GUILTY: OMI to Pay $4.2M Fine for Illegal Dumping
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that OMI Corporation pleaded guilty to preparing false documents in an effort to cover up the illegal dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil and sludge at sea. OMI also agreed to pay a $4.2 million fine and serve three years probation. U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 3. A ship captain and chief engineer previously pled guilty in connection with the case. The ship involved in the case, the Motor Tanker Guadalupe, owned and operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of OMI Corporation, made port calls in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.
OMI Ordered to Pay $4.2M
Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Christopher J. Christie, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced that a Connecticut-based shipping company that transports petroleum products in the United States and abroad was sentenced to pay $4.2 million for illegally concealing the dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil and sludge at sea. U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden ordered OMI Corporation, to pay a $4.2 million fine and serve three years of probation. Judge Hayden also awarded $2.1 million of the fine to a former OMI crew member who reported the crimes to the government.
Chief Engineer Admits Dumping Waste Oil, Sludge at Sea
The chief engineer of an oil tanker that transports petroleum products to and from various ports in the United States and abroad pleaded guilty today to submitting false documents to the U.S. Coast Guard in an effort to cover up the illegal dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil and sludge at sea, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. The captain of the vessel also pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to conspiracy in connection with his effort to conceal evidence and solicit false statements from a lower-level engineer during the Coast Guard boarding of the ship in the Port of Carteret on Sept. 10, Christie said.
