CHICAGO, Jan. 25 - The Chicago law firm Harris Kessler & Goldstein LLC has merged with McDonald Hopkins LLC - a full-service business law firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, effective Feb. 1, 2007. Harris Kessler & Goldstein will maintain its current office at 640 North LaSalle Street and will operate under the name McDonald Hopkins.

McDonald Hopkins has more than 120 attorneys, with offices in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and West Palm Beach, Florida. The firm offers services in all aspects of business law, litigation, business restructuring and estate planning services.

Delivering the same personalized legal services as they have since founding the firm in 1995, lead practice group attorneys Steve Harris, Rick Kessler, John Goldstein and Ryann Whalen will continue the firm's focus on corporate law, healthcare, real estate, estate planning and commercial litigation, with added resources from McDonald Hopkins' experienced attorneys.

"As part of a larger organization, we can now offer our clients enhanced services with deeper resources and immediate access to a network of accomplished attorneys and professionals," said Steve Harris, Chicago office co-managing shareholder. "McDonald Hopkins complements our culture, operating philosophies and legal strengths. This opportunity will help us better serve our existing clients throughout the greater Chicago area and beyond."

"For the 80-year-old McDonald Hopkins, the merger represents a strategic advancement to provide legal business services in the Chicago area and reach deeper into the Midwest," said firm president, Joseph J. LoPresti.

"As a significant regional firm, Chicago is an important step in our long- term business strategy and the attorneys from Harris Kessler & Goldstein share our goals," he said.

McDonald Hopkins, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a full-service business law firm with more than 120 attorneys with offices in Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; West Palm Beach, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; and Chicago, Illinois. For more information visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

Federal authorities arrested a Mississippi man Wednesday for the 1964 kidnapping and deaths of two black men in another reopened civil rights-era case. James Ford Seale, now 71 years old, was originally arrested in 1964 on suspicion of kidnapping two young black men, Henry Dee and Charles Moore, who were later found dead in the Mississippi river, but was released due to a lack of evidence after providing information to the FBI.

In 2000, after the Clarion-Ledger reported on the contents of Seale's file, the US Justice Department reopened the case, but the LA Times and later, the Clarion-Ledger reported that Seale had in fact died. Thomas Moore, brother of Charles Moore, had pushed for the case to be reopened again, but authorities hesitated, until the 2005 conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for the civil rights era deaths of three civil rights workers.

Seale will be arraigned Thursday in Jackson, Mississippi, on kidnapping charges.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether criminal conspiracy charges brought against former US Rep. Tom Delay were properly dismissed at trial. Charges of conspiracy to violate election law and conspiracy to commit money laundering were dismissed last December after the trial court found that the Texas campaign finance statute was explicitly extended to allow the laying of criminal conspiracy charges only after DeLay's alleged wrongful acts. In April, the Texas Third Court of Appeals affirmed that decision but refused to dismiss actual money laundering charges against DeLay.

Prosecutors Wednesday asked the court to either overrule or distinguish those cases. Lawyers for DeLay argued that DeLay would not have had fair notice that his conduct was illegal at the time it occurred unless the statute then explicitly contemplated criminal conspiracy charges, which it did not, and that the legislature's subsequent amendment of the statute to include those charges showed that criminal conspiracy to violate election laws was a crime at the time of DeLay's actions.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department today reached a partial settlement with the owner, builder, architect and civil engineer of the West Loch Village, a 150-unit apartment complex in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Today’s agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, partially resolves allegations of disability discrimination in the design and construction of the complex.

The original complaint was filed to enforce provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act that require recently constructed dwellings to include features designed to make the dwellings more accessible to persons with physical disabilities. The Department’s suit was brought as a result of a referral to the Justice Department by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Under the partial settlement, which must be approved by the court, the defendants, (the City and County of Honolulu; Mecon Hawaii Limited; Yamasato, Fujiwara, Higa & Associates Inc.; Hawaii Affordable Properties Inc.; and R.M. Towill Corp.) will pay all costs related to making the apartment complex accessible to persons with disabilities. The defendants must also establish a $75,000 fund which will be used to compensate individuals harmed by the inaccessible housing. The settlement also requires the defendants to undergo training on the requirements of the Fair Housing Act.

"Accessible housing is a necessity for people with disabilities," said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "These types of design and construction cases reflect the Justice Department’s commitment to enforcing this nation’s fair housing laws."

The United States’ claim against the City and County of Honolulu, alleging that one resident of the complex was hurt when he fell due to the design and construction defects, is not settled by this partial settlement agreement.

Fighting illegal housing discrimination is a top priority of the Justice Department. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced Operation Home Sweet Home, a concentrated initiative to expose and eliminate housing discrimination in America. This initiative was inspired by the plight of displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina who were suddenly forced to find new places to live. Operation Home Sweet Home is not limited to the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and targets housing discrimination all over the country. More information about Operation Home Sweet Home is available at the Justice Department Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/fairhousing. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line (1-800-896-7743), email the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov, or contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.

The PBSJ Corp. (PBSJ), a design and engineering firm based in Florida, has paid more than $6.4 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false and fraudulent claims to the government, the Justice Department announced.

The settlement arises from a $36 million embezzlement scheme that took place between 1992 and 2005 and was perpetrated by PBSJ’s former Chief Financial Officer and two other employees. The scheme involved shifting funds and fabricating entries in the company’s books and records to cover up the fraud, and resulted in PBSJ’s audited overhead rates being overstated.

The settlement also resolves unrelated issues concerning how PBSJ treated certain indirect costs that also contributed to PBSJ’s audited overhead rates being overstated. The inaccurate overhead rates were submitted to the United States in connection with hundreds of contracts with federal agencies for the purposes of contract qualification, contract negotiation, contract billing, and applicable contract and audit reporting requirements. As a result, PBSJ submitted claims to the United States under federal contracts that were false or fraudulent because the claims relied on and incorporated the overstated overhead rates. More than a dozen federal agencies were affected by the fraud, including the Departments of the Army, Transportation, Interior and Homeland Security.

"Companies that enter into contracts with the government must maintain accounting controls and procedures that ensure that the costs and rates that they submit to the government are accurate," said Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler of the Civil Division.

Previously, three individuals responsible for the embezzlement, CFO William Scott Deloach, Maria Garcia, and Rosario Licata, pleaded guilty on Sept. 28, 2006 in the Southern District of Florida and currently await sentencing. The criminal investigation of the individuals was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the FBI, Miami Field Division.

The civil investigation of PBSJ was conducted by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Transportation, and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

WASHINGTON – American-based ship operator, Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM), was sentenced today for deliberate acts of pollution involving a fleet of four ships, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced PGM to pay a $1 million criminal fine, $500,000 for community service and serve three years of probation under the terms of a rigorous Environmental Compliance Program (ECP), which is subject to court approval.

According to documents filed in court, including a Joint Factual Statement signed by the company’s chief executive officer, PGM admitted that the ships illegally discharged hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil-contaminated bilge waste without the use of an oily water separator, a required pollution prevention device. Instead, the ships used secret bypass pipes, sometimes referred to as a “magic pipe,” to circumvent the oily water separator.

After learning of the federal investigation, PGM voluntarily disclosed to investigators the results of an internal investigation comprised of approximately 50 reports of interviews with various current and former employees who had worked aboard the four giant “Car Carrier” vessels used to transport vehicles. Many of the interviews contained confessions, admissions or otherwise revealed incriminating information and evidence of illegal conduct, according to documents filed in court.

Both the Department of Justice and the EPA have voluntary disclosure programs under which a company can seek non-prosecution if it discovers violations and reports them in a timely manner prior to a government investigation. Prosecutors advised the court today that while PGM’s cooperation occurred after the initiation of the criminal investigation, it was nevertheless substantial and warranted significant credit. At the sentencing hearing today, Judge Nickerson recognized that PGM had provided significant cooperation in the government’s investigation.

“We will continue to prosecute companies who use our oceans as dumping grounds until those shipping companies clean up their acts,” said David M. Uhlmann, Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “But this case also demonstrates that companies like PGM can help right their wrongs by cooperating with criminal investigators, and we are hopeful that others will follow PGM's example by identifying misconduct within their organizations and voluntarily disclosing that information to law enforcement officials.”

“We will continue to work to protect the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland’s other waterways by prosecuting people and companies that pollute them in violation of federal law,” said Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. “We are fortunate that PGM responded in this case by accepting responsibility for its actions and assisting in our investigation.” Under the terms of the plea agreement, half of the $500,000 community service payment will fund environmental projects to improve, restore or study water quality in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, while the other half will fund environmental education for mariners at U.S. maritime schools.

PGM admitted that its shore-side management “failed to provide sufficient management resources and support to the ships, and also failed to exercise sufficient supervision and management controls to prevent or detect criminal violations by its employees.” The motive for the criminal conduct was to save money, according to papers filed in court.

The investigation was conducted by the Chesapeake Regional Office of the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigation Division. Additional assistance was provided by U.S. Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, U.S. Coast Guard Activities Europe, U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District Legal Office, Coast Guard Office of International and Maritime Law, and Coast Guard Headquarters Office of Investigations and Analysis. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

WASHINGTON – A Cross Lanes, W. Va. man has been convicted of producing, receiving, and possessing child pornography, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller of the Southern District of West Virginia announced today.

Following a five-day jury trial that began last Wednesday, David A. Hicks was found guilty on two counts of producing child pornography, two additional counts of possessing child pornography, and one count of receiving child pornography over the Internet. The trial was held in U.S. District Court in Charleston, W. Va. and U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin presided.

The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that Hicks, a father of two girls under the age of ten, frequently had his older daughter’s friends spend the night as guests. Five of these juveniles, girls between the ages of nine and 12, testified that Hicks frequently took photos of them while they were at the home, commented on his ability to see through their clothing, walked in on them while they were changing or bathing, watched and photographed them through the blinds of the home while they were swimming in his pool, and physically touched more than one of them inappropriately. Hicks stored photos of the girls on his computer in a special archive folder, including photos of his daughter’s friends either nude or partially nude. The two charges of production of child pornography were based on two photos taken in Hicks’s bathtub that depicted one of the girls in a sexually suggestive position.

Evidence at trial also revealed that Hicks was a trained computer expert who maintained a computer in his bedroom that had four separate hard drives. These hard drives contained thousands of images and movies of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The images on these hard drives were the basis of one of the possession charges. Investigators also testified that they seized several CDs from Hicks’ bedroom that contained similar images of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Finally, forensic analysis of the computers and CDs revealed that Hicks searched for sexually explicit movie clips of children using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, and then downloaded the movie clips to his computer. Hicks’s use of the Internet to download movie clips containing graphic images of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct was the basis of the receipt charge.

Sentencing is currently set for April 19, 2007. Hicks faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison for each of the two production charges, a minimum sentence of 5 years and up to 15 years in prison for the receipt charge, and up to 10 years in prison for each of the two possession charges. The judge also approved the forfeiture of the child pornography and related computer equipment seized during the investigation.

This case was investigated by Special Agents Mike Ritzman and Jack Remaly of the FBI. The forensic analysis was conducted by Melinda Cash of the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Forbes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and Trial Attorney Steve Grocki of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division.