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PA FREON TAX FRAUD SCHEME LEADS TO INDICT. OF FOUR IN MIAMI

Release Date: 09/07/96
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PA FREON TAX FRAUD SCHEME LEADS TO INDICT. OF FOUR IN MIAMI

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1996

FREON TAX FRAUD SCHEME LEADS TO
INDICTMENT OF FOUR IN MIAMI

On Sept. 4, Roland Wood, Diane McNally, Lisa Salazar and Refrigeration U.S.A. Inc., were named in a 164-count indictment alleging violations of the Clean Air Act, anti-smuggling laws and conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. According to the indictment, the defendants unlawfully imported more than four thousand tons of CFC-12, an ozone-depleting refrigerant gas commonly known as Freon, into the United States and failed to pay more than $22 million in excise taxes. The defendants allegedly submitted false bills of lading to EPA by asserting that the imported Freon had been re-exported, when, in fact, it was sold domestically by the defendants or their agents. Wood was also charged with violating money laundering statutes and with tax evasion; McNally with perjury and Salazar with making false statements to a government agency. If convicted on all charges, the individuals charged as defendants each face potential sentences of over 625 years imprisonment and maximum individual fines exceeding $30 million. The case was investigated by agents from EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Customs Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

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