HOME BUILDER RESOLVES ALLEGATIONS OF CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

FROM:  U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Home-builder Toll Brothers Inc. to Pay $741,000 Clean Water Act Penalty and Implement Company-Wide Stormwater Controls 
Settlement to prevent millions of pounds of sediment and polluted stormwater runoff from entering U.S. waterways each year
WASHINGTON –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Toll Brothers Inc., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, will pay a civil penalty of $741,000 to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at its construction sites, including sites located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Toll Brothers will also invest in a company-wide stormwater compliance program to improve employee training and increase management oversight at all current and future residential construction sites across the nation. The company is required to inspect its current and future construction sites routinely to minimize stormwater runoff from sites. Polluted stormwater runoff and sediment from construction sites can flow directly into the nearest waterway, affecting drinking water quality and damaging valuable aquatic habitats.

“Keeping contaminated stormwater runoff out of the nation’s waterways, like the Chesapeake Bay, is one of EPA’s top priorities,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance and Assurance. “Today’s settlement will improve oversight of stormwater runoff at construction sites across the country and protect America’s waters.”

“This settlement will help protect the nation’s waters from the harmful pollutants contained in stormwater runoff from construction sites,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The settlement requires Toll Brothers to implement system-wide management controls and training that will help prevent polluted stormwater runoff from contaminating rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water.”

EPA estimates the settlement will prevent millions of pounds of sediment from entering U.S. waterways every year, including sediment that would otherwise enter the Chesapeake Bay, North America’s largest and most biologically diverse estuary. The bay and its tidal tributaries are threatened by pollution from a variety of sources and are overburdened with nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that can be carried by stormwater.

The complaint, filed simultaneously with the settlement agreement, alleges over 600 stormwater violations that were discovered through site inspections and by reviewing documentation submitted by Toll Brothers. The majority of the alleged violations involve Toll Brothers’ repeated failures to comply with permit requirements at its construction sites, including requirements to install and maintain adequate stormwater pollution controls.

The Clean Water Act requires permits for the discharge of stormwater runoff. In general, Toll Brothers’ permits require that construction sites have controls in place to prevent pollution from being discharged with stormwater into nearby waterways. These controls include common-sense safeguards such as silt fences, phased site grading and sediment basins to prevent construction contaminants from entering the nation’s waterways.

The settlement requires Toll Brothers to obtain all required permits, develop site-specific pollution prevention plans for each construction site, conduct additional site inspections beyond those required by stormwater regulations, and document and promptly correct any problems. The company must properly train construction managers and contractors on stormwater requirements and designate trained staff for each site. Toll Brothers must also submit national compliance summary reports to EPA based on management oversight inspections and reviews.

This settlement is the latest in a series of enforcement actions to address stormwater violations from residential construction sites around the country. Construction projects have a high potential for environmental harm because they disturb large areas of land and significantly increase the potential for erosion, and stormwater runoff from sites can pick up other pollutants, including concrete washout, paint, used oil, solvents and trash.

The state of Maryland and the commonwealth of Virginia have joined the settlement and will receive a portion of the $741,000 penalty. The settlement includes Toll Brothers sites in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.

More information about this settlement: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/cwa/tollbrothers.html

FUJIKURA LTD. PLEADS GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING AUTO PARTS INSTALLED IN U.S. CARS

FROM:  DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, April 23, 2012
Fujikura Ltd. Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing on Auto Parts Installed in U.S. Cars Company Agrees to Pay $20 Million Criminal Fine
WASHINGTON – Tokyo-based Fujikura Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $20 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses and related products installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Fujikura engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of automotive wire harnesses and related products sold to an automaker in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Fujikura’s involvement in the conspiracy lasted from at least as early as January 2006 until at least February 2010. According to the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Fujikura has agreed to pay a criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

“The Antitrust Division will remain vigilant in its efforts to detect and prosecute anticompetitive conduct in this important industry, which affects virtually every American consumer,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “The division has focused its enforcement efforts in industries essential to consumers’ everyday lives, and we, along with our law enforcement partners, have been successful in bringing to justice companies and executives engaged in illegal price fixing conspiracies.”

To date, including Fujikura, eight executives and five companies have been charged and have agreed to plead guilty in the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation into the auto parts industry. Three of the companies have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling more than $748 million. Seven of the executives have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to serve a total of more than 122 months in jail.

Fujikura manufactures and sells automotive wire harnesses, which are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring and circuit boards in cars.

According to the charge, Fujikura and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by agreeing, during meetings and conversations in Japan, to allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses and related products on a model-by-model basis and sold the parts at non-competitive prices to an automaker in the United States and elsewhere.

Fujikura is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine for the company may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

UNLAWFUL PROMOTION OF VIOXX LANDS PHARMA COMPANY WITH $322 MILLION FINE

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Thursday, April 19, 2012
U.S. Pharmaceutical Company Merck Sharp & Dohme Sentenced in Connection with Unlawful Promotion of  Vioxx.  Judge Imposes Nearly $322 Million Fine For Illegal Marketing
American pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharp & Dohme was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris in Boston to pay a criminal fine in the amount of $321,636,000 in connection with its guilty plea related to its promotion and marketing of the painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib), the Justice Department announced today.   In December 2011, Merck pleaded guilty to violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) for introducing a misbranded drug, Vioxx, into interstate commerce.

Merck’s guilty plea was part of a global resolution involving its illegal promotional activity.   In November 2011, Merck entered into a civil settlement agreement under which it will pay $628,364,000 to resolve additional allegations regarding off-label marketing of Vioxx and false statements about the drug’s cardiovascular safety.  Of the total civil settlement, $426,389,000 will be recovered by the United States, and the remaining share of $201,975,000 will be distributed to the participating Medicaid states.   The settlement and today’s sentencing conclude a long-running investigation of Merck’s promotion of Vioxx, which was withdrawn from the marketplace in September 2004.

Merck’s criminal plea related to the misbranding of Vioxx by promoting the drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis, before that use was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Under the provisions of the FDCA, a company is required to specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to FDA.   Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for so-called “off-label” uses – any use not specified in an application and approved by FDA – unless the company applies to the FDA for approval of the additional use.   The FDA approved Vioxx for three indications in May 1999, but did not approve its use for rheumatoid arthritis until April 2002.   In the interim, for nearly three years, Merck promoted Vioxx for rheumatoid arthritis, conduct for which it was admonished in an FDA warning letter issued in September 2001.        

At today’s sentencing, Judge Saris said in substance that off label promotion has been a big problem, she has seen a barrage of off-label marketing cases, and that she hoped that the size of today’s settlement and the fact that the government continues to press these cases will send a signal to the industry that this is not acceptable conduct.

The parallel civil settlement covered a broader range of allegedly illegal conduct by Merck.   The settlement resolved allegations that Merck representatives   made inaccurate, unsupported, or misleading statements about Vioxx’s cardiovascular safety in order to increase sales of the drug, resulting in payments by the federal government.   It also resolved allegations that Merck made false statements to state Medicaid agencies about the cardiovascular safety of Vioxx, and that those agencies relied on Merck’s false claims in making payment decisions about the drug.  Finally, like the criminal plea, the civil settlement also recovered damages for allegedly false claims caused by Merck’s unlawful promotion of Vioxx for rheumatoid arthritis.

"The United States will not tolerate unlawful conduct by pharmaceutical companies," said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division.   "As the court's sentence makes clear, those who put profits before patient safety by promoting their products for unapproved uses will be prosecuted and held accountable."

“We are pleased to see this case brought to a conclusion with the recovery of over three hundred million dollars in criminal fines, and a total of almost a billion dollars in combined civil and criminal penalties.  The severity of these criminal and civil sanctions should serve as a reminder of this Office, and this department’s unwavering commitment to holding drug companies fully accountable for failures to comply with their public safety and marketing obligations, and to recovering taxpayer funds that have gone towards the purchase of illegally marketed products,” announced Carmen M. Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. “Any marketing activity that ignores the importance of FDA approval, or that makes unsupported safety claims about a drug is unacceptable, and will be pursued vigorously in both the criminal and civil arena.”
                     
As part of the settlement, Merck also agreed to enter into an expansive corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS-OIG), which will strengthen the system of reviews and oversight procedures imposed on the company.   Although Vioxx is no longer on the market, this ongoing monitoring of Merck’s conduct is aimed to deter and detect similar conduct in the future.

“If all pharmaceutical manufacturers complied with the law, there would be no need for law enforcement actions,” said Susan Waddell, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “But until they stop abusing the health care system and putting profits ahead of patient safety, OIG will continue to vigorously pursue corporations that flout the law.”

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the commitment of FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations to pursue investigations of companies that disregard their regulatory obligations and place profits over the public’s health,” said Mark Dragonetti, Special Agent in Charge for the New York Field Office. “We commend the hard work of the U.S. Attorney's Office and our law enforcement counterparts in bringing about this result.”
“In 2004, the FBI began participating in a seven year investigation that led to Merck's decision to plead guilty to a criminal violation of federal law related to its promotion and marketing of Vioxx and to pay nearly a billion dollars in a criminal fine and civil damages,” said Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Boston. “Merck now knows that no corporation is immune from being held accountable for criminal and civil violations of law and also knows why the FBI, its federal law enforcement partners, and the U.S. Attorney's Office have earned a national reputation for leading the government’s effort to detect, deter and prevent health care fraud.”

This case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.   The investigation was conducted by Office of Inspector General of the Deapartment of Health and Human Services, the FBI, the Office of Criminal Investigations for the FDA, the Veterans Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the Office of the Inspector General for the Office of Personnel Management, the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, and the offices of various state attorneys general.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, HUD, STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS ANNOUNCE FILING $25 BILLION MORTGAGE SETTLEMENT WITH BANKS

The following excerpt is from the U.S. Department of Justice website:
Monday, March 12, 2012
$25 Billion Mortgage Servicing Agreement Filed in Federal Court
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general announced today the filing of their landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.
The federal government and state attorneys general filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia proposed consent judgments with Bank of America Corporation, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc., to resolve violations of state and federal law.    

The unprecedented joint agreement is the largest federal-state civil settlement ever obtained and is the result of extensive investigations by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, HUD and the HUD Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG), and state attorneys general and state banking regulators across the country.

The consent judgments provide the details of the servicers’ financial obligations under the agreement, which include payments to foreclosed borrowers and more than $20 billion in consumer relief; new standards the servicers will be required to implement regarding mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure practices; and the oversight and enforcement authorities of the independent settlement monitor, Joseph A. Smith Jr.
The consent judgments require the servicers to collectively dedicate $20 billion toward various forms of financial relief to homeowners, including: reducing the principal on loans for borrowers who are delinquent or at imminent risk of default and owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth; refinancing loans for borrowers who are current on their mortgages but who owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth; forbearance of principal for unemployed borrowers; anti-blight provisions; short sales; transitional assistance; and benefits for service members.

The consent judgments’ consumer relief requirements include varying amounts of partial credit the servicers will receive for every dollar spent on the required relief activities.  Because servicers will receive only partial credit for many of the relief activities, the agreement will result in benefits to borrowers in excess of $20 billion.  The servicers are required to complete 75 percent of their consumer relief obligations within two years and 100 percent within three years.

In addition to the $20 billion in financial relief for borrowers, the consent judgments require the servicers to pay $5 billion in cash to the federal and state governments.  Approximately $1.5 billion of this payment will be used to establish a Borrower Payment Fund to provide cash payments to borrowers whose homes were sold or taken in foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011, and who meet other criteria.
The court documents filed today also provide detailed new servicing standards that the mortgage servicers will be required to implement.  These standards will prevent foreclosure abuses of the past, such as robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork, and create new consumer protections.  The new standards provide for strict oversight of foreclosure processing, including third-party vendors, and new requirements to undertake pre-filing reviews of certain documents filed in bankruptcy court.  The new servicing standards make foreclosure a last resort by requiring servicers to evaluate homeowners for other loss mitigation options first.  Servicers will be restricted from foreclosing while the homeowner is being considered for a loan modification.  The new standards also include procedures and timelines for reviewing loan modification applications and give homeowners the right to appeal denials.  Servicers will also be required to create a single point of contact for borrowers seeking information about their loans and maintain adequate staff to handle calls.

The consent judgments provide enhanced protections for service members that go beyond those required by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).  In addition, the servicers have agreed to conduct a full review, overseen by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, to determine whether any service members were foreclosed or improperly charged interest in excess of 6 percent on their mortgage in violation of SCRA.

The oversight and enforcement authorities of the settlement’s independent monitor are detailed in the court documents filed today.  The monitor will oversee implementation of the servicing standards and consumer relief activities required by the agreement and publish regular public reports that identify any quarter in which a servicer fell short of the standards imposed in the settlement.  The consent judgments require servicers to remediate any harm to borrowers that are identified in quarterly reviews overseen by the monitor and, in some instances, conduct full look-backs to identify any additional borrowers who may have been harmed.  If a servicer violates the requirements of the consent judgment it will be subject to penalties of up to $1 million per violation or up to $5 million for certain repeat violations.

The consent judgments filed today resolve certain violations of civil law based on mortgage loan servicing activities.  The agreement does not prevent state and federal authorities from pursuing criminal enforcement actions related to this or other conduct by the servicers.  The agreement does not prevent the government from punishing wrongful securitization conduct that will be the focus of the new Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group.  In the servicing agreement, the United States also retains its full authority to recover losses and penalties caused to the federal government when a bank failed to satisfy underwriting standards on a government-insured or government-guaranteed loan; the United States also resolved certain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) origination claims with Bank of America as part of this filing and with Citibank in a separate matter.  The agreement does not prevent any action by individual borrowers who wish to bring their own lawsuits.  State attorneys general also preserved, among other things, all claims against the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), and all claims brought by borrowers.

Investigations were conducted by the U.S. Trustee Program of the Department of Justice, HUD-OIG, HUD’s FHA, state attorneys general offices and state banking regulators from throughout the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Federal Housing Finance Agency-Office of the Inspector General.  The Department of the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture made critical contributions.

The joint federal-state agreement is part of enforcement efforts by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources.  The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

MEDICARE FRAUDSTER SENTENCED TO PRISON

If the cost of government is ever to come into control then fraudsters have to go to prison. The following is an excerpt from the Department of Justice website:

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Patient Recruiter Sentenced to 77 Months in Prison in Connection with $9 Million Medicare Fraud Scam in Detroit
WASHINGTON – Miami resident Reynel Betancourt, 51, was sentenced today to 77 months in prison for his participation in a $9 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).
U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida also sentenced Betancourt to three years of supervised release following his prison term and ordered him to pay approximately $6 million in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-defendants. Betancourt was originally charged by indictment in the Eastern District of Michigan and after his arrest in Miami, he consented to have his case transferred to the Southern District of Florida for his plea and sentencing.
Betancourt pleaded guilty on March 29, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and to one count of money laundering conspiracy. According to the plea documents, beginning approximately in March 2006, Betancourt entered into an agreement with the owners of Dearborn Medical Rehabilitation Center (DMRC) to recruit patients for DMRC, a business that purported to provide infusion and injection therapy services to Medicare patients.
Betancourt admitted to paying patients to sign paperwork claiming that they had received injection therapy services and specialty medications that they did not receive. DMRC billed the Medicare program for more than $9 million in purported infusion therapy treatments, which Betancourt admitted were not medically necessary and not provided. Additionally, Betancourt admitted that he laundered the proceeds of the Medicare fraud conspiracy through two sham corporations that he created solely for the purpose of concealing the fraud proceeds.
The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade for the Eastern District of Michigan; Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the HHS Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Ross and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas W. Biemers of the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Gejaa T. Gobena of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,000 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.3 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.”

IOWA READY-MIX COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPRIACY

The following is an excerpt from the Department of Justice Web site:

WASHINGTON — An Iowa ready-mix concrete company pleaded guilty to participating in three separate conspiracies to fix prices and/or rig bids for the sales of ready-mix concrete, the Department of Justice announced today.
According to a three-count felony charge filed on May 18, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, Iowa, GCC Alliance Concrete Inc., a producer of ready-mix concrete headquartered in Orange City, Iowa, participated in separate conspiracies with three different companies involving agreements to fix prices and/or to rig bids for ready-mix concrete sold to various companies in the northern district of Iowa and elsewhere. The department said that the conspiracies took place during various time periods starting as early as January 2006 to as late as August 2009. Under the terms of the plea agreement, GCC Alliance Concrete has agreed to pay a criminal fine, as determined by the court.
Ready-mix concrete is a product comprised of cement, aggregate (sand and gravel), water and other additives. The concrete generally is produced in a concrete plant and is transported by concrete-mixer trucks to work sites, where it is used in various types of construction projects, including buildings and roads.
According to court documents, GCC Alliance Concrete participated in conspiracies through its former sales manager, Steven VandeBrake, in which he engaged in discussions concerning project bids for sales of ready-mix concrete, submitted rigged bids at collusive and noncompetitive prices to customers in Iowa and elsewhere and accepted payment for sales of ready-mix concrete at predetermined prices. VandeBrake also engaged in discussions and reached agreements regarding the prices on the conspirators' annual price lists for ready-mix concrete sold in Iowa on behalf of GCC Alliance Concrete, the department said.
GCC Alliance Concrete is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Today's charge arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of the ready-mix concrete industry in Iowa and surrounding states. As a result of the investigation, on May 26, 2010, VandeBrake pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracies and, on Feb. 8, 2011, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison and to pay a criminal fine of $829,715. On the same day, Kent Robert Stewart, the president of another Iowa ready-mix concrete company, was sentenced to serve a year and a day in prison and to pay a $83,427 criminal fine for conspiring with VandeBrake to fix prices and rig bids. Stewart pleaded guilty on May 24, 2010. Chad Van Zee, the president of another Iowa ready-mix concrete company, pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2010, to conspiring with VandeBrake to fix prices of ready-mix concrete. Van Zee is scheduled to be sentenced on June 21, 2011.
The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's Chicago Field Office, the FBI's Sioux City Resident Agency and the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sioux City.

TO GASOLINE FRAUDSTERS: THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE WATCHING YOU!

President Obama has said that speculation is one reason the price of oil is rising.   In the following   excerpt  from the Department of Justice Web site, The U.S. Attorney General indicates that he has a plan to fight fraud and price manipulation of the commodities of gasoline and oil:

" The following post appears courtesy of Attorney General Eric Holder
Over the past few years, American businesses and families across the country have suffered the effects of the worst financial crisis in generations. Today, although our economic recovery is gaining steam, it remains critically important that we continue to use every available tool and resource to safeguard consumers against additional – and unnecessary – financial burdens.
For many, rapidly rising gasoline prices pose a serious concern. And while some factors – like regional variations and other lawful reasons for increased prices – may be beyond our control, it is imperative that we take action to identify and address potential cases of fraud and manipulation that may harm families and businesses.
Yesterday, I announced the formation of an Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group to help identify civil or criminal violations in the oil and gasoline markets, and to ensure that American consumers are not harmed by unlawful conduct. Since last month, at President Obama’s request, I have been directing efforts to increase cooperation between the Department of Justice and other groups with relevant authority, including federal agencies and state attorneys general. I am proud to say that this Working Group will enable us to formalize these partnerships, share monitoring information, and exchange ideas about what works – and what doesn’t work – at the state and federal level.
It will foster increased cooperation between investigators and government officials, so we can vigorously enforce state and federal laws against collusion, manipulation and other forms of wrongdoing. It will also allow us to evaluate significant market developments, including the activities of speculators and index traders, so we can anticipate and aggressively pursue cases of suspected illegal activity.
We’ve already proven that this kind of approach can be effective. Our new Working Group will report to me through the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), a partnership formed in late 2009 between agencies, regulators, state attorneys general, and local law enforcement organizations, which has already brought a powerful array of tools to the fight against financial fraud. By building on this work, the Justice Department and its partners can help promote a competitive and fraud-free marketplace – and can do so both efficiently and effectively.
As we work to determine if any laws have been violated and, if so, to swiftly bring those wrongdoers to justice, I am confident that the new Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group will help protect American consumers from unnecessary pain at the pump due to illegal activity. My colleagues and I at the Justice Department and across the administration are committed to stopping criminals who would take advantage of others for personal gain."

It sounds like the Attorney General is doing something positive that might ferret out some really bad and illegal behaviors conducted by speculators and energy businessmen.