Corporate Crime Case Database

On September 28, 2023, a court sentenced FeelGood Natural Health Stores, Ltd., (FeelGood) to pay an $18,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation to include implementing an environmental compliance plan. FeelGood also will forfeit $1,374. The company pleaded guilty to a felony Lacey Act violation for trafficking in wildlife products (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1),(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)).

            Between April 2019 and June 2020, this Canadian company made seven shipments of harp seal oil pills from Canada into the United States. FeelGood knew importing marine mammal products such as seal oil is prohibited by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. After illegally importing the seal oil capsules, the company contracted with a third party to transport them for sale in the United States. The total value of these seven shipments was more than $10,000.

            The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

            On August 21, 2023, Zeaborn Shipmanagement (Singapore) PTE LTD. (Zeaborn), Captain Alexander Parreno, and Chief Engineer Constancio Estuye pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oily bilge water and garbage on board the vessel Star Maia (33 U.S.C. § 1908(a)). Sentencing is scheduled for December 1, 2023.

            The defendants illegally burned garbage in barrels onboard the Star Maia and disposed the burnt garbage and barrels directly into the ocean. They illegally discharged oily bilge water from the ship’s engine room directly onto the ocean without using approved pollution prevention equipment. The crew failed to accurately record these disposals in the vessel’s garbage and oil record books as required by U.S. and international law.

            The U.S. Coast Guard investigative Service investigated this case. 

              On August 23, 2023, Barry Pierce and his two companies, GDP Tuning and Custom Auto of Rexburg d/b/a Gorilla Performance, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act and agreed to pay a total of $1 million in criminal fines (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413). The companies also agreed to implement compliance programs and to not manufacture, sell or install any device that defeats a vehicle’s emissions controls.  Sentencing is scheduled for November 8, 2023.

            Between 2016 and 2020, the defendants tampered with a required monitoring device for removing required emissions control devices from (or “deleting”) over 200 diesel trucks at the shop location in Rexburg, Idaho, and reprogramming (or “tuning”) the onboard diagnostic systems of those trucks so they would function without the emissions equipment. GDP engaged in the nation-wide sale of millions of dollars’ worth of tuning devices and tunes for diesel engines.

             The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

            On August 1, 2023, Sinister Mfg. Company, Inc. (Sinister) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA) and defraud the United States, and to violating the CAA by tampering with a monitoring device (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413 (c)(2)(C)). Under the plea agreement, the defendant agrees to pay a $500,000 criminal fine and fully comply with the terms of a civil Consent Decree. Sentencing is scheduled for November 14, 2023.

Between 2010 and April 2020, Sinister manufactured and sold parts for use with primarily diesel trucks, to enable “deleting” the trucks’ emissions controls systems by removing or disabling them. Sinister often sold its products as part of “delete kits,” sometimes bundled with “delete tunes.” The delete tunes were software produced by another company which could alter a diesel truck’s on-board computer to allow a truck with its emissions controls “deleted” to appear to run normally. Through its employees, Sinister reached agreements with other companies that manufactured tuners or tuning platforms to sell their products bundled together.

Though the company sometimes labeled its delete products for “racing” and included disclaimers in marketing materials indicating that its products should be used only in off-road settings, the company knew most of its delete products were purchased by diesel truck drivers who used those products on public roads, not racetracks.

            The U.S EPA Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On July 6, 2023, a court sentenced Clipper Shipping A.S. after accepting its guilty plea. The company will pay a $1.5 million fine and complete a four-year term of probation to include implementing an environmental compliance plan with third party monitoring.  Clipper Shipping admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book (33 U.S.C. § 1908).

On October 28, 2021, a crewmember from the M/T Clipper Saturn gave a Coast Guard inspector a digital file that contained evidence of illegal bilge water discharges. Further investigation revealed that the vessel’s Chief Engineer ordered the crew to transfer bilge water into the gray water tank. The crew then used the emergency eductor system to illegally discharge the gray water tank contents. The Chief Engineer that ordered the illegal activity was not on the vessel when it arrived in Houston on October 28, 2021.

The U.S Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston and the Coast Guard Investigative Service conducted the investigation.

F. Allied Construction Company, Inc., Andrew Foster, and Kevin Shell each pleaded guilty to two counts of entering into and engaging in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by agreeing to rig bids for contracts to provide asphalt paving services in the state of Michigan. Count One charged a conspiracy that began at least as early as June 2013 and continued until at least as late as June 2019. Count Two charged a separate conspiracy that began at least as early as July 2017 and continued until at least as late as May 2021. 

On January 19, 2023, a court sentenced. Empire Bulkers Ltd., and Joanna Maritime Limited. Each will pay $2 million ($1 million each) and serve four years of probation subject to the terms of a government approved environmental compliance plan to include independent ship audits and supervision by a court-appointed monitor. The companies pleaded guilty to violating APPS and the Ports and Water Ways Safety Act (PWSA) (33 U.S.C. § 1908; 46 U.S.C. § 70036).

Empire operated the MV Joanna, a Marshall Islands registered Bulk Carrier, owned by Joanna Maritime. Between October 25, 2020, and March 11, 2021, the crew tampered with onboard pollution prevention equipment, and falsified entries in the ship’s oil record book. The Coast Guard found that the crew bypassed the ship’s Oily Water Separator by inserting a piece of metal into the Oil Content Meter so that it only detected clean water instead of what they actually discharged overboard.

The defendants also violated the PWSA by failing to immediately report a hazardous situation onboard the ship. During an inspection, the Coast Guard discovered an active fuel oil leak in the ship’s purifier room that resulted from disabling the fuel oil heater pressure relief valves, an essential safety feature designed to prevent catastrophic fires and explosions.

On January 5, 2023, prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging two Dubai entities and several individuals for their roles in a multimillion-dollar scheme to export non-organic grain into the United States to be sold as certified organic.  

Hakan Agro DMCC and Hakan Organics DMCC, both based in Dubai, and Goksal Beyaz, Nuray Beyaz, and Mustafa Cakiroglu, all of Turkey, were each charged with conspiracy, smuggling, and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 371, 545, 1343). 

Between November 2015 and May 2017, the defendants operated a scheme where Hakan Agro, Hakan Organics, and associated entities purchased non-organic soybeans and corn from Eastern Europe before shipping to the United States as “organic.” This scheme allowed the defendants to charge as much as 50% more for organic grains.

On January 24, 2023, a court sentenced ABC Polymer Industries, LLC to pay a $167,928 fine, and $242,928 in restitution. The company also will complete a two-year term of probation, to include implementing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace safety compliance plan. The company causing the death of an employee by violating OSHA standards (29 U.S.C. § 666(e)).

ABC Polymer manufactured plastic sheets using assembly lines that pulled the plastic through clusters of large spinning rollers. The machine at issue posed a hazard due to moving roller “pinch points.” OSHA requires this type of machinery to employ guards while the machine is energized. To save time, however, the company, routinely caused employees to run the machine without a proper guard when the rollers were moving. Supervisors instructed the operators to reach between or near the roller drums to cut tangles in the plastic sheet without stopping the line, allowing production to continue.

Despite knowing the machine previously hurt other workers who used it without a proper guard in place, ABC Polymer assigned the victim and others to cut tangles out of plastic sheeting from among the machine’s unguarded spinning rollers with a hand tool. The victim died in August 2017, after becoming entangled in the spinning rollers. The company had a history of nearly two dozen prior injuries from the rollers, including two amputations and multiple other serious injuries requiring hospitalization.

A California businessman was charged for allegedly soliciting investments under false pretenses and using investors’ funds to support his own lavish lifestyle.  He was charged with 19 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.

South Korean company J&J Korea, Inc. pleaded guilty and was sentenced for its role in a bid-rigging and fraud scheme involving repair and maintenance subcontract work at U.S military hospitals in South Korea. The subcontract work related to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contract providing for operation and maintenance support services at U.S. military facilities around the world. The contract required the prime contractor to use a competitive bidding process when awarding subcontract work under the contract. However, the defendant and its co-conspirator, another South Korean company, agreed to submit rigged bids to ensure that the defendant won most of the subcontract work in South Korea under the USACE contract.