent note offerings.

For Cross Island Farms of Wellesley Island, New York, 2011 was a bountiful year—and not just because of the farm's harvest. Following the installation of a 10-kilowatt (kW) Bergey wind turbine in August, along with a 5.52-kW SunPower solar array one month later, owners Dani Baker and David Belding have enjoyed their second consecutive month of being credited kilowatt-hours of electricity from their local utility.

BROWNSVILLE, TX—Mark William Woerner, 55, formerly of Las Vegas, Nev., has been sentenced to 960 months in federal prison for distribution and possession of child pornography, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. Woerner was convicted by a federal jury on all five counts with which he was charged in June 2011 following one and a half days of trial and less than five minutes of deliberation.

LOS ANGELES—A New York man who admitted illegally uploading to the Internet a pirated, nearly final “workprint” copy of the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was sentenced this afternoon to one year in federal prison.

Gilberto Sanchez, 49, who resides in The Bronx and who used screen names that were variations on “skillz,” was sentenced by United States District Judge Margaret M. Morrow, who described the offense as “extremely serious.” In addition to the prison term, Judge Morrow imposed one year of supervised release and numerous computer restrictions.

The Justice Department today filed a civil money laundering and forfeiture complaint in the Southern District of New York alleging a massive scheme in which Lebanese financial institutions, including a bank and two exchange houses linked to Hizballah, used the U.S. financial system to launder narcotics and other criminal proceeds through West Africa and back into Lebanon.

The filing of the complaint was announced by Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michele M. Leonhart, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

DOE's Technical Assistance Program (TAP) will be presenting two webcasts in December focusing on the Portfolio Manager Initiative, which helps communities maximize the benefits of benchmarking energy use.

NEWARK, NJ—A corporate lawyer who previously worked at four prominent international law firms admitted today to participating in an insider trading scheme that lasted for 17 years, relied on information he stole from his law firms and their clients, and netted more than $37 million in illicit profits, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman announced.

Matthew Kluger, 50, of Oakton, Va., pleaded guilty to all four counts charged in the information against him: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice. Kluger entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court.

WASHINGTON – Eight former executives and agents of Siemens AG and its subsidiaries have been charged for allegedly engaging in a decade-long scheme to bribe senior Argentine government officials to secure, implement and enforce a $1 billion contract with the Argentine government to produce national identity cards, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York and Ronald T. Hosko, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division.

WASHINGTON – Wachovia Bank N.A., which is now known as Wells Fargo Bank N.A., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve the company’s role in anticompetitive activity in the municipal bond investments market and has agreed to pay a total of $148 million in restitution, penalties and disgorgement to federal and state agencies, the Department of Justice announced today.

(CN) - The Kuwait Investment Office claims in a class action that after the mortgage crisis began in 2007, AIG falsely assured investors that it would not be affected by collateralized debt obligations, but "lurking behind AIG's success were the hundreds of billions of dollars of exposure to the U.S. residential mortgage market, including tens of billions of dollars of exposure to subprime debt that would bring the company down."

By Erika Carroll

MANHATTAN (CN) - A driver who parked too close to a fire hydrant has put his shoulder to the wheel and demands $500 million in class damages, claiming New York City adds surcharges to parking tickets, which make the amount of the fine illegal.

ALBANY, N.Y. — An upstate New York man was sentenced to 188 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to sexually entice a minor. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Christopher Morin, 40, of Massena, N.Y., was sentenced Nov. 14, 2011, by U.S. Senior District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in Albany, N.Y. On June 23, 2011, after a three-day jury trial, he was found guilty of attempted sexual enticement of a minor.

WASHINGTON – A New York developer and his companies were indicted today on federal charges that they conspired to illegally fill jurisdictional wetlands, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney William Hochul for the Western District of New York.

Bout Convicted on All Four Counts, Including Conspiring to Kill Americans and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists

NOV 03 -- NEW YORK – DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart hailed the news that international arms dealer Viktor Bout was found guilty Wednesday of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) – a designated foreign terrorist organization based in Colombia – to be used to kill Americans in Colombia.

WASHINGTON—Twelve individuals, including three medical doctors, a doctor of osteopathy and a chiropractor, were charged today in the Eastern District of New York for their roles in separate health care fraud schemes that resulted in the submission of more than $95 million in false claims to the Medicare program, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Mr. Chairman, Senator Kyl, and distinguished Members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to speak with you this morning about the threat posed by transnational organized crime, the efforts of the Department of Justice to address the threat, and steps Congress can take that will assist in these efforts.   I am honored to appear before you on behalf of the Department of Justice, along with my colleagues from the Departments of Treasury and Homeland Security.

A myth floats around among those seeking free-market solutions to climate change that insurers will be a positive force. Insurers are worried about the impact of climate on their business model. They will increase rates.

RL Miller

Washington, DC -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that its Division of Enforcement filed 99 enforcement actions in Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011), the highest yearly tally in the agency’s history and a 74 percent increase over the prior fiscal year.

A criminal complaint was unsealed this morning in Brooklyn federal court charging New York City Police Department Officer Admir Kacamakovic, a seven-year veteran of the NYPD assigned to the 62nd Precinct in Brooklyn, with violating the civil rights of a patron of a bar owned by the officer’s cousin. Kacamakovic is also charged in the complaint with having improperly accessed a Federal Bureau of Investigation database in an attempt to obtain information regarding the victim of that assault and to obtain other information at the behest of his cousin, who was subsequently federally prosecuted for narcotics trafficking. Kacamakovic was arrested earlier today and will make his initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York.

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- One in 53 drivers in West Virginia will probably hit a deer in the next 12 months as motorists navigate roads that wind through forests, according to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

-by Maryellen Tighe

MANHATTAN (CN) - The U.S. government may be restraining federal prosecutors from pursuing two recently unsealed cases alleging multibillion kickback schemes involving the two largest medical labs in the country, a whistle-blower told Courthouse News.

MANHATTAN (CN) - Auto clubs want a federal judge to stop a toll hike that went into effect in New York and New Jersey last week, calling the plan an illegal fund for unrelated projects like the construction of the new World Trade Center.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) - The Eastern District of New York must sort out whether a California couple actually coaxed their son to propose to a Brooklyn woman to fleece her parents out of more than $500,000 in restaurant equipment, a federal judge ruled.

NEWARK, NJ—The man who brought more individuals than anyone else to invest in Nevin Shapiro’s $930 million Ponzi scheme admitted today to failing to report millions of the more than $12 million in related commissions he received to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman announced.

Harrisburg, PA – On Monday evening, September 26, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) located eight children who were kidnapped from a foster care facility in Queens, New York one week earlier. The children, ranging in age from 11-months old to 11-years old, were taken during a supervised visit with their biological parents. The one daughter and seven sons had originally been placed in foster care following allegations of abuse.

(CN) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has set its sights on four co-conspirators alleged to have played a relatively small role in the $92 million mortgage fraud that took out Washington Mutual Bank, filing a federal complaint that seeks to recover $1.2 million.

WASHINGTON—The owner of two Petersburg, Va., retail stores was arrested today on charges related to his alleged sale of counterfeit goods, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Students teams are now working 24/7 to assemble the solar-powered, energy-efficient homes they’ve designed for the Solar Decathlon in time for the start of the competition next Friday. Visit the Solar Decathlon site to learn how you can tour each of the 19 homes online and in person.

(Photo: Solar homes for the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon 2011 are being assembled in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Stefano Paltera, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)

CHICAGO (CN) - A former employee of the Rainbow Push Coalition, who is gay, claims he was sexually harassed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his staff, forced to clean up after Jackson's sexual escapades with women in hotel rooms, and that the discrimination culminated with his firing two days before Christmas in 2009.

 MANHATTAN (CN) - The 2nd Circuit seemed doubtful Friday of the jurisdiction claimed by a New York federal judge who prevented Ecuadorean natives from enforcing an $18.2 billion verdict against Chevron for environmental damage.

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Angie L. Jenkins, 35, of Lowell, Michigan, convicted in federal court of receipt of child pornography, was sentenced to 87 months in prison and five years’ supervised release by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William M. Skretny. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,480 to the victim.

Washington, DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) has notified the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the Commodity Exchange (COMEX) of the results of a joint rule enforcement review completed by the Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (Division).

ATLANTA—United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates announced a series of federal cases related to children and sexual exploitation, including an indictment returned today by a federal grand jury against a defendant who attempted to “buy” a child.

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DONALD LONGUEUIL was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 30 months in prison for his participation in an insider trading scheme in which he obtained and traded on material, nonpublic information (“Inside Information”).

The Transportation and Security Administration will soon launch Full Body Scanning 2.0 at several New York area airports; the new software, known as Automated Target Recognition (ATR), will auto-detect items that could pose a potential threat that passengers might be carrying under their clothes, but the suspicous items will be shown against a generic outline of a person for all passengers

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOSEPH SHERESHEVSKY, a former Chief Operating Officer of the private equity firm WexTrust Capital, LLC (“WexTrust Capital”), was sentenced today to 262 months in prison on charges stemming from a fraud that raised more than $9 million from investors in private placement real estate offerings. SHERESHEVSKY, 54, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge DENNY CHIN.

Former Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Arrested with Over Six Pounds of Cocaine in his Checked Luggage

Jamaica, N.Y. – Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBP) at JFK Airport intercept a 21 year old man attempting to smuggle over six pounds of cocaine in his luggage. The bag he was carrying contained four pairs of sneakers with narcotics concealed within the soles.

As Congress remains in gridlock, U.S. states are taking the lead in energy efficiency. New research shows 26 now have rules that are lowering utility bills for consumers and reducing the need to build new power plants.

Yesterday, we reported that a woman was spotted strolling the Bowery topless. Yes, full-on topless, no bra, no shirt, just boob.

By Esther Zuckerman

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said his company and his industry would be helped, not hurt, if consumers paid higher gas taxes.

By Chris Isidore

More than half the world's population live in cities, many of which are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change; cities, however, are also emerging as the innovative "first responders" in dealing with climate change; climate change will stress cities in many ways -- there will be more heat waves, threatening the health of the elderly and infirm; droughts will also become more commonplace in many cities, while in coastal communities too much water may be the problem, due to sea-level rise and more extreme coastal flooding

Two years ago, on June 1, 2009, General Motors filed for bankruptcy, backed by $30 billion in support from the federal government.

Erin Lindsay

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2011) — Identifying the human impact of rising sea levels is far more complex than just looking at coastal cities on a map.

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SAMIR BARAI, a/k/a “Sam Barai,” a portfolio manager at two different New York based hedge funds, and SON NGOC NGUYEN, a/k/a “Sonny,” an employee in the finance department of NVIDIA Corporation (“NVIDIA”), pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to charges arising out of their involvement in separate insider trading schemes. BARAI, who had previously been arrested on February 8, 2011, and charged in a criminal complaint, also pled guilty to additional charges, including obstruction of justice, in connection with the insider trading scheme.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), the largest U.S. warehouse-club chain, declined after third-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates, hurt by increasing costs for gasoline.

A mosque in Brooklyn, New York is moving ahead with construction plans after a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by an anti-mosque organization

WASHINGTON – A Brooklyn physical therapist pleaded guilty today for his role in submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for physical therapy services that were medically unnecessary and never provided, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

NEW YORK – The United States has filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG and its wholly owned subsidiary, MortgageIT Inc.  The government’s complaint seeks damages and civil penalties under the False Claims Act for repeated false certifications made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in connection with the residential mortgage origination and sponsorship practices of MortgageIT.  To date, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has paid insurance claims on more than 3,100 mortgages, totaling $386 million, for mortgages endorsed by MortgageIT.

NEW YORK — Robert Groder went to his computer tonight, pointed his browser to a popular website, then scrolled to a link to the bottom of the page. There, he clicked on a link to a spreadsheet, an internal document from the Yankees.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The chapter leader of a violent international street gang in New York was arraigned Friday in federal court on a superseding indictment charging him with murder, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

TRENTON, NJ—A man who pretended to be an Internet telephone service wholesaler today admitted his role in a scheme to steal more than $4.4 million from multiple Voice Over Internet Protocol service providers, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the core of al-Qaeda was concentrated in a single city: Karachi, Pakistan.

At a hospital, the accused mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole was recovering from a tonsillectomy. Nearby, the alleged organizer of the 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, was buying lab equipment for a biological weapons program.

WASHINGTON - One individual and his company in New York, and two others and their company in California, were indicted today in the District of Columbia on charges of illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of computer-related equipment from the United States to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

William Johnson, also known as "Dollar Bill," pleaded guilty today to sex trafficking of a minor between August 2010 and September 2010. The plea was entered this morning before United States District Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf at the U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn. When sentenced, the defendant faces a minimum of 10 years' imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment, as well as forfeiture of his residence and other property used in the commission of his criminal conduct.

NEW YORK - A human resources and labor relations consulting firm on Long Island, N.Y., has signed an IMAGE agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Short for "ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers," IMAGE provides businesses an opportunity to strengthen hiring practices and ensure a legal workforce.

Solar Manufacturing Partnerships will boost American competitiveness in the global solar energy industry and lower the cost of clean, renewable energy

WASHINGTON, DC - As part of the SunShot Initiative, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the selection of up to $112.5 million over five years for funding to support the development of advanced solar photovoltaic (PV)-related manufacturing processes throughout the United States.

Another week, another hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee to perpetuate the myth that the only thing standing between us and energy security are the policies erected by the Obama administration that are supposedly thwarting domestic drilling on public lands. According to a recent statement by committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the "greatest factors" for new drilling are federal regulations and laws:

Federal regulations and laws, especially those imposed by the Obama Administration, are the greatest factors affecting the pace of developing leases. The Administration has imposed regulation after regulation, roadblock after roadblock, and now wants to turn around and say production is not moving fast enough.

There's an open space on the wall in the Gauguin exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.

On Friday afternoon, a 53-year-old Alexandria woman allegedly tried to damage the painting, "Two Tahitian Women," by hitting the plexiglass cover and pulling it from the wall, a National Gallery of Art spokesperson stated.

Anthony Weiner at Congressional Correspondents Dinner

Veteran chat show host David Letterman has picked up the highest honour at the first annual US Comedy Awards.

Letterman, 63, was presented with the Johnny Carson award for comedic excellence at the event in New York.

NEW YORK - A federal jury convicted a Guatemalan national Thursday on charges related to alien smuggling and transporting a minor for sex, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

One hundred years ago today, New York City suffered the deadliest industrial disaster in its history. The memory of the 146 people who lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire stands as a reminder that legal protections and workplace safety standards were won through a long struggle for social justice and at great human cost.

--Eric Schneiderman

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., has returned a two- count indictment against Shaoxia Huang, Shaoxiong Zhou and Shaowu Zhou for trafficking in counterfeit goods and conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch for the Eastern District of New York.

As noted in the previous section, many of the violent crimes being committed by illegal aliens are sexual crimes. This section will deal with that aspect of the crimes.

Travel in Luxury to the Super Bowl and All-Star Game; Pay Off Prior Investors as Part of a Ponzi Scheme; and Fund a Failed Investment Venture and Undisclosed Third Party Businesses

GREENBELT, MD—A federal jury convicted Michael Anthony Hickson, age 48, of Commack, New York; Isaac Jerome Smith, age 48, of Spotsylvania, Virginia; and Alvita Karen Gunn, age 33, of Hanover, Maryland today of fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with their participation in a massive mortgage fraud scheme which promised to pay off homeowners' mortgages on their "Dream Homes," but left them to fend for themselves. In addition to the above described convictions, Hickson, chief financial officer of Metro Dream Homes (MDH), was also convicted of making a false statement in a federal court proceeding.

MASSENA, N.Y. — Border Patrol agent Glenn Pickering slowed his rumbling snowmobile to a stop and eyed two trails of churned-up snow running down a riverbank.

NEW YORK – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele M. Leonhart and Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the unsealing of charges against seven defendants for conspiring to provide various forms of support to DEA confidential sources whom they believed to be representatives of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton presented a painting by Edgar Degas, "Blanchisseuses Souffrant Des Dents," to the acting French Ambassador to the United States, François Rivasseau. The painting, completed between 1870 to 1872, depicts two views of a laundress with a toothache.

China is a key market for U.S. exports. Those exports are generating jobs in every corner of the United States and across every major sector. These involve some of our country's largest companies, but also an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises.

NEW YORK—Arthur Cutillo, an attorney, pled guilty today to conspiracy and securities fraud charges arising from an insider trading scheme in which Cutillo misappropriated from his employer material, nonpublic information regarding law firm clients for securities trading, announced Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Cutillo received cash payments for this inside information. Cutillo pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan.

Last week, a long-time member and so-called "shot caller" for the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens (VHG) street gang in Los Angeles, California was sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping coordinate the racketeering activities of the gang, including carjackings, kidnappings, and drug trafficking. A sheriff's deputy was also murdered during the VHG's reign.

New York congressman Peter King was on Laura Ingraham's radio show Thursday, and he was asked by Ingraham how the political aftermath would've played out had the suspected shooter in Arizona been a Muslim.

David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement and pro-polluter front groups by loudly tacking his name to more laudable charities, like the New York city ballet.

Broad sustainability initiatives show hotel's 'triple bottom line' commitment

December 9, 2010, New York, NY -- Sterling Planet, Inc. announced today that the InterContinental New York Barclay, New York City's landmark historic hotel, is now supporting 100 percent wind energy. Sterling Planet, a leading renewable energy provider, supplies the 685-room luxury hotel with wind energy through renewable energy certificates (RECs).The Barclay is among the first New York hotels to source 100% wind energy.

The snowstorm that mangled New York saved the life of one Manhattan man.

A troubled Hell's Kitchen resident jumped from his ninth-floor apartment window yesterday -- but survived because he landed atop a mountain of trash bags that had been piling up since the Dec. 26 blizzard, cops said.

--Perry Chiaramonte,Jennifer Bain & Cathy Burke

Representative Peter King (R-New York), the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, was interviewed by Homeland Security NewsWire's editor-in-chief, Ben Frankel; King's top three priorities as chairman: examine radicalization in the U.S. Muslim community; air cargo security; and measures to prevent the detonation of dirty bombs in American cities

MIAMI - Herman Rafael Solorzano Caguaripano, 58, and his son, Herman Alejandro Solorzano Rincon, 32, both of Doral, Fla., were sentenced to prison for conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds using the Venezuelan Black Market, following an investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A defendant indicted in a document fraud case that yielded the identification of a ring of nationals from Trinidad and Tobago who conspired to obtain genuine South Carolina driver's licenses was arrested in Boston Thursday by special agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

WASHINGTON — A former sales representative of a Lyndhurst, N.J.-based industrial pipe supply company pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to commit fraud and pay bribes to a Consolidated Edison of New York (Con Edison) purchasing manager in return for the manager's efforts to steer contracts to the sales representative's company, the Department of Justice announced today.