WASHINGTON – A federal judge has ordered that William J. Kennedy, of Livermore, Calif., be barred from selling “corporation sole” tax fraud schemes, the Justice Department announced today. The preliminary injunction order was entered following a hearing before Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Some states authorize corporations sole to enable religious leaders to hold property and conduct business, the government complaint in the case states. But tax benefits are available to a corporation sole (or any other organization) only if the organization qualifies as a tax-exempt religious or charitable organization under federal tax laws. The court order states that Kennedy falsely advised customers that corporations sole used for their personal benefit can qualify as tax-exempt religious organizations.

According to papers filed in the case, Kennedy charged customers $25,000 to participate in the scheme. The court’s order requires Kennedy to give the government a list with his customers’ names, addresses, and to notify them of the injunction. More information related to this case can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06587.htm.

Corporation-sole scams are listed in the IRS’s annual list of the “Dirty Dozen” tax scams at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=136337,00.html. The Justice Department has obtained permanent injunctions against a number of people who sell corporation-sole scams. Two examples are found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv05657.htm and http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv05030.htm.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 220 tax preparers and tax-fraud promoters. More information about the Justice Department's efforts against tax-scam promoters can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2007.htm. Information about the Justice Department's Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.

PETALUMA, Calif., Feb. 7, 2007 -- Primetime news program Lou Dobbs Tonight dropped an investigative story exposing the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small-business set-aside contracts to some of the nation's largest corporations and defense contractors just hours before the segment was to air on CNN.

As part of Dobb's series, "The Attack on the Middle Class,"
the show's producers spent several weeks researching and filming the segment featuring Lloyd Chapman, contracting expert and president of the American Small Business League. During his interview with CNN, Chapman discussed a series of 13 federal investigations by the Government Accountability Office, Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy and the SBA Office of Inspector General that found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts were diverted to Fortune 500 corporations. The Bush Administration reported these contracts - awarded to firms like L3-Communications, General Dynamics, Halliburton and major CNN advertisers Boeing and Lockheed - as "small business" awards.

CNN producers told Chapman that the segment had been pulled
in the wake of more pressing news stories but assured him
that it would air shortly. After three months of waiting, Chapman has concluded that the station abruptly pulled the story to avoid embarrassing its major advertisers and has no intention of ever airing the segment.

"CNN is never going to run that story," said Chapman. "I think they pulled it because it was unflattering to its major advertisers, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. CNN's
reputation as the most trusted name in news obviously doesn't apply when you're talking about its advertisers."

Chapman points to a story featured on the highly rated blog
The Daily Kos, "Advertising as Payola: Who really owns CNN," that also suggests firms like Lockheed and Boeing, who have no products to sell to the general public, advertise on major networks to gain influence over the media outlet.

The latest government figures report Boeing with 37 federal small business awards, totaling $495,319,668. Lockheed Martin received $223,210,917 in federal small business awards and Fortune 500 defense contractor L-3 Communications was the top recipient of small business contracts with $650,143,831. The ASBL projects that up to $65 billion a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to the top two percent of firms in the US.

For more information about the American Small Business
League, see http://www.asbl.com.

WASHINGTON – Vetco Gray Controls Inc., Vetco Gray Controls Ltd., and Vetco Gray UK Ltd., wholly owned subsidiaries of Vetco International Ltd., have pleaded guilty to violating the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced today.

At a hearing today before U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes in the Southern District of Texas, the companies pleaded guilty to violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, as well as conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Additionally, Aibel Group Ltd., another wholly owned subsidiary of Vetco International, simultaneously entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department regarding the same underlying conduct. As part of the plea and deferred prosecution agreements, it was agreed that Vetco Gray Controls Inc., Vetco Gray Controls Ltd., and Vetco Gray UK Ltd. would pay criminal fines of $6 million, $8 million, and $12 million, respectively, for a total of $26 million. This total fine amount represents the largest criminal fine to date in a FCPA prosecution by the Justice Department.

In the charging and plea documents, Vetco Gray Controls Inc., Vetco Gray Controls Ltd., and Vetco Gray UK Ltd. admitted that they violated and conspired to violate the FCPA in connection with the payment of approximately $2.1 million in corrupt payments over approximately a two-year period to Nigerian government officials. These corrupt payments were paid through a major international freight forwarding and customs clearance company to employees of the Nigerian Customs Service, and coordinated largely through Vetco Gray Controls Inc.'s offices in Houston. Additionally, Aibel Group Ltd. agreed in its deferred prosecution agreement to accept responsibility for similar conduct by its employees.

As the charging and plea documents reflect, beginning in February 2001, Vetco Gray UK began providing engineering and procurement services and subsea construction equipment for Nigeria's first deepwater oil drilling project, the Bonga Project. Several Vetco Gray UK affiliates, including Aibel Group Ltd., Vetco Gray Controls Inc., and Vetco Gray Controls Ltd., supplied Vetco Gray UK with employees and manufacturing equipment for the project. From at least September 2002 to at least April 2005, each of the defendants engaged the services of a major international freight forwarding and customs clearing company and, collectively, authorized that agent to make at least 378 corrupt payments totaling approximately $2.1 million to Nigerian Customs Service officials to induce those officials to provide the defendants with preferential treatment during the customs process.

“This case represents the largest criminal penalty the Department of Justice has ever sought in a Foreign Corrupt Practices case and confirms our commitment to root out corruption,” said Deputy Attorney General McNulty. “The Department of Justice will continue its efforts to assure a level playing field for businesses operating abroad.”

This is the second time since July 2004 Vetco Gray UK has pled guilty to violating the FCPA. On July 6, 2004, Vetco Gray UK, previously named ABB Vetco Gray UK Ltd., and an affiliated company pleaded guilty to violating the antibribery provision of the FCPA in connection with the payment of more than $1 million in bribes to officials of NAPIMS, a Nigerian government agency that evaluates and approves potential bidders for contract work on oil exploration projects. ABB Vetco Gray UK Ltd. was renamed Vetco Gray UK Ltd. following an acquisition by a group of private equity entities of the upstream oil and gas businesses and assets of its parent corporation, ABB Handels-und Verwaltungs AG (“ABB”). The July 12, 2004 acquisition included the sale of Vetco Gray UK and the predecessors to the two other Vetco International subsidiaries that pleaded guilty today. In anticipation of the July 12, 2004 acquisition, the private equity acquirers requested and the Justice Department issued an FCPA Opinion Release (No. 2004-02) ( http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa/o0402.htm). The Opinion Release required the acquirers to effectively institute and implement a compliance system, internal controls, training, and other procedures sufficient to have deterred and detected violations of the FCPA, among other obligations. The corrupt payments underlying today’s guilty pleas continued unabated from the period prior to the acquisition until at least mid-2005, notwithstanding the acquirer’s commitments to the Justice Department under the Opinion Release. The sale to new owners, the prior directives issued by the Department of Justice, and Vetco Gray UK’s prior FCPA conviction were all taken into account under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in calculating the $12 million criminal fine against Vetco Gray UK Ltd.

The resolution of the criminal investigation of Vetco International and its subsidiaries resulted, in large part, from the actions of Vetco International in voluntarily disclosing the matter to the Justice Department and Vetco International’s subsidiaries’ agreement to take significant remedial steps. In addition to the criminal fines, the plea agreements also require the defendants to: (1) hire an independent monitor to oversee the creation and maintenance of a robust compliance program; (2) undertake and complete an investigation of the companies’ conduct in various other countries as originally required under FCPA Opinion Release No. 2004-02; and (3) ensure that in the event that any of the companies are sold, the sale shall bind any future purchaser to the monitoring and investigating obligations.

WASHINGTON – A federal court in Minnesota has issued a permanent order barring Nash Sonibare, who operated Liberty Financial Group in St. Paul, Minn., from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The permanent injunction order was entered on February 5, 2007, by Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

The government complaint alleged that Sonibare, a Nigerian immigrant, repeatedly prepared returns for his customers containing false or inflated credits and deductions. The complaint alleged that many of Sonibare’s customers are recent immigrants with limited English-language skills from various African countries, including Somalia, Ethopia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.

The court found that Sonibare repeatedly prepared federal income tax returns that contained false or inflated Schedule C expenses, false Schedule C businesses, false or inflated Schedule C business losses, false education credits, false dependency exemptions, and other fraudulent items. A Schedule C reports profits and losses from businesses and is used for sole proprietorships.

The Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions against more than 220 federal tax promoters and preparers since 2001. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Tax Division’s Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.- Goldman Scarlato & Karon, P.C., a law firm with offices in Pennsylvania and Ohio, announces that a lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, on behalf of persons who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded securities of Powerwave Technologies Inc. (“Powerwave” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:PWAV) between May 2, 2005 and October 9, 2006, inclusive, (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit was filed against Powerwave and certain officers and directors (“Defendants”).

If you are a member of this class and wish to view a copy of a complaint and join this class action, please e-mail us at info@gsk-law.com and request a copy of the complaint and a plaintiff certification. If you are a member of the Class, you may move the Court no later than April 2, 2007 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the Class. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint alleges that Defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Defendants made a series of materially false and misleading statements or failed to disclose certain adverse facts, including; (1) problems associated with the implementation of the Company’s enterprise resource management system; (2) that Defendants had overstated Powerwave’s profitability and understated its expenses and acquisition integration costs; (3) that the Company did not have adequate internal controls; and, (4) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants lacked any reasonable basis to claim that Powerwave was operating according to plan and could achieve financial guidance issued by Defendants.

On October 9, 2006, Powerwave announced preliminary financial results for the third quarter of 2006. The press release announced that the Company expected revenue for the quarter to be in the range of $155 million to $160 million, approximately $50 million below the Company’s previous guidance. In reaction to the news, shares of Powerwave fell from $7.79 per share to $6.41 per share, a decline of approximately 17.7%.

If you bought Powerwave securities between May 2, 2005 and October 9, 2006, inclusive, and would like to obtain information about the lawsuit, then you are invited to call (888) 668-4130 to speak with an advisor.