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Legal Office News

20 Apr 2017

Princess Cruises Fined $40 Mln for Pollution

Caribbean Princess (Photo: Princess Cruise Lines Ltd.)

Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. was sentenced to pay a $40 million penalty – the largest-ever for crimes involving deliberate vessel pollution – related to illegal dumping overboard of oil contaminated waste and falsification of official logs in order to conceal the discharges. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Patricia A.

15 Aug 2013

Brudzinski Selected as USCG Chief Judge

Judge Walter J. Brudzinski

Judge Walter J. Brudzinski has been selected for the position of Chief, Administrative Law Judge, U.S. Coast Guard. In this capacity, Chief Judge Brudzinski will provide supervision and administration of the Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge program. Judge Brudzinski has more than 16 years of experience as an Administrative Law Judge and has been with the U.S. Coast Guard since 2003. Prior to his initial Administrative Law Judge appointment in 1996 with the Social Security Administration…

23 Jul 2013

Lawyer Wins International Maritime Prize

Dr Thomas A. Mensah: Photo credit IMO

The IMO Council has unanimously agreed to award the prestigious International Maritime Prize for 2012 to Dr. Thomas A. Mensah of Ghana, former President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Legal Affairs and External Relations Division at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), for his significant contribution to the work and objectives of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In nominating his candidature, the Government of Ghana drew attention to Dr.

31 May 2012

Ship Operator and Engineers Guilty in Pollution Case

Singapore Ship Operator and Engineers Plead Guilty to Crimes Related to Pollution from Cargo Ship Traveling to Mobile, Alabama; Company Sentenced to Pay $1.2 Million Criminal Penalty. A ship management company headquartered in Singapore pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in Mobile for deliberately falsifying records to conceal pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea. Target Ship Management Pte. Ltd., the operator of the M/V Gaurav Prem, pleaded…

21 May 2012

U.S. DOJ: Guilty Verdict in Dumping Case

Ship’s Captain Convicted of Obstructing a Coast Guard Inspection. The former captain of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that discharged hundreds of plastic pipes into the ocean, was convicted yesterday by a jury in Mobile, Ala., for obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the vessel in the port of Mobile on Sept. 21, 2011. Prastana Taohim, 38, the captain of the M/V Gaurav Prem, was found guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Kenyen R. Brown, U.S.

10 Sep 2010

Chief Engineer Sentenced for Falsifying Records

Dimitrios Dimitrakis, Chief Engineer of the cargo ship M/V New Fortune, was sentenced in federal court in Oakland today to three years probation, a $5,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment for failing to maintain an Oil Record Book, a document required by MARPOL, a treaty ratified and implemented by the United States, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced. This sentence stems from the overboard disposal of oil residue, sludge, oil, and oily mixtures into the ocean and Dimitrakis’s subsequent efforts to conceal these discharges by falsifying onboard records. According to Court documents, the M/V New Fortune is a ocean-going bulk cargo ship registered in the Marshall Islands that carried bulk products in world-wide commerce.

04 Sep 2009

Liberian Ocean Shipping Co. Admits Wrongdoing

A Liberian-incorporated shipping company pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton, N.J., to failing to keep accurate oily water discharge records and using falsified records to conceal the discharge at sea of untreated bilge from one of its cargo ships, the Justice Department announced. Dalnave Navigation Inc., a Liberian company with offices in Athens, Greece, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan immediately after the guilty plea to pay a fine of $1m, the maximum fine allowable for the two counts to which the company pleaded guilty. Additionally, the company agreed to pay a $350,000 community service payment to the congressionally-established National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used specifically for the protection…

21 Jul 2009

Guilty Plea, Concealing Vessel Pollution

Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/V Myron N, and the second engineer, Dimitrios Papadakis, both citizens of Greece, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the cargo ship, the Justice Department announced. District Court Judge Peter G. Sheridan for the District of New Jersey scheduled sentencing for Sept. 8, 2009. Stamatakis and Papadakis each faces up to six years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The government's investigation began in September 2008, when inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an examination of the M/V Myron N, following the ship's arrival in Gravesend Anchorage, N.Y.

07 May 2009

Chief Engineer Sentenced

Carmelo Oria, a Spanish citizen who was the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/T Nautilus, was sentenced on May 6th in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts for maintaining inaccurate records that concealed a discharge of oil-contaminated water from the bilges of the M/T Nautilus, the Justice Department announced. Oria was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by supervised release for a term of two years and a $3,000 fine. Oria pleaded guilty on March 9, 2009, to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships based on his role in discharging oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the ocean from the M/T Nautilus and then failing to record the discharge in the ship's records. The government's investigation began in March 2008, when inspectors from the U.S.

08 Apr 2009

Guilty Plea on Concealing Vessel Pollution

Consultores De Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, pleaded guilty on April 6 in U.S. District Court in Boston and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5m for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas, the Justice Department announced. The company pleaded guilty to conspiracy, falsification of records, false statements, obstruction, and two violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book. The practice of improperly handling and disposing of oil-contaminated waste from the tanker as charged in the indictment took place from at least June 2007 until March 2008.

09 Mar 2004

Sentencing for False Distress Message

John McKay, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Rear Adm. Jeffrey M. Garrett, Commander, Thirteenth Coast Guard District, and Russell Barker, Special Agent in Charge of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Northwest Region, announced that today, the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess, United States District Judge of the Western Washington District of Washington, sentenced JAMES GARRETT BALDWIN, age 31, of Aberdeen, Wash., in Federal District Court to twelve months and one day's imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release for one count of Communicating a False Distress Message to the United States Coast Guard. The court also ordered Baldwin to pay $194,587 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard.

11 Mar 2002

Tanker Company Sentenced

Thomas M. DiBiagio, U.S. Attorney for Maryland and Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department Environment and Natural Resources Division, today announced the sentencing of a Danish shipping company, D/S Progress, to pay a $250,000 criminal fine for conspiring to conceal a hazardous leak in the hull of an oil tanker that visited Baltimore, for failing to report emergency discharges to save the ship and for presenting false log books to the U.S. Coast Guard in order to disguise the leak, emergency discharges and other deliberate acts of dumping oil. D/S Progress, a ship management company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, was responsible for the "Freja Jutlandic," an oil tanker which first arrived in Baltimore on March 22, 2000.

13 Sep 2004

Two More Ship Engineers Plead Guilty

Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Paula D. Silsby, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine, announced that late yesterday two chief engineers for a freighter pled guilty for their role in concealing the overboard dumping of waste oil from the M/V Kent Navigator and using false log books designed to deceive the U.S. Coast Guard. The defendants, Chief Engineers Felipe B. Arcolas and Alfredo D. Lozada, worked aboard the Kent Navigator, which is owned and managed by Petraia Maritime Ltd. The government’s investigation began when the U.S. Coast Guard received an anonymous tip that a vessel bound for Portland was illegally discharging its waste oil and its bilges while at sea.

13 Sep 2004

Vessel Operators Sentenced for Drowning Death

Two men were sentenced in federal court in Boston on manslaughter charges stemming from the drowning death of a visiting Irish student that occurred in the summer of 2001. United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Rear Admiral Vivian Crea, Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard First District; Michael D. O'Keefe, Cape & Islands District Attorney; Colonel Thomas G. Robbins, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; John J. Finnegan, Chief of the Barnstable Police Department; and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that JOSEPH JAY SHORE, age 65, of 1418 Commonwealth Avenue, West Newton, Massachusetts, and his son, CORD MITCHELL SHORE, age 39, of 180 Scudder Avenue, Hyannis, Massachusetts, were both sentenced by U.S.

18 Jan 2005

Ship Engineers Sentenced for False Statements

Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Paula D. Silsby, United States Attorney for the District of Maine, announced today that two chief engineers of a freighter ship were each sentenced yesterday to two years of probation and a fine of $3000 for their roles in concealing the overboard ocean dumping of waste oil from the M/V Kent Navigator through false log books and statements designed to deceive the U.S. Coast Guard. The defendants, Chief Engineers Alfredo D. Lozada and Felipe B. Arcolas, worked aboard the Kent Navigator, which is owned and operated by Petraia Maritime Ltd. The government’s investigation began when the U.S.

18 Oct 2007

Ship’s Chief Engineer Convicted in Vessel Pollution Case

Mark Humphries, the chief engineer of the M/V Tanabata, an American-flagged car-carrier ship based in Baltimore, was convicted by a jury on one count of conspiracy and two counts of making false statements, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. At trial, it was proven that the M/V Tanabata had a removable bypass pipe or “magic pipe” that was used to discharge oily waste without the use of an oily-water separator, a required pollution control devise. The discharges were, however, falsely recorded as having been processed through the separator in the ship’s oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S.

27 Aug 2007

Former Chief Engineer Arraigned on Vessel Pollution Charges

Patrick K. Brown, a former Chief Engineer of the M/V Fidelio was arraigned today on a six count indictment related to deliberate vessel pollution that was originally returned by a federal grand jury on July 26, 2007. The indictment was announced by Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment & Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. According to the indictment, Brown was a U.S. licensed Chief Engineer and was responsible for managing and supervising the engine department, including compliance with laws regulating the discharge of oil from the ship.

25 Jan 2007

PGM Sentenced for Environmental Crimes

American-based ship operator, Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. deliberate acts of pollution involving a fleet of four ships, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced PGM to pay a $1 million criminal fine, $500,000 for community service and serve three years of probation under the terms of a rigorous Environmental Compliance Program (ECP), which is subject to court approval. oil-contaminated bilge waste without the use of an oily water separator, a required pollution prevention device. Instead, the ships used secret bypass pipes, sometimes referred to as a "magic pipe," to circumvent the oily water separator.

03 Apr 2003

Mbanefo Earns Support for IMO Secretary-General Bid

Monica Mbanefo is gathering support for her bid to become the next Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization. for her in advance of the elections in June 2003. Mbanefo is currently Director of the Conference Division of IMO. world and demonstrable competence in running a large specialized UN agency. international organizations. Director/Head of the Legal Office of IMO. Fund Protocols, the HNS Convention and the Arrest of Ships 1999 Convention. in 1999 was promoted to Director, Conference Division. strengthening and reinforcing efficiency throughout the organization. and so improve implementation of existing regulations. that they support her candidature.

20 Dec 2005

Ship Company to Pay $10.5M for Covering up Oil Pollution

MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong) Limited—a Hong Kong-based container ship company—has agreed to plead guilty to charges that it engaged in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, false statements and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the Department of Justice announced today. Per the terms of a plea agreement that must be approved by the court, MSC Ship Management will pay $10.5 million in penalties. This is the largest fine in which a single vessel has been charged with deliberate pollution and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts history. According to the plea agreement…

06 Apr 2006

Chief Engineer Sentenced to Prison Term, Reports U.S. Attorney

The Chief Engineer of a Panamanian registered container ship was sentenced today in federal court to charges of conspiracy, obstruction, destruction of evidence, false statements and violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in connection with the use of a secretly concealed "magic pipe" used to deliberately discharge tons of sludge and oil contaminated waste overboard. Michael J. Sullivan, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts; Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division; Rear Admiral David P. Pekoske, Commander, First Coast Guard District; and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S.