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Guilty Plea News

12 Aug 2022

Bulk Carrier Operator and Chief Engineer Convicted for Dumping Offenses

Vessel operating company New Trade Ship Management S.A. and chief engineer Dennis Plasabas pleaded guilty in San Diego for maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oily bilge water from the bulk carrier vessel Longshore.New Trade and Plasabas admitted that oily bilge water was illegally dumped from the Longshore directly into the ocean without being properly processed through required pollution prevention equipment. Oily bilge water typically contains oil contamination from the operation and cleaning of machinery on the vessel. The defendants also admitted that these illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s oil record book as required by law.

12 Jan 2022

Princess Cruises Pleads Guilty to Violating 'Magic Pipe' Probation

© lemélangedesgenres / Adobe Stock

Carnival Corp.'s Princess Cruises has again pleaded guilty to violating its probation imposed as a result of its record $40 million criminal conviction for its "magic pipe" environmental crimes.The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday that Princess failed to establish and maintain an independent internal investigative office as required after pleading guilty to felony dumping and attempted cover-up charges in April 2017. An engineer aboard the Caribbean Princess revealed…

09 Nov 2021

Greenpeace Settles Charges After Blocking Port of Houston in 2019

(Photo: Greenpeace)

Environmental activists who shut the largest U.S. energy export port for a day to protest climate change agreed to pay police, fire and court costs to settle state criminal charges, officials said on Friday.Greenpeace members halted shipping in September 2019 by dangling on ropes from a bridge over the Houston Ship Channel to bring attention to climate change concerns during a presidential debate in the city.Felony charges of disrupting critical energy infrastructure were later dismissed by a Houston grand jury.

16 Jun 2020

Containership Crewman Pleads Guilty in $1 Bln Drug Bust

MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

A crew member from the containership MSC Gayane pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking stemming from a $1 billion bust in the Port of Philadelphia, one of the largest drug seizures in U.S. history.The 27-year-old Montenegrin Vladimir Penda entered a plea of guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Harvey Bartle III on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine on a vessel subject to U.S. jurisdiction, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced Monday.

04 May 2020

DK Marine Boss Pleads Guilty in US Navy Bribery Case

File photo: Military Sealift Command (MSC) auxiliary dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE 10) (U.S. Navy photo by Devin M. Langer)

The owner and Chief Executive Officer of a South Korea–based company, DK Marine, that provided ship husbanding services to the U.S. Navy pleaded guilty for his role in a bribery conspiracy.Sung Yol “David” Kim, 49, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery before U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith of the Eastern District of Michigan. Sentencing has been scheduled for November 17, 2020, before Judge Goldsmith.Pursuant to his guilty plea…

11 Feb 2020

BSM Fined $1.75 Mln for Illegal Bilge Dumping

Operator Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (Singapore) on Monday pleaded guilty in federal court to maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of bilge waste from the tanker vessel Topaz Express, a felony violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.According to court documents and information presented in court, the defendants illegally dumped bilge waste from the Hong Kong-flagged Topaz Express directly into the ocean, without properly processing it through pollution prevention equipment. The defendants admitted that these illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s oil record book as required by law.

17 Oct 2019

DOJ: Failure to Report Hazardous Condition

AdobeStock / © Renaschild

Two shipping companies incorporated in Liberia pled guilty today in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, to failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition on one if its vessels and to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) by presenting false documents to the Coast Guard that covered up vessel oil pollution.Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware announced the plea agreement.

24 Jun 2019

Shipping Company Pleads Guilty to Environmental Laws

Portline Bulk International S.A. pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, to one count of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and one count of Obstruction. The charges stem from the falsification of the Oil Record Book onboard the M/V Achilleus, a Maltese-flagged ocean-going bulk carrier ship managed by Defendant Portline.From April 2017 to August 2018, senior members of the vessel’s engineering team oversaw and participated in the bypass of the ship’s Oil Water Separator utilizing a yellow plastic hose, referred to as a magic pipe. The ship’s Chief Engineer made a series of fake entries and key omissions in the Oil Record Book in order to conceal the illegal overboard discharges of oily bilge water. On Aug.

19 Apr 2019

Shipping Firm Fined $4M for Pollution Violation

File Image: AdobeStock / © Renaschild

$1 Million Will Go to Projects that Support Cleanup of Marine Pollution, Preservation of Aquatic Life, and Restoration of Shorelines around Newark Bay.A shipping company based in Italy today admitted discharging oily waste and other pollutants into the sea and then lying about it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark announced.The company, d’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging it with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

10 Jan 2019

US Oil Export Boom Sparks Battle to Build Texas Ports

© Robert Coy / Adobe Stock

Booming U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected over the next five years.Of seven proposed oil-export projects, nowhere is the opportunity greater or the competition more fierce than in Corpus Christi, Texas, where three firms are vying to open the state's first deepwater port.Commodities trader Trafigura has taken an early lead with a planned offshore facility that has an easier…

14 Nov 2018

Former U.S. Navy Captain Pleads Guilty in Corruption, Fraud Probe

File Image: AdobeStock / © Renaschild

A retired U.S. Navy captain pleaded guilty to criminal conflict of interest charges and a former U.S. Navy master chief was sentenced to 17 months in prison today on corruption charges. The defendants are among the latest U.S. Navy officials to plead guilty and be sentenced in the expansive corruption and fraud investigation involving foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis and his Singapore-based ship husbanding company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Adam L.

05 Apr 2018

Second Japanese Shipping Firm Admits to Cartel Conduct

Cartel conduct in cars transported to Australia from 2009-12-ACCC; Nippon Yusen was fined $20 mln in 2017 over cartel conduct. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) has pleaded guilty to criminal cartel conduct in the transport of vehicles, Australia's competition regulator said on Thursday, the second Japanese shipping company to make such an admission. The conduct relates to the shipping of cars, trucks and buses to Australia between 2009 and 2012, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision (ACCC). Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) was convicted last year by Australia's Federal Court and fined A$25 million ($20 million) for its part in the activity. The ACCC on Thursday declined to disclose details relating to the K-Line complaint.

01 Feb 2018

US Navy Commander Pleads Guilty in 'Fat Leonard' Scandal

Cmdr. Troy Amundson (right) in 2010 (U.S. Navy photo by Jessica Bidwell)

A former commander has become the latest U.S. Navy official to plead guilty in a wide-ranging corruption and fraud investigation involving the foreign defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard”. In what has become the largest corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history, former U.S. Navy commander Troy Amundson pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit bribery, admitting that he conspired with foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, a.k.a. “Fat Leonard,” and his Singapore-based company…

04 Aug 2017

NYK to Pay $20 Mln for Cartel Conviction

Australia has fined and convicted Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) for operating as a cartel in relation to the transport of vehicles into the country, its competition regulator said on Thursday. The charges relate to the transportation of motor vehicles to Australia between 2009 and 2012, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision (ACCC) said in a statement. A new law in Australia criminalised cartel behaviour in 2009, although the activity had been going on since at least February 1997, the ACCC said. "The cartel ... affected vehicles transported to Australia by NYK and other shipping lines from locations in Asia, the U.S. and Europe on behalf of major car manufacturers including Nissan, Suzuki, Honda, Toyota and Mazda," it said.

01 Aug 2017

Former MSC Contractor Sentenced for Bribery Conspiracy

A former owner of a government contracting company that serviced the Military Sealift Command (MSC) was sentenced to 60 months in prison, and to pay a $15,000 fine, for his participation in a bribery conspiracy from approximately 1999 to 2014, in which he provided a contracting official at MSC with almost $3 million in bribes. Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement. U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen sentenced Joseph P. Allen, 56, of Panama City, Fla., following his guilty plea on April 19, to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

19 Aug 2016

US Fines Korean Shipper for 2nd Pollution Violation

United States District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi accepted the guilty plea of Doorae Shipping Co., LTD, a South Korean maritime operations company, and sentenced the company to pay a fine of $275,000, and a term of three years of probation for the failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. According to the Information to which Doorae pled guilty, the operation of a marine vessel, such as the B. Pacific, a petroleum oil tank ship registered under the flag administration of the Marshall Islands, and operated by Doorae, generates large quantities of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water. International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use pollution prevention equipment to preclude the discharge of these materials.

10 Jun 2016

U.S. Navy Admiral Pleads Guilty to Bribery

A U.S. Navy rear admiral pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge of lying to federal investigators, making him the highest-ranking officer to be convicted in the expanding "Fat Leonard" bribery case. Robert Gilbeau, 55, a special assistant to the chief of the Navy Supply Corps, appeared in U.S. District Court in San Diego late Thursday afternoon, accompanied by his lawyer and a fluffy white dog he said helped him monitor his health. Prosecutors said Gilbeau lied when he told investigators that he had not accepted gifts from Leonard Glenn Francis, whose contracts to clean, stock and maintain U.S. Pacific Fleet ships are at the center of the $30 million bribery case. "He lied to federal investigators to conceal his illicit years-long relationship with Leonard Glenn Francis," Assistant U.S.

06 Apr 2016

Korea's Doorae Shipping Fined $750K for Illegal Discharge

Sunrise off of Oahu. (Photo: Greg Trauthwein)

United States District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi accepted the guilty plea of Doorae Shipping Co., LTD, a South Korean maritime operations company, and sentenced the company to pay a fine of $750,000, a community service payment of $200,000, and a term of two years of probation for the failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning the discharge of oil contaminated bilge water.

12 Feb 2016

Owner Fined for 'Dangerously Unsafe' Vessel

The owner of a harbor tanker has been fined £3,000 with more than £7,000 costs after pleading guilty to a charge of operating a vessel for being dangerously unsafe. Joseph O’Connor was fined at the hearing in Southampton Magistrates Court February 12 following his guilty plea to the charge which was brought until the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. In March 2009 the Wadestone, then known as the Humber Star, sank at its berth on Weston Wharf in the River Solent. As a result, the vessel was detained by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) as being dangerously unsafe on March 26, 2009. At the time it was detained it was noted that Wadestone (Humber Star) had been poorly maintained and repaired and was not fit to go to sea.

16 Apr 2015

Navy Officer Pleads Guilty to Bribery

U.S. A lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy pleaded guilty to bribery charges in federal court, admitting that he accepted cash, hotel expenses and the services of a prostitute in return for providing classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and other internal Navy information to an executive of a defense contracting firm. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations James B. Burch of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Director Andrew L. Traver of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Director Anita Bales of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) made the announcement.

28 Mar 2016

Highest Officer in US Navy Bribe Scheme Sentenced to 46 Months

A federal judge in San Diego on Friday sentenced a U.S. Navy captain caught in a $30 million bribery scandal to 46 months in prison, bringing to a close the case against the highest-ranking officer in the fraud scheme. Captain Daniel Dusek, 49, pleaded guilty last year to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery after admitting he accepted services from prostitutes, luxury hotel stays, alcohol and other gifts in exchange for giving classified information to the Singapore-based company Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The firm headed by Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, who has been dubbed "Fat Leonard," held over $200 million in contracts to clean, stock and maintain U.S. Pacific Fleet ships.

24 Sep 2014

Barge Operator Fined for Releasing Dangerous Gas

The operator of a Portsmouth-based barge has today been made to pay almost £111,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to a breach of maritime legislation. Serco Ltd. admitted an offence at Portsmouth Crown Court in relation to the health and safety of workers aboard the barge 1706, which is operated as part of a service contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The primary function of the barge is to collect waste products from naval vessels when they were moored in Portsmouth. On July 6, 2011, barge 1706 was secured alongside a warship at Portsmouth Naval Base and was taking waste water from the vessel. A short while later, the crew started to smell the distinctive 'rotten eggs' odor of hydrogen sulphide (H2S).

08 Jan 2015

U.S. Navy Officer Guilty of Bribery

Second U.S. Navy Officer Indicted on Related Bribery Charges. A commander in the U.S. Navy pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges today, admitting that he provided a government contractor with classified ship schedules and other internal U.S. Navy information in exchange for cash, travel and entertainment expenses, as well as the services of prostitutes. A second U.S. Navy officer was also indicted today on related bribery charges by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California, Director Andrew L. Traver of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Deputy Inspector General of Investigations James B.