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TOP 100 CORPORATE CRIMINALS OF THE DECADE -- Part 2 |
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41)(tie) Chevron
Chevron pled guilty to 65 Clean Water Act violations and paid $8 million in criminal and civil fines. The crimes were committed on Platform Grace, an oil drilling platform in the Santa Barbara Channel. Of the $8 million, $6.5 million is a criminal penalty, and $1.5 million is a civil penalty. Federal officials charged that Chevron discharged oil and grease in waste water that exceeded limits in its federal permit. Chevron also admitted to diluting waste water prior to its being sampled, so as to understate the actual amount of oil and grease discharge which it reported to the Environmental Protection Administration. 41)(tie) Rockwell
International Corporation Rockwell International Corporation pled guilty to three felony counts and agreed to pay a $6.5 million fine in connection with a 1994 chemical explosion that killed two scientists at the firm's Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Hills, California. Federal officials in Los Angeles charged that in June and July 1994, Rockwell's Rocketdyne division illegally stored and disposed of hazardous waste at the facility. The waste in question, triaminoguanidine nitrate (TAGN), an explosive, was used as a gun propellant. On July 26, 1994, two Rockwell scientists, Otto Heiney and Larry Pugh, were killed in an explosion at the facility. For months following the blast, Rockwell officials claimed that Heiney and Pugh died while conducting legitimate experiments with explosives. But Rocketdyne President Paul Smith later admitted that the blast came as the two were illegally burning a volatile explosive to get rid of it. 43) Tokai Carbon
Ltd. Co. Tokai Carbon Ltd. Co. pled guilty to a charge of participating in an international cartel to fix the price and allocate the volume of graphite electrodes sold in the United States and elsewhere and was fined $6 million. Graphite electrodes are large columns used in electric arc furnaces in steel-making "mini-mills." 44)(tie) Allied
Clinical Laboratories, Inc. Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina, agreed to pay $182 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for medically unnecessary laboratory tests to federal and state health care programs. Immediately before the announcement of the civil settlement, the San Diego Regional Laboratory of Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc., which is now owned by LabCorp, pled guilty to submitting a false claim to Medicare and to the California Medicaid Program for an unnecessary blood test and was fined $5 million. LabCorp entered into a pre-trial diversion program with the U.S. Attorney in North Carolina and a corporate integrity program with the Department of Health and Human Services. The settlement is the largest single settlement under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The largest previous settlement was with United Technologies Corporation in 1994 for $150 million. The LabCorp case came to the attention of law enforcement officials after a doctor noticed that the blood laboratory he was using routinely did tests that he neither needed nor wanted for his patients. 44)(tie) Northern
Brands International Inc. Northern Brands International Inc., a unit of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International Inc., pled guilty and agreed to pay a total of $15 million in criminal fines and forfeitures for aiding and abetting customers who evaded more than $2.5 million in U.S. excise taxes by fraudulently transporting within the United States cigarettes that were intended to be exported. "This guilty plea may be the first time an affiliate of a major tobacco company has been convicted of a federal crime in the United States," said U.S. Attorney Thomas Maroney in Binghamton, New York. Northern Brands, which is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was charged with fraudulently moving 26 loads of Canadian cigarettes by representing to the U.S. Customs Service that the merchandise would be transported in the U.S. solely for exportation to the Republic of Estonia or the Republic of Russia. 44)(tie) Ortho
Pharmaceutical Corporation Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of obstruction of justice and eight counts of corruptly persuading employees to destroy documents relating to a federal investigation of the drug company's Retin A public relations campaign. The company was fined $5 million and ordered to pay restitution of $2.5 million. The charges related to a Food and Drug Administration investigation into an extensive public relations campaign that generated publicity about Retin-A's use in the treatment of sun-wrinkled, or photoaged, skin. Retin-A was approved by the FDA in 9171 for the treatment of Acne. The FDA did not approve Retin-A for the use in treatment of photoaged skin. The company admitted directing its employees to destroy documents relating to the Retin-A public relations campaign. 44)(tie) Unisys Unisys pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., bribery, conversion of government property, filing a false statement and filing false claims. Unisys pled guilty to bribing three former high ranking Navy officials. The company was forced to pay a total of $190 million in criminal and civil fines and restitution. 44)(tie) Georgia
Pacific Corporation Georgia Pacific Corporation pled guilty to federal charges of tax evasion. Federal officials alleged that the company made a false claim of a $24 million charitable contribution deduction on the company's 1984 federal income tax return. The company agreed to pay a $5 million criminal fine and $16 million to settle civil charges. 49) Kanzaki
Specialty Papers Inc. Kanzaki Specialty Papers Inc. pled guilty to conspiring to fix the prices of thermal fax paper. The defendants companies raised the prices to North American customers by about 10 percent. Kanzaki was fined $4.5 million. 50) ConAgra Inc. ConAgra Inc., one of the nation's largest food companies, pled guilty to federal charges of adulteration, misgrading, and misweighing of grain. The company agreed to pay $8.3 million in penalties, including a criminal fine of $4.4 million. Federal officials alleged that ConAgra used several schemes to defraud farmers and grain buyers to increase their own grain inventories and profits. Soybeans were purposefully misgraded, allowing ConAgra to pay less to the farmer, yet sell at higher prices. Water was added to grain inventories, thereby adding weight and increasing profits when grain was sold. And ConAgra significantly misweighed grain being sold to end users. 51) Ryland
Mortgage Company Ryland Mortgage Company pled guilty to two counts of corruptly interfering with the functions of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) and agreed to pay $7.7 million. Ryland Mortgage is a unit of the Columbia, Maryland-based The Ryland Group. Federal officials in Jacksonville, Florida alleged that Ryland "intentionally induced" the RTC to make overpayments to Ryland totalling $3.4 million for loan servicing contracts. The company agreed to pay fines totalling $4.2 million and $3.5 million in restitution and interest. 52)(tie) Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), also known as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, pled guilty to eight felony counts and agreed to pay $144 million after admitting it concealed evidence of poor performance in processing Medicare claims for the federal government. HCSC, the Medicare contractor for Illinois and Michigan, also admitted obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct federal auditors. The company agreed to pay $4 million in criminal fines and $140 million in a civil settlement to resolve its liability under the False Claims Act. "Medicare fraud and abuse is always a serious matter but it is particularly grievous when the abuse involves a contractor entrusted to protect the financial integrity of the program," said June Gibbs Brown, the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services. "In this case, the trust was flagrantly violated by a prestigious nationally known company. It engaged in unconscionable conduct that adversely affected Medicare beneficiaries, providers and the program itself." Brown said the company "compromised protections by artificially inflating performance results." "It also falsified and destroyed documents for the purpose of disguising its shortcomings," Brown said. 52)(tie) Borden
Inc. Borden Inc. pled guilty to multi-count felony informations charging long-running conspiracies to rig bids to supply dairy products to federally subsidized school milk programs and military installations. Federal officials alleged that Borden conspired to rig school milk bids in the Florida peninsula from the early 1970s through at least 1988. 52)(tie) Dexter
Corporation Dexter Corporation, a Connecticut-based Fortune 500 paper company, pled guilty to violating federal and state pollution laws. The company pled guilty to eight felony counts of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act. The company was charged with illegally disposing of carbon disulfide at its Windsor Locks facility. The company paid a $4 million criminal fine and $9 million in civil penalties. 52)(tie)
Southland Corporation Southland Corporation pled guilty to multi-count felony informations charging long-running conspiracies to rig bids to supply dairy products to federally subsidized school milk programs and military installations. Federal officials alleged that Southland conspired to rig school milk bids in the Florida peninsula from the early 1970s through at least 1988. 52)(tie) Teledyne
Industries Inc. Teledyne Industries Inc. pled guilty to charges that it illegally exported cluster bomb components from the United States for use by Iraq during its war with Iran during the 1980s. A cluster bomb consists of a large bomb casing filled with hundreds of small bomblets. The casing breaks open as the bomb is dropped, and disperses the bomblets over a wide area. 52)(tie) Tyson
Foods Inc. Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest chicken products company, pled guilty to giving former Secretary of Agriculture Alphonso Michael Espy over $12,000 in gratuities and agreed to pay $6 million in fines and investigative expenses. A one-count criminal information charged that Tyson Foods gave four gratuities to Espy during 1993 and 1994 while Tyson had a number of matters before the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The matters included an emergency interim final rule issued on August 16, 1993 by the USDA that required processors, including Tyson Foods, to place safe handling instructions on all raw meat and poultry packaging. U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina accepted Tyson Foods' plea of guilty, which was entered by Don Tyson, the chairman of the Tyson Foods Board of Directors. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Tyson Foods agreed to pay a $4 million fine and $2 million in investigative costs. 58)(tie) Aluminum
Company of America (ALCOA) The Aluminum Company of America pled guilty to environmental crimes and paid $7.5 million in fines for hazardous waste and other violations at the company's facility in Massena, New York. The payment includes a criminal fine of $3.75 million, at the time the largest fine ever assessed for a hazardous waste violation. 58)(tie) Costain
Coal Inc. Costain Coal Inc. pled guilty to a pattern of misconduct at a Kentucky mine shaft site where a 1989 explosion killed ten workers. The company agreed to pay a $3.75 million fine. The company pled guilty to 29 counts and no contest to three counts. Twenty three of the counts were felonies, and nine of the counts were misdemeanors. They included violations of the Mine Safety Act's mandatory health and safety standards and false statements on records filed by the company. 58)(tie) United
States Sugar Corporation United States Sugar Corporation pled guilty to eight felony environmental counts and was fined $3.75 million. Federal officials charged U.S. Sugar with eight felonies involving the illegal disposal and transportation of hazardous wastes. Federal officials alleged that the crimes occurred at the company's Bryant facilities in the Lake Okeechobee area of south Florida. Federal officials charged the company with illegal disposal of lead subacetate hazardous wastes in the late 1980s. Lead subacetate is a chemical agent containing 72 percent lead which is used in the sugar mill laboratory during the harvest season. 61) Saybolt,
Inc., Saybolt North America Saybolt, Inc., and its parent company, Saybolt, North America, pled guilty to falsifying reports submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The company agreed to pay a $3.4 million fine. Saybolt's primary business is the testing of bulk commodities, such as petroleum, gasoline and other petrochemicals. Federal officials alleged that false reports involved testing of the oxygen content of reformulated gasoline (RFG). RFG is blended to meet specifications for various chemical and physical properties, including oxygen content. Federal officials also alleged that in 1995, Saybolt arranged to pay $50,000 in cash to Panamanian government officials in order to obtain favorable treatment for the company's operations in that country. 62)(tie)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Bristol-Myers Squibb, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, pled guilty to charges of illegally discharging pollutants into Syracuse, New York area waters. The company paid $3.5 million in criminal fines and penalties and agreed to built a pre-treatment facility that will cost at least $10 million. The company admitted to discharging chemical pollutants into the Onondaga County Metropolitan Treatment Plant in September and October 1987 in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. 62)(tie) Chemical
Waste Management Inc. Chemical Waste Management Inc., a unit of Waste Management Inc., pled guilty to six felony violations of the federal Superfund law, for the company's failure to notify the government about reportable quantities of hazardous wastes that were released into the environment. Federal officials alleged that the company knowingly and intentionally crushed numerous drums containing hazardous substances in order to speed up a clean-up product outside Scranton, Pennsylvania. The company paid a $3 million criminal fine and $2.85 in criminal restitution. In total, the company paid $11.6 million in criminal, civil and administrative penalties in connection with the settlement of the case. 62)(tie)
Ketchikan Pulp Company Ketchikan Pulp Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Louisiana Pacific Corporation, pled guilty to dumping harmful sludge and wastewater into Alaska's Ward Cove, including an intentional dump that lasted for five straight days. The company paid $3 million in criminal fines, $3.1 million in civil penalties and was ordered to clean up the area where it polluted. 62)(tie) United
Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation pled guilty to six felony violations of federal environmental laws and was fined $3 million, at the time the largest criminal fine ever for a hazardous waste violation in the United States. The charges related to the illegal discharge of hazardous waste at the company Sikorsky Aircraft Division in Stratford, Connecticut in 1986. Federal officials charged that an industrial solvent was dumped illegally on the ground at the Stratford facility. 62)(tie)
Warner-Lambert Inc. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Warner-Lambert Inc. pled guilty and agreed to pay a $3 million criminal fine for falsifying reports on the levels of pollutants it was releasing into a drainage channel that feeds the Cibuco River from its wastewater treatment plant in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. The company also agreed to pay a $670,000 civil penalty for routinely releasing excessive levels of pollutants between 1992 and 1995, violating its wastewater discharge permit 347 times. 67)(tie) Arizona
Chemical Co. Inc. Arizona Chemical Co. Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of International Paper Co., pled guilty, was fined $2.5 million, and was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the Pollution Emergency Fund of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The company pled guilty to felony violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Arizona Chemical operates chemical manufacturing plants in Gulfport and Picayune, Mississippi. The company admitted to two felony counts of violating the CWA at its Gulfport plant. The violations occurred as a result of manipulating the plant's wastewater treatment system on sampling days so that it could report more favorable results under the plant's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. The company also admitted to one felony RCRA count involving the Picayune plant which had accumulated and stored a number of drums containing hazardous waste and had intentionally mischaracterized some of the drums as "cleaning oil" on inventory sheets. 67)(tie)
Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) pled guilty to six felony counts of violating federal environmental laws by knowingly discharging harmful quantities of oil and grease into the Charles River. Under the plea agreement, the company was fined $2.5 million. Conrail pled guilty to six violations of the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act, including discharging oil and grease into the Charles River on April 7, 1994 from its Beacon Park Rail Yard in Allston, Massachusetts. The discharge caused a visible oil slick on the Charles River hundreds of yards long, and was seen by a rower who reported it to environmental authorities. 69) International
Paper International Paper pled guilty to five felony counts for violations of environmental laws at its Androscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine. The company paid $2.2 million in criminal fines. Federal officials alleged that during the course of the company's operation of the mill from 1986 to 1988, the company knowingly generated, stored and treated hazardous wastes without a permit. In addition, federal officials alleged that the company gave false material statements. 70)(tie)
Consolidated Edison Company Consolidated Edison Company pled guilty to four environmental crime counts in connection with the release of 200 pounds of asbestos after an August 1989 steam manhole explosion in the Gramercy Park section of Manhattan. The company was fined $2 million. The company pled to failing to report the asbestos release in a timely fashion and falsely reporting that the company did not believe that asbestos found in the street was from the manhole. 70)(tie) Crop
Growers Corporation Crop Growers Corporation, the second largest private seller of federal multi-peril crop insurance, pled no contest to conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission by concealing $46,000 in illegal corporate contributions to the Henry Espy for Congress campaign in 1993 and 1994, and with falsifying its books and records to hide these illegal contributions. The company was fined $2 million. On the eve of its trial, Crop Growers pled nolo contendre to a two-count indictment which charged that in 1993, corporate contributions totaling $26,000 were disguised as individual contributions from various employees, related parties and their spouses, and that an additional $20,000 corporate contribution was made in 1994 to Henry Espy's campaign debt retirement effort through a New Orleans lawyer. 70)(tie)
E-Systems Inc. E-Systems Inc. pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government on contracts for Army field radios by falsifying test results. Federal prosecutors charged that the company and others conspired to falsify records and test results of tactical field radios supplied to the Army. The company also pled guilty to filing for and receiving payments based on the submission of false information. E-Systems agreed to pay a $2 million criminal fine and $1.8 million in restitution. 70)(tie) HAL
Beheer BV HAL Beheer BV, the Dutch corporation that operated the Holland America Line cruise ship ss Rotterdam, pled guilty to felony violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution From Ships. As part of its plea, the company agreed to pay a $2 million fine and will be placed on probation for a period of five years. HAL Beheer BV pled guilty to discharging an oily mixture from the bilges of the vessel in violation of the federal law that prohibits dumping of untreated bilge water into coastal waters within three miles of America's shores. The company also pled guilty to failing to keep records of oily mixture discharge, as required by law. 70)(tie) John
Morrell and Company John Morrell and Company, pled guilty to dumping slaughterhouse waste into the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and deliberately submitting phony test data and discharge reports to conceal its crimes. Morrell paid a $2 million criminal fine and was ordered to spend another $1 million to establish a local environmental cleanup fund. The charges include conspiracy and violations of the Clean Water Act related to Morrell's unlawful discharges of slaughterhouse waste from a company wastewater treatment plant over an 8-year period, from 1985 to 1993. 70)(tie) United
Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) pled guilty to four felony counts and paid a $2 million criminal fine. Three of the counts related to the procurement of a Marine Corps radar control system. The fourth count related to the Navy's procurement of F-404 jet engines. In the plea agreement, UTC admitted that it conspired to defraud the government, to convert procurement sensitive information and to commit wire fraud in connection with the procurement of the radar and engines. 76) Mitsubishi
Corporation, Mitsubishi International Corporation Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi International Corporation pled guilty to conspiring to fix the prices of thermal fax paper. The defendants companies raised the prices to North American customers by about 10 percent. Mitsubishi Corporation was fined $1.26 million and Mitsubishi International Corporation was fined $540,000. 77)(tie) Blue
Shield of California Blue Shield of California pled guilty to three felony counts in connection with efforts by various Blue Shield employees to conceal claims processing errors from Medicare examiners over a six-year period. The company was fined $1.5 million. Federal officials charged that Blue Shield, acting through employees in its Medicare Division, conspired to obstruct audits conducted in connection with Blue Shield's Medicare Part B contract with the Health Care Financing Administration. 77)(tie)
Browning-Ferris Inc. Browning-Ferris Inc. (BFI) pled guilty to failing to notify the District of Columbia that it discharged contaminated wastewater from its medical waste facility into Washington, D.C.'s sewer system. BFI was fined $1.5 million and agreed to a nationwide program to ensure its medical waste facilities are complying with the law. Federal officials charged the company with discharging contaminated wastewater from it's Capitol Processing Plant in violation of the Clean Water Act. The plant is a medical waste facility located in northeast Washington, D.C. 77)(tie) Odwalla
Inc. Odwalla, Inc, the company with a reputation for making pure, clean, and nutritious juice drinks, pled guilty to violating federal food safety laws and agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for selling contaminated apple juice that killed a 16-month old girl and injured at least 70 others. The fine is the largest criminal fine for a food injury case in the history of the Food and Drug Administration and the first such criminal conviction obtained in the wake of a large-scale pathogenic outbreak. Odwalla pled guilty to sixteen counts of "delivery of adulterated food products for introduction into interstate commerce." The company will serve five years of supervised probation. 77)(tie) Teledyne
Inc. Teledyne Inc. pled guilty to three felony counts for making false statements to the federal government and was fined $1.5 million. Federal officials alleged that the company submitted false statements to the government related to its undisclosed payment of millions of dollars in commissions to a Taiwan consultant to obtain military contracts from the Taiwan government. 77)(tie) Unocal
Corporation Unocal Corporation pled no contest to three criminal pollution charges and agreed to pay a $1.5 million criminal fine for leaking petroleum thinner into the ocean and groundwater at its Guadalupe, California oil field. The company was found guilty of discharging up to 8.5 million gallons of petroleum over a 40 year period. Unocal submitted a plea of no contest and was found guilty of criminal charges of failing to report the discharge of petroleum, and discharging the petroleum where it could pass into state waters. California authorities agreed to drop 33 misdemeanor charges, including six charges against Unocal employees, when the company accepted full criminal responsibility for its conduct. 82)(tie) Doyon
Drilling Inc. Doyon Drilling Inc., an Alaskan oil drilling firm, pled guilty to 15 counts of violating the Oil Pollution Act, was fined $1 million and was ordered to serve five years probation. The company also agreed to spend $2 million to establish an environmental compliance and training program for its employees. Michael Krupa, Doyon's health, safety and environmental coordinator, pled guilty to two counts of illegally discharging oil and hazardous substances and will serve one year and one day in jail and pay a $25,000 fine. Allan Sinclair, Doyon's former toolpusher/rig supervisor pled guilty to concealing a felony and will serve four months of home confinement, five years probation and pay a $25,000 fine. All three defendants pled guilty to illegally disposing of paint thinner, paint, oil and solvents by illegally injecting them down the outer rim of oil producing wells on Endicott Island, a man-made drilling facility located off of the northern coast of Alaska. 82)(tie) Eastman
Kodak Eastman Kodak Company pled guilty to state criminal charges of unlawful dealing in hazardous wastes and failure to properly notify authorities of a chemical spill. The charges grew out of a spill of about 5,100 gallons of methylene chloride in February 1987 and the failure of the company to immediately notify government officials of the spill. Neighborhood groups fighting Kodak were disappointed with the $1 million criminal fine. "It's equivalent to you or I getting a jaywalking ticket," said Joseph Polito, a neighboring resident. 82)(tie) Case
Corporation Case Corporation, headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin, pled guilty to two counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and one count of violating the Export Administration Act. In January and February of 1986, then President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Orders prohibiting citizens of the United States from performing contracts in support of commercial or government projects in Libya. Case, a unit of Tenneco, pled guilty to selling, through a French affiliate, heavy construction equipment to Libya. 85) Marathon Oil Marathon Oil Company pled guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act. The company illegally discharged pollutants from its refinery in Indianapolis. The guilty plea concludes a two year investigation by the FBI following a May 26, 1989 explosion and fire in a house located downstream from the refinery. Shortly after the explosion, measurements were taken in the sewer system at the refinery's discharge point that showed 100 percent levels of explosivity. The company pled guilty to one felony count and two misdemeanor counts. 86) Hyundai Motor
Company Hyundai Motor America pled guilty to charges of violating the Federal Election Campaign Act in connection with illegal contributions to the 1992 Jay Kim for Congress Campaign. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Hyundai on charges of making prohibited corporate contributions, illegal contributions through employee conduits, and prohibited foreign national contributions to the 1992 Jay Kim for Congress Campaign Committee. Under federal law, it is illegal for corporations and foreign nationals to contribute to candidates in federal elections and it is illegal to make contributions under the name of another. The company was fined $600,000. 87)(tie) Baxter
International Inc. Baxter International Inc. pled guilty to a criminal felony for violating the Anti-Boycott Statute by providing information about the company's business dealings with Israel to Arab League boycott authorities. The company paid $6 million in civil penalties and a $500,000 criminal fine. 87)(tie) Bethship-Sabine
Yard A $500,000 criminal fine was levied against the Bethship-Sabine Yard in Port Arthur, Texas, a division of Bethlehem Steel Corp., after the company pled guilty to illegally discharging pollutants into the Sabine Neches Waterway. Bethship-Sabine Yard will also pay $1 million to the Southeast Texas Coastal Trust Fund, a fund entrusted to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation to increase the productivity of coastal wetlands and estuarine ecosystems in and near the Sabine Neches Waterway. The one count information alleged that between January 25, 1991 and September 21, 1991, the Bethship-Sabine Yard illegally discharged pollutants from its floating drydock facility without first having obtained the necessary permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. 87((tie) Palm
Beach Cruises Palm Beach Cruises pled guilty and was sentenced on August 30, 1994 to a fine of $500,000 for discharging waste oil from its bilges, causing a 2.5 mile oil slick off the coast of Florida. Palm Beach Cruises also had to establish and maintain an effective environmental compliance program. 87)(tie) Princess
Cruises Inc. Princess Cruises Inc. pled guilty and was sentenced on April 15, 1993 to the maximum criminal fine of $500,000 for illegal dumping of garbage off the Florida Keys. 91)(tie) Cerestar
Bioproducts BV Cerestar Bioproducts BV, a Dutch subsidiary of the French agricultural products giant Eridania Bghin-Say SA pled guilty and was fined $400,000 for participating in an international conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market shares in the sale of citric acid worldwide. Citric acid is a flavor additive and preservative produced from various sugars. It is found in soft drinks, processed foods, detergents, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products. Citric acid is a $1.2 billion a year industry worldwide. Federal officials alleged that a Cerestar executive conspired with the world's major producers of citric acid to suppress and eliminate competition in the citric acid industry from November 1992 until April 1994. 91)(tie) Sun-Land
Products of California Sun-Land Products of California, a worldwide supplier of dried fruits and nuts, and a subsidiary of Sun-Diamond Growers of California, pled guilty to charges that the company made conduit campaign contributions in violation of federal election law. Federal officials alleged that Sun-Land made conduit contributions of $16,000 to the Bush-Quayle '92 Primary Committee Inc. and additional conduit contributions of $21,000 to Campaign America in 1993. 93)(tie) American
Cyanamid American Cyanamid pled guilty to building an unauthorized power plant at its Pearl River facility in Rockland County, New York. The company was fined $250,000, the largest criminal penalty ever assessed in New York for a violation of state air quality regulations. The company entered a guilty plea to a one count misdemeanor complaint. State officials said that American Cyanamid's Lederle Laboratories division admitted that it began construction on a $22.5 million cogeneration facility in November 1988, knowing it did not have a necessary permit. 93)(tie) Korean
Air Lines Korean Airlines Co., Ltd. pled guilty to two counts of violating the Federal Election Campaign Act by making a total of $5,000 in corporate contributions and foreign national contributions to the 1992 Jay Kim for Congress Campaign Committee. Under federal law, it is illegal for corporations and foreign nationals to contribute to candidates in federal elections. The company was fined $250,000. 93)(tie) Regency
Cruises Inc. Regency Cruises, Inc., a cruise ship company, was ordered to pay a $250,000 criminal fine by the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida for deliberately dumping plastic garbage into the Gulf of Mexico in 1993. Regency Cruises, owner of the Bahamian flag cruise ships Regent Rainbow and Regent Sea based in Tampa, Florida, and which ply the waters of the Gulf, was charged with and pled guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. 96)(tie) Adolph
Coors Company Adolph Coors Company pled guilty to two criminal misdemeanor counts of contaminating groundwater and failing to report the contamination to regulatory authorities. Colorado officials alleged that Coors violated water contamination notification standards and illegal discharged hazardous waste into groundwater and into a creek near its Golden, Colorado facility from 1981 to 1984. 96)(tie) Andrew
and Williamson Sales Co. A strawberry distributor and its president pled guilty to crimes in connection with the March 1997 hepatitis outbreak that contaminated 198 school children and teachers in Michigan, Maine and Wisconsin. Andrew and Williamson Sales Co. (A&W), and its president, Frederick Williamson, admitted their role in the fraudulent sale of 1.7 million pounds of Mexican grown strawberries to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's school lunch program. As part of a parallel civil settlement, the company agreed to pay the government $1.3 million in civil damages. The company was fined $200,000. 96)(tie) Daewoo
International (America) Corporation Daewoo International (America) Corporation pled guilty to violating the Federal Election Campaign Act. The company was charged with making $5,000 in illegal contributions to the 1992 Jay Kim for Congress Campaign Committee. Under federal law it is illegal for corporations to contribute to candidates in federal elections and it is illegal to make contributions in the name of another. 96)(tie) Exxon
Corporation Exxon Corporation pled guilty to federal charges in connection with a spill last year of 567,000 gallons of home heating oil into Arthur Kill, a narrow waterway which separates New York from New Jersey. Exxon entered the plea as part of a $15 million settlement with local, state and federal governments. Exxon was fined $200,000 the maximum allowed by law, but paid an additional $4.8 million in restitution as part of a $15 million package global settlement. 100) Samsung
America Inc. Samsung America Inc. pled guilty to violating the Federal Election Campaign Act. The company made $10,000 in illegal contributions to the 1992 Jay Kim for Congress Campaign Committee. Under federal law, it is illegal for corporations to contribute to candidates in federal elections.
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