Corporate Crime Case Database

On April 29, 2025, a court sentenced Tribar Technologies, Inc. (Tribar), to pay a $200,000 fine, complete a five-year term of probation, and implement an environmental compliance plan. The company also will pay $20,000 in restitution to the City of Ann Arbor. Tribar pleaded guilty to negligently violating a pretreatment standard under the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1317(d), 1319(c)(1)(A)).

Tribar manufactures automobile parts and presently operates five active plants in southeast Michigan. Plant 5 is a chrome plating facility located in Wixom, Michigan. It uses an electroplating process to apply chrome finishing to plastic automotive parts. Plant 5 generates wastewater that contains chromium compounds, including hexavalent chromium (chromium), a known carcinogen.

On July 23, 2022, Plant 5 accumulated approximately 15,000 gallons of untreated wastewater containing high concentrations of chromium. This wastewater had higher levels of pollutants than the wastewater typically generated from Plant 5 operations. During the week beginning July 25, 2022, Plant 5 employees attempted to treat this wastewater in a holding tank to reduce the amount of chromium before putting it into the Plant 5 wastewater treatment system. By the end of the week, the wastewater still contained high chromium concentrations.

On July 29, 2022, an employee discharged approximately 10,000 gallons of insufficiently treated wastewater from the holding tank into the Plant 5 wastewater treatment system. This discharge activated wastewater treatment system alarms, indicating that the wastewater required further treatment before it could be discharged to the Wixom sanitary sewer system. The employee disabled approximately 460 alarms and discharged the wastewater to the Wixom sanitary sewer system, and ultimately to the Wixom POTW, without completing the treatment necessary to remove chromium from the wastewater, as required by Tribar’s Industrial Pretreatment Program Permit.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division; the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. 

On April 29, 2025, a court sentenced Dlubak Glass Company (DGC) to pay a $100,000 fine and complete a four-year term of probation. The company pleaded guilty to making a false statement regarding the storage of hazardous waste (18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2)).

DGC is in the business of processing and recycling glass products, including CRT (cathode ray tube) glass. Because they contain lead, used CRTs that are transported, stored, or disposed of can be considered a characteristic hazardous waste under RCRA.

DGC operated facilities in several states, including locations in Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma. Pursuant to a Consent Order, DGC agreed to ship all the CRT glass at its Arizona facility offsite for recycling or disposal as hazardous waste. DGC later shipped approximately 4,000 tons of CRT glass from Yuma, Arizona, to its Texas facility, telling regulators that it would recycle the material by incorporating it into commercial products. 

When the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) inspected DGC’s Texas facility they observed piles of CRT glass onsite. DGC’s plant manager told inspectors that the only CRT glass present at the location was “processed panel glass containing no lead.” However, further investigation determined that DGC had improperly stored CRT glass and made false statements to TCEQ during the inspection.

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

Between April 2017 and September 2020, Jonathan Soong, a program administrator employed by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to manage the sale and distribution of certain software under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, willfully violated export control laws by facilitating the sale and unlicensed export of flight control and optimization software subject to the EAR to a restricted Chinese university on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.  Soong used an intermediary to conceal the unlawful export and later fabricated evidence that he had performed due diligence on the purchaser before making the sale.

Upon discovering Soong’s crimes, USRA self-disclosed the crime to the National Security Division and fully cooperated with the ensuing criminal investigation.  Soong was charged in September 2022 and pleaded guilty in January 2023 to willfully violating export controls, and was subsequently sentenced in April 2023 to serve a term of 20 months’ imprisonment.

On April 23, 2025, the Justice Department announced that, because of USRA’s timely self-disclosure and extraordinary cooperation, USRA would not be charged, despite the criminal wrongdoing committed by Soong, a USRA employee.

On April 22, 2025, a court sentenced J.H. Baxter & Co., Inc., and J.H. Baxter & Co., a California Limited Partnership, collectively, to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, both companies were ordered to serve five years of probation. The companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, was ordered to serve 90 days’ incarceration, followed by one year of supervised release.

The two companies (collectively J.H. Baxter) were responsible for a wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon. Both pleaded guilty to charges of illegally treating hazardous waste and knowingly violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(2)(A); 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1)). Baxter-Krause, the companies' president, pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. § 6928 (d)(3)).

J.H. Baxter used hazardous chemicals to treat and preserve wood at its Eugene facility. The wastewater from the wood preserving processes was hazardous waste. To properly treat wastewater from its wood treatment process, J.H. Baxter operated a wastewater treatment unit to treat and evaporate the waste. For years, however, when the facility accumulated too much water on site, employees transferred this water to a wood treatment retort to “boil it off,” greatly reducing the volume. J.H. Baxter would then remove the waste that remained, label it as hazardous waste, and ship it offsite for disposal.

J.H. Baxter was never issued a RCRA permit to treat its waste in this manner. The facility was also subject to CAA emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. However, employees were directed to open all vents on the retorts, allowing discharges to the surrounding air.

State inspectors requested information about J.H. Baxter's practice of boiling off hazardous wastewater. On two separate occasions, Baxter-Krause gave false information in response, which included information about the dates the practice took place, and which retorts were used. The investigation determined that Baxter-Krause knew J.H. Baxter maintained detailed daily production logs for each retort.

J.H. Baxter boiled off hazardous process wastewater in its wood treatment retorts on 136 days. Baxter-Krause was also aware that during this time the company used four of its five retorts to boil off wastewater.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon State Police. 

On April 15, 2025, Aghorn Operating Inc., Trent Day, and Kodiak Roustabout Inc., entered guilty pleas and were sentenced in relation to Worker Safety, Clean Air Act (CAA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) violations. Day pleaded guilty to a CAA negligent endangerment charge and was sentenced to serve five months’ incarceration (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4)). Aghorn pleaded guilty to CAA negligent endangerment and an Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) willful violation count for the death of an employee, Jacob Dean, and his wife, Natalee Dean (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(4); 29 U.S.C. § 666(e)). Aghorn was sentenced to pay a $1 million fine and complete a two-year term of probation. Kodiak pleaded guilty to making a materially false statement (18 U.S.C. §1001) regarding well integrity testing that is required under the Safe Drinking Water Act and sentenced to pay a $400,000 fine and complete a one-year term of probation.

Aghorn owns and operates oil wells and leases in Texas. Kodiak performed oilfield support and maintenance services for Aghorn. Day was a vice president for both Aghorn and Kodiak. The CAA and OSHA charges stem from the defendants releasing hydrogen sulfide that caused the deaths of Aghorn employee, Jacob Dean, and his wife, Natalee Dean. Both victims were overcome by hydrogen sulfide at Aghorn’s facility in Odessa. Aghorn and Day later obstructed the investigation into the Deans’ deaths. The SDWA-related violation stems from false statements made by Kodiak regarding the mechanical integrity of Aghorn injection wells in forms and pressure charts filed with the State of Texas Railroad Commission. In addition to the fine, Aghorn will guarantee that at least 33 tests conducted for Aghorn wells during its year of probation are witnessed or conducted by a third party.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Texas Railroad Commission, Ector County Environmental Enforcement, and the Odessa Fire Department.

On March 19, 2025, Hino Motors, Ltd. (HML) was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $521.76 million, serve a five-year term of probation, during which it will be prohibited from importing any diesel engines it has manufactured into the United States, and implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics program and reporting structure. Additionally, the court entered a $1.087 billion forfeiture money judgment against the company.

HML was charged in a single conspiracy count with five objects: to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency, to defraud the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, to violate the Clean Air Act, to commit wire fraud, and to smuggle goods into the United States, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.

Between 2010 and 2019, HML submitted and caused to be submitted false applications for engine certification approvals. Company engineers regularly altered emission test data, conducted tests improperly, and fabricated data without conducting any underlying tests. HML submitted fraudulent carbon dioxide emissions test data, which resulted in false fuel consumption values being calculated for its engines. Company engineers also failed to disclose software functions that could adversely affect engines’ emission control systems. As a result of the fraud, HML imported and sold more than 105,000 non-conforming engines between 2010 and 2022.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. 

On February 26, 2025, Fabcon Precast LLC (Fabcon) pleaded guilty to willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation (29 U.S.C. § 666(e)). The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head.

Fabcon operates several facilities in the United States, including one in Grove City, Ohio, that manufactures precast concrete panels. At Fabcon, employees known as batch operators were responsible for the operation and cleaning of the facility’ s only concrete mixer. Concrete was discharged from the bottom of the mixer through a pneumatic door. By design, the mixer had an exhaust valve that released the pneumatic energy powering the discharge door, rendering it inoperable. Some months prior to June 6, 2020, the handle that operated the valve broke off and was not replaced.

On June 6, 2020, Zachary Ledbetter, a batch operator since January 2020, was on duty when the discharge door failed to close after releasing a batch of concrete. Because the valve was broken, Ledbetter could not perform the proper procedure to make the door safe to work around. When he attempted to free the door it closed on his head, trapping him. Eventually, Ledbetter was freed and transported to a hospital where he died five days later.

The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.

On February 24, 2025, Old Dutch Mustard Company, d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company (Old Dutch), and company owner and president Charles Santich, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319(c)(2)(A)). Old Dutch manufactured vinegar and mustard products, generating acidic wastewater during the process. Old Dutch did not have a permit to discharge process wastewater. Instead, it stored the process wastewater in tanks and a trucking company hauled one or two truckloads of the wastewater off-site daily to the Rochester Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). Old Dutch paid the trucking company for transporting each load. A second wastewater stream consisted of stormwater that became acidic after flowing through areas of the facility where vinegar spilled. Old Dutch also paid the trucking company to haul the acidic stormwater to the POTW.

Santich decided to reduce the loads of wastewater and acidic stormwater being transported off site, thereby reducing costs, by ordering workers to discharge some of the wastewater to a manmade ditch formed by an abandoned railroad bed at the top of a hill behind the facility, from which the wastewater would flow into the Souhegan River. In May 2017, Santich hired an excavation company to extend an underground pipe to the top of the hill behind the facility. He then repeatedly directed employees to pump wastewater through the underground pipe to the abandoned railroad bed. Once the process wastewater or contaminated stormwater discharged at the top of the hill, it flowed to the river. Old Dutch did not have an NPDES or any other permit to discharge pollutants into the river.

Santich also took steps to facilitate the discharge of the wastewater and acidic stormwater to the river. In March 2021, Santich directed the same excavation company to install a sump at the corner of the tank farm area to collect the acidic stormwater and pump it directly up the hill through the buried pipe. Similarly, during the Fall of 2022, Santich hired the excavation company to clean out the undergrowth in the manmade ditch at the top of the hill and line it with riprap to create a better drainage ditch and facilitate the flow of wastewater to the river. On August 2, 2023, EPA agents executed a search warrant at the Old Dutch facility and witnessed this illegal activity. Agents observed liquid that smelled like vinegar discharging from the end of the underground pipe into the riprap-lined ditch. The wastewater discharge had a pH of 3.6. The agents then conducted a dye test starting at the sump outside the corner of the tank farm area. The dye discharged from the underground pipe at the top of the hill and flowed along the riprap-lined drainage ditch and down to the river.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services referred the case.

On February 19, 2025, a grand jury indicted Roy Ladell Weaver and his company, Pro Diesel Werks, LLC, with conspiring to impede the lawful functions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA), and substantive CAA violations (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).

Pro Diesel Werks provided vehicle repair and maintenance and performance enhancement services, including services on diesel engines and vehicle emission systems. The indictment alleges that between 2013 and March 2024, Weaver and the company, along with co-conspirators, disabled the hardware emissions control systems on diesel vehicles of Pro Diesel Werks’ customers (a practice referred to as a “delete” or “deleting”), defeating the systems’ ability to reduce pollutant gases and particulate matter released to the atmosphere. The defendants are also alleged to have tampered with the monitoring device and method required under the CAA, that is they disabled the onboard diagnostic system on vehicles preventing the system software from monitoring the emission control system hardware deletes (a practice referred to as a “tune” or “tuning”).

The defendants charged customers between approximately $2,000 and $4,000 per vehicle to remove and disable the emission control systems on motor vehicles with diesel engines.

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

On January 29, 2025, Eurobulk Ltd. pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging the company with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice (33 U.S.C. § 1908(a); 18 U.S.C. § 1519).  The court sentenced the company to pay a $1,125,000 fine and make a $375,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The company also will complete a four-year term of probation. 

Eurobulk operated the M/V Good Heart, which transported bulk cargo worldwide. On April 29, 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard conducted a Port State Control examination of the vessel and received information from a whistleblower about illegal discharges of oil from the vessel. On at least two occasions in April 2023, the vessel’s crew discharged oily waste directly overboard from a space known as the “duct keel.” These discharges were not recorded in the oil record book (ORB). The crew also flushed the oil content meter with fresh water to ensure the oil water separator would allow the illegal overboard discharges. The crew failed to record these actions in the ORB, which obstructed the investigation. Christos Charitos, the vessel’s chief engineer was sentenced in September 2024 to pay a $2,000 fine and complete a one-year term of probation after pleading guilty to violating APPS.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted the investigation.

On January 22, 2025, J.H. Baxter & Co., Inc., J.H. Baxter & Co., a California Limited Partnership (collectively “J.H. Baxter”) both pleaded guilty to charges of illegally treating hazardous waste and knowingly violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(2)(A); 42 U.S.C. 7413(c)(2)). The companies' president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. 6928 (d)(3)). Sentencing is scheduled for April 22, 2025.

J.H. Baxter used hazardous chemicals to treat and preserve wood at its Eugene facility. The wastewater from the wood preserving processes was hazardous waste.

To properly treat wastewater from its wood treatment process, the company operated a wastewater treatment unit to treat and evaporate the waste. Over the years, however, when the facility accumulated too much water on site, employees transferred this water to a wood treatment retort to "boil it off," greatly reducing the volume. J.H. Baxter would then remove the waste that remained, label it as hazardous waste, and ship it offsite for disposal.

J.H. Baxter was never issued a RCRA permit to treat its waste in this manner. Additionally, the facility was subject to CAA emissions standards. Company employees were directed to open all vents on the retorts, allowing discharge to the surrounding air.

State inspectors requested information about J.H. Baxter's practice of boiling off hazardous wastewater. On two separate occasions (September 28 and 30, 2020), Baxter-Krause gave false information in response, which included information about the dates the practice took place, and which retorts were used. The investigation determined that Baxter-Krause knew J.H. Baxter maintained detailed daily production logs for each retort.

From approximately January to October 2019, J.H. Baxter boiled off hazardous process wastewater in its wood treatment retorts on 136 known days. Baxter-Krause was also aware that during this time J.H. Baxter used four of its five retorts to boil off wastewater.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon State Police. 

On January 17, 2025, prosecutors filed an information and plea agreements, charging The Old Dutch Mustard Company, d/b/a Pilgrim Foods Company (Old Dutch), along with company owner and president Charles Santich, with violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a) and 1319(c)(2)(A)).

Old Dutch manufactured vinegar and mustard products, generating acidic wastewater during the process. Much of this wastewater consisted of spilled or leaked vinegar, or discarded vinegar that did not meet specifications. Old Dutch did not have a permit to discharge process wastewater. Instead, it stored the process wastewater in tanks and a trucking company hauled one or two truckloads of the wastewater off-site daily to the Rochester Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). Old Dutch paid the trucking company for transporting each load. A second wastewater stream consisted of stormwater that became acidic after flowing through areas of the facility (especially the tank farm) where vinegar spilled. Old Dutch also paid the trucking company to haul the acidic stormwater to the POTW.

Santich decided to have workers discharge some of the wastewater to a manmade ditch formed by an abandoned railroad bed at the top of a hill behind the facility, from which the wastewater would flow into the Souhegan River, thereby reducing costs. In May 2017, Santich hired an excavation company to extend an underground pipe to the top of the hill behind the facility. He then directed an employee to repeatedly pump wastewater through the underground pipe to the abandoned railroad bed. Once the process wastewater or contaminated stormwater discharged at the top of the hill, it flowed to the river. Old Dutch did not have an NPDES or any other permit to discharge pollutants into the river.

In March 2021, Santich directed the same excavation company to install a sump at the corner of the tank farm area that collected the acidic stormwater and could pump it directly up the hill through the buried pipe. Similarly, during the Fall of 2022, Santich hired the excavation company to clean out the undergrowth in the manmade ditch at the top of the hill and line it with riprap to create a better drainage ditch and facilitate the flow of wastewater to the river.

On August 2, 2023, EPA agents executed a search warrant at the Old Dutch facility and witnessed this illegal activity. Agents observed liquid that smelled like vinegar discharging from the end of the underground pipe into the riprap-lined ditch. The wastewater discharge had a pH of 3.6. The agents then conducted a dye test starting at the sump outside the corner of the tank farm area. The dye discharged from the underground pipe at the top of the hill and flowed along the riprap-lined drainage ditch and down to the river.

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