Criminal Enforcement FY 2022 Annual Results
2022 Major Criminal Cases
The criminal enforcement program investigates and assists in the prosecution of knowing or negligent environmental violations.
In fiscal year (FY) 2022, the criminal enforcement program opened 117 new cases. An individual defendant was prosecuted in 88% of the criminal cases charged in FY 2022. The criminal enforcement program’s conviction rate was 94% in FY 2022.
Court sentencing in this year’s cases resulted in a total of 21 years of incarceration for individual defendants. Individual and corporate defendants paid $149,312,313 in fines and restitution with $7,862,500 in court-ordered environmental projects. Defendants were required to forfeit an additional $214,110,581 of illegal proceeds in FY 2022.
The following are several case examples that summarize information contained in public press releases.
FCA US LLC (Formerly Chrysler Group LLC)
Statute: Clean Air Act
On August 1, 2022, FCA US LLC (FCA US), formerly Chrysler Group LLC, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Michigan for the company’s conspiracy to defraud U.S. regulators and customers by making false and misleading representations about the design, calibration, and function of the emissions control systems on more than 100,000 Model Year 2014, 2015, and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles, and about these vehicles’ emission of pollutants, fuel efficiency, and compliance with U.S. emissions standards. FCA US LLC was ordered to pay a fine of $96,145,78 and a forfeiture money judgment of $203,572,892. The court also imposed a three-year term of organizational probation. Read the complete case summary.
Summit Midstream Partners LLC
Statute: Clean Water Act
On December 6, 2021, the pipeline company responsible for the discharge of 29 million gallons of oil-contaminated “produced water” – a waste product of hydraulic fracturing – was sentenced to pay a $15 million criminal fine and serve a three-year period of probation in the District of North Dakota. Summit Midstream Partners LLC pled guilty to criminal charges that it violated the Clean Water Act by negligently causing the discharge into U.S. waters in 2014 and deliberately failing to immediately report the spill to federal authorities as required. More than 700,000 barrels were discharged, thereby contaminating Blacktail Creek and nearby land and groundwater. By law, the federal fines in this case will go to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund used to respond and clean up future oil spills. The criminal fine is in addition to a $20 million civil penalty imposed on Summit Midstream Partners LLC and a related company, Meadowlark Midstream Company LLC, to resolve civil violations of the Clean Water Act and North Dakota water pollution control laws. Read the complete case summary.
Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services LLC, Steven Braithwaite and Adam Braithwaite
Statutes: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Violations, and Title 18 of the U.S. Code
On January 14, 2022, Steven Braithwaite, Adam Braithwaite, and their company Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services LLC (NRCS) were sentenced in the District of Nebraska for willful violations of worker safety standards that resulted in two worker deaths, knowing violations of RCRA, knowing submission of false documents to OSHA, and perjury. Steven Braithwaite will serve 30 months in prison and pay $100,000 in restitution. Adam Braithwaite will serve one year and one day in prison and pay $100,000 in restitution. In addition, NRCS and the individual defendants must serve five years of probation and pay a $21,000 fine. On April 14, 2015, NRCS workers were inside and on top of a rail tanker car, removing petroleum residue from inside the tank, when flammable gases in the tanker car ignited and exploded. Two workers died and another was injured in the blast. The explosion took place in a community with potential environmental justice concerns. Read the complete case summary.
Big Lake Gas Plant LP
Statute: Clean Air Act
On February 27, 2022, Big Lake Gas Plant L.P., a subsidiary of West Texas Gas, Inc., was sentenced to pay a $3 million criminal fine in the Northern District of Texas. The company admitted that in April 2018, the plant negligently released approximately 525 pounds of hydrogen sulfide into the ambient air. One employee died as a result of the exposure and another employee was injured while trying to assist the victim. Read the complete case summary.
Monsanto
Statutes: Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
On January 6, 2022, the Monsanto Company pled guilty and was sentenced for illegally using pesticides in a manner inconsistent with its labeling and illegally storing hazardous waste in the District of Hawaii. Monsanto pled guilty to 30 counts of violating FIFRA after it instructed workers to go into corn fields on Oahu in 2020 after a product named Forfeit 280 was sprayed. Federal law prohibits people from entering areas where the pesticide was sprayed within six days of application. The company also pled guilty to two felonies related to unlawfully storing Penncap-M, an acute hazardous waste. Monsanto was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $6 million and a community service payment of $6 million. Read the complete case summary.
Matthew Geouge
Statute: Clean Air Act
On June 23, 2022, Matthew Geouge was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act in the Western District of North Carolina by assisting in the tampering with and rendering inaccurate monitoring devices required to be maintained by the Clean Air Act. In addition to the Clean Air Act violation, Geouge was also sentenced for tax evasion. Geouge was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, six months of which will be in home confinement, and to pay a civil penalty of $1.3 million to EPA and $1.2 million in restitution to the IRS. Geouge grossed more than $10,000,000 from the sales of vehicle tuners, illegal tunes, and related services. He concealed his assets and taxable income from both EPA and the Internal Revenue Service. Three other co-conspirators, John Slagel, Spade Bailey and Josh Davis were sentenced to six months of home detention followed by three years of probation in the Western District of North Carolina after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. They also are required to perform hundreds of hours of community service and pay over $200,000 in criminal fines. The defendants were selling thousands of aftermarket vehicle emissions defeat devices through their companies including Spartan Diesel Technologies and Patriot Diagnostics. Read the complete case summary.
Christopher Young (American Biodiesel, Inc)
Statute: Clean Water Act, Title 18
On October 4, 2021, Christopher Young was sentenced in the Eastern District of California to 18 months in prison and will pay a $50,000 fine for tampering with monitoring equipment, unlawful discharge of industrial wastewater, and conspiracy. Young was Director of Operations for Community Fuels, a biodiesel fuel manufacturer, in the Port of Stockton, California. Young participated in a scheme to discharge hundreds of thousands of gallons of polluted wastewater directly into Stockton’s sewer system after tampering with pH sensors and discharge flow monitors to hide evidence of the dumping. Young also directed others to cause a discharge on various dates using improvised hidden hoses and pipes that ultimately connected to the city’s sewer system. In 2019, American Biodiesel, Inc., registered as Community Fuels, was sentenced to pay a $401,000 criminal fine and ordered restitution in the amount of $256,206 after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act. The releases took place in a community with potential environmental justice concerns. Read the complete case summary.
Kristofer Landell and Stephanie Laskin with Co-defendants Roger Osterhoudt, Gunay Yakup and Madeline Alonge
Statute: Clean Air Act
On December 1, 2021, Kristofer Landell and Stephanie Laskin were sentenced in the Northern District of New York to eight months and 10 months of incarceration respectively, as well as three years of supervised release, for conspiring to violate Clean Air Act regulations that control the safe removal, handling and disposal of asbestos. Asbestos has been determined to cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, an invariably fatal disease. Co-defendants Roger Osterhoudt, Gunay Yakup, and Madeline Alonge were all sentenced to three years’ probation in early November. All five defendants were further ordered to pay over $400,000 in restitution for victim medical monitoring and to EPA for its costs related to cleaning up the now-contaminated site in Kingston, New York, known as the “Tech City property.” The defendants engaged in a year-long conspiracy to violate federal and New York State Department of Labor regulations intended to prevent human exposure to asbestos. These crimes took place in a community with potential environmental justice concerns. Read the complete case summary.
Eco Shield, LLC and Samir Haj
Statutes: Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Title 18
On August 12, 2022, Eco Shield, LLC and its owner, Samir Haj, were sentenced in the Southern District of California for their involvement in the illegal importation, shipping, and sale of an unregistered and ineffective pesticide product “EcoAirDoctor” during the COVID-19 pandemic. EcoAirDoctor consisted of a small badge which could be clipped to clothing and released chlorine dioxide in the air. The defendants claimed that this product protected users “from airborne infectious diseases,” including COVID-19. However, the product was not registered with EPA and, following testing, it was found the levels of chlorine dioxide were well below the effective level sufficient to kill viruses. Additionally, the defendants falsified shipping documents, stating the items were air purifiers rather than pesticides and undervalued them by over $500,000, allowing them to avoid paying $33,919 in U.S. Customs duties. During the first six months of 2020, the defendants profited $1,132,950 from selling these products to consumers inside and outside of the U.S. Eco Shield and Haj were each ordered to forfeit $427,689 in illegal gains and pay restitution of $86,754. Additionally, Haj was sentenced to eight months in custody, and the company was ordered to pay a criminal fine of $42,000. Read the complete case summary.
Diane Gordon (Environmental Compliance and Testing, aka ECT)
Statutes: Clean Water Act, Title 18 of the U.S. Code
On September 12, 2022, Diane Gordon, co-owner and CEO of Environmental Compliance and Testing (ECT) was sentenced in the Western District of Tennessee to 36 months in prison followed by two years’ supervised release and ordered to pay $222,388 in connection with the fabrication of discharge monitoring reports and falsification of test results required under the Clean Water Act. Customers hired and paid ECT to take wastewater samples and analyze them, then send those reports to two state agencies, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, for their consideration in issuing permits to those customers. Gordon fabricated and forged test results, related reports and, in some instances, even forged documents from a reputable testing laboratory. Gordon falsified at least 405 lab reports and chains of custody, which she submitted to state regulators since at least 2017. Read the complete case summary.
Amplify Energy Corp, Beta Operating Co. LLC and San Pedro Bay Pipeline Co.
Statute: Clean Water Act
On September 8, 2022, Amplify Energy Corp., Beta Operating Co. LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Amplify doing business as Beta Offshore), and San Pedro Bay Pipeline Co. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Amplify) were sentenced to pay a $7.1 million criminal fine and compensate federal programs approximately $5.8 million in connection with the discharge of approximately 25,000 gallons of crude oil during an offshore leak in the 17-mile-long San Pedro Bay Pipeline. They pled guilty to violating the Clean Water Act in the Central District of California. They will be on probation for four years and perform a series of actions and make operational improvements. The San Pedro Bay Pipeline, which was used to transfer crude oil from several offshore facilities to a processing plant in Long Beach, California, began leaking on the afternoon of October 1, 2021. In response to multiple leak detection alarms on October 1 and 2, the defendants’ employees shut down the pipeline several times but then repeatedly and incorrectly assessed there was no leak and started pumping crude oil through the pipeline again. As a result of the defendants’ conduct, approximately 588 barrels of crude oil were discharged into the Pacific Ocean from a point approximately 4.7 miles west of Huntington Beach from a crack in the pipeline. Read the complete case summary.