OVER $ 2.5 MILLION WILL BE PAID BY CATERPILLAR INC. FOR ALLEGED CLEAN AIR ACT VIOLATIONS

The following case is an excerpt from the EPA website:
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced a settlement with Caterpillar Inc. to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations for shipping more than 590,000 highway and non-road diesel engines without the correct  emissions controls. Caterpillar also allegedly failed to comply with emission control reporting and engine-labeling requirements. Caterpillar will pay a $2.55 million penalty, continue a recall of noncompliant engines and reduce excess emissions. Engines operating without proper emissions controls can emit excess nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter and other air pollutants that impact people’s health, potentially causing respiratory illnesses and aggravating asthma.  
"The enforcement of vehicle emissions standards, labeling and reporting requirements is critical to protecting the air we breathe and ensuring that companies play by the rules,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s settlement will protect public health and create a level playing field for companies that meet their environmental obligations.”
“This settlement demonstrates our commitment to enforcing the Clean Air Act’s requirement that engine manufacturers take steps to ensure engines are equipped with emissions controls that are essential to protecting public health from harmful air pollution,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.  “Caterpillar will pay a substantial civil penalty for shipping engines that did not comply with these Clean Air Act requirements, and under this settlement, it must continue its recall and correction of engines that do not have correctly configured emissions controls.”
The Clean Air Act requires the use of certified after-treatment devices (ATDs) that control engine exhaust emissions once the emissions have exited the engine and entered the exhaust system. Typical ATDs include catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters. Correct fuel injector and fuel map settings are also crucial for proper engine emission control. Caterpillar allegedly shipped over 590,000 engines to vehicle assemblers without the correct ATDs and with improperly configured fuel injector and map settings. In some cases, the mis-configured engines were incorporated into vehicles which resulted in excess emissions of NOx and particulate matter into the environment.   
The consent decree requires Caterpillar to continue its recall of non-compliant engines to install the correct ATDs and correct the fuel injector and fuel map settings. In addition to the recall, Caterpillar will mitigate the effects of the excess emissions from its engines through permanent retirement of banked emission credits. Caterpillar will also improve its reporting of emission control system defects, as required under the Clean Air Act.
The state of California, through the Air Resources Board, is also settling its claims for violations arising from the sale of improperly configured engines in California. California will receive $510,000 of the civil penalty. 
The settlement was lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and is subject to a 30-day public comment period."

FOUR SHIPPING CORPORATIONS BANNED FROM U.S. FOR FIVE YEARS

The following is an excerpt from the Department of Justice website:

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Repeat Offender Shipping Firm Sentenced in New Orleans to Pay $ 1 Million and Banned in “Magic Pipe” Case

WASHINGTON – Four corporations involved in owning and operating a fleet of vessels regularly visiting New Orleans were today sentenced to pay a $1 million penalty and banned from doing business in the United States for the next five years by Judge Carl J. Barbier, the Justice Department announced.

Stanships Inc. (Marshall Islands), Stanships Inc. (New York), Standard Shipping Inc. and Calmore Maritime Ltd., collectively the owners and operator of the M/V Americana, a Panamanian registered cargo vessel, each pleaded guilty on April 12, 2011, in New Orleans to 32 felony counts for violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, Ports and Waterways Safety Act and obstruction of justice.

As part of the sentence, the court prohibited the shipping conglomerate from conducting further business in the United States during the maximum five year period of probation. The owner of the companies was also personally banned from being involved in the ownership or technical management of ships trading in the United States.   Of the $1 million penalty, Judge Barbier ordered that $250,000 be devoted to organizational community service to help conservation, protection, restoration and management projects to benefit fish and wildlife habitats and resources in the Eastern District of Louisiana.  

 

The government’s investigation of the M/V Americana started when a crew member told the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the ship on Nov. 29, 2010, that the ship was illegally dumping sludge and oily waste overboard using a so-called “magic pipe” to bypass required pollution prevention equipment.    The crew member provided the Coast Guard with cell phone photos taken at sea showing the use of the bypass.   According to an agreed upon factual statement filed in court, the defendants have admitted the following:

Sludge and oily waste from the vessel’s engines was transferred to a fuel tank and then deliberately pumped overboard.

The ship had an unreported leak between a ballast and fuel tank that led to overboard discharges of oil contaminated waste from both tanks.

A black “comet streak” stain of apparent oil was visible on the outside of the ship in the immediate vicinity of the overboard valve when the ship was in New Orleans in December 2010.

The metal bypass pipe used to dump oily waste overboard was hidden from view when the ship was in port.

           

A false Oil Record Book was created to conceal the illegal discharges.    Ships are required to keep an Oil Record Book in which internal transfers and overboard discharges are fully recorded.    The log is regularly inspected by the Coast Guard to assure compliance with U.S. and international law and to make sure ships are not a threat to U.S. ports and waters.   

The defendants also were charged with violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act because they failed to report a hazardous situation that threatened U.S. ports and waters, involving the failure of the ship’s generators.    After a voyage in which the ship had lost power for several days at sea, the ship arrived at the Southwest Pass, La.    The master, who opposed proceeding to port until the problem was corrected, was directed by a shore-side manager to write an email indicating that the ship had two generators.    This was communicated to the Coast Guard which then allowed the ship to enter the Mississippi River.    However, the agency was not told that neither of the two generators was fully operational or able to power the ship, and that there was no backup since a third generator was completely inoperable.    Because of the hazardous situation, the master ordered tug boats to guide the ship into port.

Stanships Inc. (Marshall Islands) is a repeat offender.    It committed new crimes after it was sentenced on Sep. 29, 2010, for deliberate discharges in U.S. waters and concealing illegal pollution in falsified ship records from the M/V Doric Glory.    In that case, U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan of the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered the defendant to implement a comprehensive environmental compliance plan and pay $700,000 in criminal fines and an additional $125,000 as community service payments.   On April 27, 2011, Judge Berrigan revoked probation for Stanships Inc. (Marshall Islands) and banned the company’s vessels from further trade in the United States.    

“The crimes of Stanships, a repeat offender, warrant the sanction that it be banned from conducting further business in America,”   said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.   “This prosecution sends the message that deliberate violations of environmental laws will not be tolerated.”

“Deliberate pollution and intentional falsification of environmental records are serious crimes.   This case was also significant because the misconduct took unacceptable risks with Louisiana’s ports and waters, as well as the safety of the ship.   Prosecutions such as this are designed to protect the future of our water, rivers, and wetlands and to ensure that the regulated community is truthful with the Coast Guard.”   said Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.     

“Today's sentence demonstrates the United States' steadfast commitment to safeguarding the marine environment.   We applaud the efforts of the many environmentally responsible companies, but will hold non-compliant corporations and their officers accountable for violating environmental laws.    I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of the Coast Guard investigators and Department of Justice for bringing this case to proper resolution,” said Rear Adm. Roy A. Nash, Eighth District Coast Guard commander."

“Protection of our aquatic resources continues to be of utmost importance to the Coast Guard.   This sentencing should send a message that repeat offenders will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest,” said Special Agent in Charge Damon Rodriguez, Coast Guard Investigative Service, Gulf Region.  

“Today’s action demonstrates that neither the government nor the public will tolerate the flagrant and repeated violation of U.S. laws,” said Ivan J. Vikin, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Louisiana.   “The government contends that the defendant not only failed to carry out the terms of its probation, it knowingly released oil into our oceans after the sentence was passed.   The oceans must be protected from shipping companies that look to cut corners by dumping waste improperly.”

 This case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Services and the EPA Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance from Sector New Orleans, Eight Coast Guard District Office of the Judge Advocate.    The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily K. Greenfield and Dorothy Manning Taylor, and Senior Trial Attorney Richard A. Udell of the Environmental Crimes Section of Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division."

The conclusion of the above case is certainly a positive for everyone who loves to swim  or fish in U.S. coastal waters.  We have enough enviromental  disasters drilling for oil and gas so we do not need ships just dumping their junk in our waterways.   

PSYCHIATRIST PLEADS GUILTY TO PART IN $200 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME

After reading about just a few cases of Medicare and Medicade fraud it would seem that if an even more concentrated effort were made to root out nearly all fraud  in these programs that the finances of both Medicare and Medicade would be far more healthy.  The following is an excerpt from the Department of Justice website:

"Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Miami-Area Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty for Role in $200 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON - A Miami-area psychiatrist pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami for his part in a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.

Dr. Alan Gumer, 64, of Tamarac, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.   Gumer was charged on Feb. 15, 2011, with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud.

According to court documents, Gumer was a psychiatrist at American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami.   ATC purported to operate partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando.  A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness.

Gumer admitted that he signed evaluations, notes and other documents in medical files for patients who did not need the treatment for which ATC billed Medicare.   Specifically, as a psychiatrist, Gumer knew that the patients attending ATC did not need intensive mental health treatment, and that the treatments offered by ATC were not the type of intensive treatments a PHP should provide.   Gumer admitted that he signed these files without examining the patients, or writing and reading the statements he was signing.   Gumer also admitted to writing prescriptions for psychiatric medications for patients who did not need them in order to make it appear to Medicare that the patients qualified for PHP treatment.   According to court documents, Gumer also referred hundreds of ATC patients to a related company, the American Sleep Institute (ASI), for unnecessary diagnostic sleep disorder testing.

According to court filings, Gumer’s co-defendants and ATC’s owners and operators paid kickbacks to owners and operators of assisted living facilities (ALFs) and halfway houses and to patient brokers in exchange for delivering ineligible patients to ATC and ASI.  In some cases, the patients received a portion of those kickbacks.  Throughout the course of the ATC and ASI conspiracy, millions of dollars in kickbacks were paid in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries, who did not qualify for PHP services, to attend treatment programs that were not legitimate PHP programs so that ATC and ASI could bill Medicare for more than $200 million in medically unnecessary services.

According to the plea agreement, Gumer’s participation in the fraud resulted in $19.3 million in fraudulent billing to the Medicare program.   Sentencing for Gumer is scheduled for Jan 19, 2012.  Gumer faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

ATC, its management company Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., and the owners and lead manager of ATC, Medlink and ASI, were charged with various health care fraud, money laundering and other offenses in a separate superseding indictment unsealed on Feb. 15, 2011.   Two of the three owners and the lead manager, as well as both ATC and Medlink, have pleaded guilty and have admitted to the fraudulent scheme and that more than $200 million in billings were submitted to the Medicare program as a part of the scheme.   They are scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14, 2011, by U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King.   The trial of the third owner charged in the separate superseding indictment is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15, 2011.  

The remaining 17 co-defendants named in the indictment in which Gumer was charged are scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 7, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz.

An indictment is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

           

Today’s guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office. 

           

The criminal case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida."

            

 

THE THEFT OF 675,000 CREDIT CARD NUMBERS NETS 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR HACKER

The following case is an excerpt from the Department of Justice:

"Friday, July 22, 2011

WASHINGTON – Rogelio Hackett Jr., 25, of Lithonia, Ga., was sentenced today to 120 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in Alexandria, Va., for trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and aggravated identity theft, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia.  

“Hacking and identity theft were a way of life for Mr. Hackett,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “For years, he used the Internet to steal and sell identities to further a multi-million dollar fraud.  Identity theft has devastating effects on consumers and businesses alike, and we will continue to be aggressive in pursuing this pernicious criminal activity.”

“Mr. Hackett was in the business of hacking for profit and committed identity theft on a massive scale,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “He was a full-time identity thief who expanded his business worldwide, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, banks and merchants. Today’s sentence and substantial fine should serve as a strong deterrent to others who may be tempted to engage in identity theft.”

Hackett pleaded guilty on April 21, 2011.   At today’s sentencing, he was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.  According to court documents, U.S. Secret Service special agents executing a search warrant in 2009 at Hackett’s home found more than 675,000 stolen credit card numbers and related information in his computers and email accounts.   Hackett admitted in a court filing that since at least 2002, he has been trafficking in credit card information he obtained either by hacking into business computer networks and downloading credit card databases, or by purchasing the information from others using the Internet through various “carding forums.”   These forums are online discussion groups used by “carders” to traffic in credit card and other personal identifying information.  

Hackett also admitted that he sold credit card information, manufactured and sold counterfeit plastic cards, and used the credit card information to acquire gift cards and merchandise.   According to court documents, credit card companies have identified tens of thousands of fraudulent transactions using the card numbers found in Hackett’s possession, totalling more than $36 million.  

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and prosecuted by Michael J. Stawasz, a Senior Counsel for the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.  

EPA RELEASED FINAL GUIDANCE ON APPALACHIAN SURFACE COAL MINING

The following excerpt is from an EPA email:
“WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released final guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining, designed to ensure more consistent, effective, and timely review of surface coal mining permits under the Clean Water Act and other statutes. The guidance, which replaces the interim-final guidance issued by EPA on April 1, 2010, is based on the best-available science and incorporates input and feedback from over 60,000 comments received from the public and key stakeholders. By providing EPA’s regional offices with the latest information on existing legal requirements, the guidance enables them to work together with states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, mining companies, and the public towards a balanced approach that protects communities from harmful pollution associated with coal mining. EPA will apply the guidance flexibly, taking into account site-specific information and additional science to arrive at the best decisions on a case-by-case basis.

The science forming the basis for the interim-final guidance was also successfully applied in a number of mining decisions, including the Hobet 45 permit in West Virginia where EPA worked closely with a company to eliminate nearly 50 percent of their stream impacts, reduce contamination and lower mining costs. Successful outcomes resulting from the Corps' Coal Mac-Pine Creek permit decision also provide evidence that the practices in the interim guidance are both feasible and effective.

“Under this guidance, EPA will continue to work with other federal agencies, states, local communities, and companies to design mining operations that adequately protect our nation’s waters and people's health,” said Nancy Stoner, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “We have a responsibility under the law to protect water quality and this guidance allows EPA to work with companies to meet that goal, based on the best science.”

EPA’s final guidance reflects significantly enhanced science, extensive public comment and experience working with federal and state agencies and mining companies. It is based on improved, peer-reviewed science on impacts of mountaintop mining; extensive public and stakeholder input; and, lessons learned from the implementation of the interim guidance. The final guidance, like the interim guidance, is not a rule and is not binding legally or in practice.

EPA is committed to working with coal companies and stakeholders to reduce and prevent harm to water quality and human health and over the past two and a half years, EPA has built a strong foundation, working with federal and state agencies and mining companies to significantly reduce impacts to the environment.

• In January 2010, EPA worked with the Corps on the Hobet 45 permit in West Virginia to reduce stream impacts by almost 50 percent and minimize mine runoff into surface waters.

• In June 2010, EPA worked to ensure that the permit issued for the Pine Creek mine included an enforceable trigger for protecting downstream water quality and ensuring that the overall mining operation could protect water quality.

• In July 2011, EPA worked with Mid-Vol, Inc. and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to develop a Clean Water Act Section 402 permit that includes limits on ionic pollution to protect water quality.

Mountaintop mining is a form of surface coal mining in which explosives are used to access coal seams, generating large volumes of waste that bury adjacent streams. The resulting waste that then fills valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and rendering streams unfit for drinking, fishing, and swimming. It is estimated that almost 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwater streams have been buried by mountaintop coal mining. “