Corporation and Owners of West Palm Beach Septic Tank Company Plead Guilty
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael A. Hill, Special Agent in Charge, United States Environmental Protection Agency - Office of Inspector General, Atlanta Field Office (EPA-OIG), announced today’s guilty pleas by FBK Products, LLC., Gary Kranz, 48, of Palm Beach County, and Marc Rona, 43, of California, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. Additionally, Steven Kranz, 50, of Connecticut, entered a plea of guilty to one count of misprision of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 4.
Sentencing for all defendants has been scheduled for February 8, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp.
According to documents filed with the court and statements made at the hearing, FBK, Gary and Steven Kranz, and Rona, together with managers and other employees of FBK, knowingly participated in a scheme to fraudulently market and sell a purported septic treatment product to customers throughout the United States.
During the scheme, which spanned from March 2009 through October 2010, FBK, Gary Kranz, and Rona agreed with others to participate in a scheme to use the name FBK and Septic Remedy in sales pitches to mislead customers throughout the United States into believing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were affiliated with the septic treatment product being telephonically marketed by defendants under the name Septic Remedy. As a result of these misrepresentations, some elderly customers purchased more than a seventy years’ supply of the septic product.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of EPA-OIG on this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman O. Hemming, III.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
