Category Archives: litigation

Clean Green Fuel Owner Guilty in $9 Million in Bio-Diesel Scam

A U.S. District Judge today sentenced Rodney R. Hailey, of Perry Hall, Maryland to nearly 12 years and six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for selling $9 million in renewable fuel credits that he falsely claimed were produced by his company, Clean Green Fuel, LLC. Hailey, age 34, was convicted in June of 2012 on eight counts of wire fraud, 32 counts of money laundering, and two counts of violating the Clean Air Act. He has been detained since the guilty verdict.

Hailey made more than $9.1 million from selling the false credits, and used the proceeds of the scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, including BMWs, a Mercedes Benz, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and others, as well as real estate and more than $80,000 in diamond jewelry. In all of these transactions, Hailey generally used cash or checks drawn on accounts he controlled to make the purchase, including a check for $645,330.15 to buy his home in Maryland. Continue reading

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U.S. Sues Lance Armstrong for False Racing Sponsorship Claims

From 1996 through 2004, the USPS sponsored a professional cycling team owned by Tailwind and its predecessors. Between 2001 and 2004 alone, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees. (Imagine how much could be recovered only the Justice Department went after its friends at the Wall Street firms, banks and ratings agencies that cost taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars because of false claims in the sub-prime mortgage business.)
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Class Action Suit Filed Against F-150 EcoBoost Engines for Stalling

More than $500,000,000 in damages is requested by 100 plaintiffs in what could be a prolonged image-damaging class action lawsuit about Ford’s claimed fuel economy breakthrough. Ford has issued two service bulletins to dealers about the problem, before redesigning the intake system for the 2013 model year. Continue reading

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Transocean Pleads Guilty of Environmental Crimes in Gulf Oil Spill. $400 Million in Penalties for its Role in Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Transocean Deepwater pleaded guilty today to a violation of the Clean Water Act for its illegal conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The drilling company was sentenced to pay $400 million in criminal fines and penalties, Attorney General Holder announced today. Continue reading

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More Spills in Gulf of Mexico as U.S. Files Suit against ATP Oil

Today the United States filed suit against ATP Oil & Gas Corporation and ATP Infrastructure Partners for civil penalties and injunctive relief under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The complaint alleges unlawful discharges of oil and banned chemical dispersants from the defendants’ floating oil and gas production platform, the ATP Innovator, into the Gulf of Mexico. The drilling rig is operating 45 nautical miles offshore of southeastern Louisiana. Continue reading

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BP Sentenced to Pay $4 Billion for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Crimes

Nevertheless, the penalty remains a small fraction of the actual damage caused by pumping at least 5 billion gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This means that BP is paying less than $1 a gallon for the criminal spill and destruction of the environment. Continue reading

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Court of Appeals Throws Out EPA Cellulosic Mandate for Refiners

While the enabling legislation was noble at least in its publicly stated intent – the U.S. sends over $1,000,000 a minute to oil exporting nations, many of whom are hostile to us – it was in the end a sordid tale of special interests feeding at the public trough. Worse, the legislation dictated the types and amounts of fuel to be used to gain energy independence – in effect a dreaded and ineffective design standard – instead of a performance standard that sets broad goals and lets industry and the marketplace work out the issues. Continue reading

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Second Alabama Cop to Serve Time for I-65 Motorist Thefts

A second Alabama police officer has been sentenced to serve time because of his thefts from motorists on I-65. Former Fort Deposit police officer Carlos Tyson Bennett, 37, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $500 in restitution. Bennett stole money from motorists during traffic stops with another ex Fort Deposit cop, Jessie Alan Fuller, on Interstate 65 in 2009. Continue reading

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Used Motor Vehicle Dealers Indicted for Odometer Tampering

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia charged Kyle Novitsky, 45, and Judith Aloe, 52, both of North Miami Beach, Florida with making false odometer statements, securities fraud and conspiracy, the Justice Department announced today. Continue reading

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Virginia Man Jailed for Selling Counterfeit GM Diagnostic Equipment

A Virginia man was sentenced today in federal court to serve one year and one day in prison for selling counterfeit General Motors automotive diagnostic equipment used by mechanics to identify problems with GM vehicles. Continue reading

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Ex Ford EVP David Thursfield Sentenced to Jail over Divorce

David Thursfield, a former executive vice president of Ford Motor Company and then a top Cerberus executive, has been sentenced to two years in jail in Great Britain for allegedly hiding assets during a contentious divorce settlement in 2005. Continue reading

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Transocean Pleads Guilty in Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Criminal and Civil Fines Set at a Record $1.4 Billion by Department of Justice

Transocean Deepwater, the operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, will plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines for its conduct during the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Continue reading

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Alaskan Contractor to Serve Time for Dumping Hazardous Waste

The former owner of a road and parking lot painting and striping business in Anchorage, Alaska will serve time in prison for dumping hazardous waste. William Duran Vizzerra, Jr., 43, was sentenced by Chief Judge Ralph R. Beistline to 15 months in prison. The court also ordered Vizzerra to pay $395,319 in restitution to two victims. Continue reading

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Toyota Settles Lawsuits for $1.1 Billion and Will Modify Millions of Vehicles with Electronically Controlled Gas Pedals to Stop Runaways

In an engineering lapse of monumental consequences that included several deaths, the computer programming on affected vehicles when confronted with both brake and accelerator inputs did not favor the brake input for its electronic engine controls. Such over-ride software is in widespread use at other automakers. Continue reading

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Toyota to Pay Record $17.35 Million for Lexus Safety Cover-Up

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced that Toyota Motor Corporation would pay $17.35 million, the maximum fine, in response to the agency’s assertion that the automaker once again failed to report a safety defect to the federal government in a timely manner. Continue reading

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