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In July 2013, a Colorado-based electronic waste recovery company, its owner and vice president were sentenced for multiple crimes committed in the process of illegally disposing of electronic waste. The company was registered with the State of Colorado as a “large quantity handler of universal wastes,” represented itself to customers as having “extensive knowledge of current EPA requirements” and advertised that it disposed of electronic wastes in compliance with all local state and federal laws. Moreover, the company stated it recycled the waste “properly, right here in the U.S.” and did not export it overseas.
In fact, according to the EPA, the company regularly exported the waste, which was primarily cathode ray tubes (CRTs) known to contain lead, and from 2005 to 2009 devised a scheme to defraud customers, including government entities “by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses.” In the investigation the EPA found that between 2005 and 2008 the company appeared as the company of record on more than 300 exports with 160 of them containing more than 100,000 CRTS. The shipments were negotiated through brokers that represented foreign buyers or sold the waste overseas.
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Violations in the case included mail and wire fraud, failure to file notification of intent to export hazardous waste, exportation contrary to law, and destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations and bankruptcy. As a result of the 11-day federal grand jury trial, the company was given three-years probation and a $4,500,000 fine, while the owner was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison with three years supervised release, a fine of $7,500 and $70,144 in restitution. The company vice president was sentenced to 14 months in prison, a $7,500 fine and more than $15,000 in restitution. In addition, the presiding Judge ordered $142,241.10 in asset forfeiture.
Another costly case is that of a Panama City, Florida company and its owner convicted of illegal dredging and federal wetlands violations that culminated in the largest criminal wetland violation fine in state history. The Clean Water Act (CWA) wetland violations took place from 2005 to 2010 when the company used heavy equipment to alter and fill wetlands on property it controlled, but did so without a permit. In addition, the company owner also admitted to involvement in the illegal dredging of an upland cut basin in Allanton, Florida that included a channel connecting the basin to the East Bay.
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In the trial, the owner pleaded guilty to knowingly violating the Rivers and Harbors Act in the dredging activities resulting in a criminal fine of $100,000 and a $25 special monetary assessment. The company was sentenced to three years probation, and levied a fine of $2.5 million, a special monetary assessment of $400, and a community service payment of $1 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for diverse conservation, restoration and management projects that will help mitigate the damage done.
In addition, five separate civil settlements were reached with other companies owned by the same defendant that will accomplish a number of goals including:
- Restoration of approximately 58.63 acres of wetlands and upland buffers including water quality studies,
- Conduct stormwater corrective actions and water quality studies at the Allanton Shipyard,
- Conduct stormwater corrective actions and water quality studies at the Nelson Street Shipyard,
- Conduct stormwater improvements at property it owns located in Panama City, Florida, and
- Remove unauthorized fill materials from property located in Panama City Beach, Florida.
These settlements include civil fines of an additional $17,270 paid to the state’s Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund, as well as the payment of $171,641.25 in severed dredge materials fees to the Florida Internal Improvement Trust Fund.