Corporate Crime Case Database
Consistent with the Department’s ongoing commitment to transparency in corporate crime cases, the DOJ launched a new case database. While it is still in the process of being populated, it will eventually contain the significant, relevant cases from each component and U.S. Attorney’s Office, resolved since the beginning of 2023.
United States v. Clipper Shipping A.S.
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.
U.S. v. Carlos Favian Martinez, et al.
According to the indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Carlos Favian Martinez, 36, of Mission, Texas; Marco Antonio Medina, 32, of Brownsville, Texas; Rigoberto Brown, 38, of Brownsville, Texas; Pedro Antonio Calvillo Hernandez, 47, of Tamaulipas, Mexico; Roberto Garcia Villareal, 56, of San Benito, Texas; Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart, 70, of Brownsville, Texas; Sandra Guerra Medina, 68, of Rancho Viejo, Texas; and Mireya Miranda, 56, of La Feria, Texas, conspired to fix prices and allocate the market for transmigrante services in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. They also allegedly conspired to monopolize the same market in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The indictment alleges they implemented price-fixing agreements and created a centralized entity known as “The Pool” to collect and divide revenues among the conspirators. Transmigrantes are individuals who transport used vehicles and other goods from the United States through Mexico for resale in Central America. Transmigrante forwarding agencies are businesses that provide services to transmigrante clients, including helping those clients complete the customs paperwork required to export vehicles into Mexico.