NewsWatch

The company’s headquarters are now in Alameda, Calif., with a location in Rockville.

Founded by J. Craig Venter to complete the human genome and sell genomic data, Celera has in recent years evolved into strictly a diagnostics business, still largely based on genomics, to deliver personalized disease management products and services, such as a heart attack screening test.

Constellation Energy buys uranium firm

Constellation Energy Commodities Group Ltd., a subsidiary of Constellation Energy of Baltimore, has acquired uranium trading firm Nufcor International Ltd. from AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and FirstRand International Ltd.

Nufcor, through its subsidiary Nufcor Capital Ltd., will continue to act as the uranium market adviser to Nufcor Uranium and will operate out of London. Terms were not disclosed.

Sagentia opensU.S. office in Fulton

Technology consulting company Sagentia Inc. of Cambridge, U.K., has opened its U.S. headquarters in Fulton. The company, with 20 employees in a 4,000-square-foot space, is one of the first tenants in a new Class A office building in the Maple Lawn development.

‘‘The new location provides Sagentia easy access to potential and existing clients including The Johns Hopkins institutions – Applied Physics Lab, Medical Center and Hospital; the National Institute of Health; and the Food and Drug Administration,” Sagentia president Paul Fearis said in a statement.

Rexahn selectedfor Russell 3000

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals of Rockville, involved in the discovery, development and commercialization of treatments for cancer, central nervous system disorders, sexual dysfunction and other ailments, has been added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index as part of Russell Investments’ recent reconstitution of its U.S. and global equity indexes.

The Russell 3000 measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies, according to market-capitalization rankings and style attributes. It also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index.

Argan raises $25Mfor wind project

Argan Inc., a Rockville company that primarily designs and builds electric generating plants, reported raising about $25 million in a private placement of 2.2 million shares of common stock.

Proceeds will help Argan in its new joint venture with Invenergy Wind to design and build wind farms in the Midwest and Canada, according to a statement by chairman and CEO Rainer Bosselmann.

Argan also owns Southern Maryland Cable and Vitarich Laboratories.

Mitchellville physiciangets 5 years for fraud

Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, 48, a Mitchellville physician, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to 65 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for tax evasion and health care fraud. Judge Alexander Williams Jr. ordered that Okafor pay restitution of $769,192 to federal and state taxing authorities and $33,061 to Medicare, according to information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the plea agreement, Okafor operated a medical practice, The Okafor Group, and from 1997 through 2005 evaded his taxes by reporting false information to the Internal Revenue Service and tax preparers regarding his personal income and the gross receipts from his medical practice; establishing sham corporations in the Bahamas to create false expenses and disguise personal income; and diverting money from his medical practice by writing checks from the corporate bank account for personal expenses.