Environment & Natural Resources Division

Shipping Companies Sentenced to $2M Criminal Penalty for Concealing Oil Discharge Two corporations that operated the motor tanker P/S Dream — Prive Overseas Marine LLC and Prive Shipping Denizcilik Ticaret — were sentenced yesterday in federal court in New Orleans to pay a $2 million criminal penalty and complete four years of probation. The companies pleaded guilty in May to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). The court sentenced the P/S Dream’s Captain, Abdurrahman Korkmaz, on Sept. 10 to eight months in prison for an APPS offense and obstructing the U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation. The charges pertain to the investigation of the P/S Dream vessel when it was heading to New Orleans in January 2023. Senior corporate managers were aware that Korkmaz had arranged to discharge oil-contaminated waste from a residual tank on deck into the ocean. The captain ordered the crew to pump the waste overboard and clean the tank with soap. The seamen rigged a portable pump to empty the contents overboard over three days. The defendants falsified the vessel’s oil record book by omitting the discharge. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gGG6SMkv

Six men were arrested and had their initial court appearances yesterday after being charged in a five-count indictment with violating the Animal Welfare Act in connection with a cockfighting operation. A federal grand jury sitting in Providence, Rhode Island, returned the indictment last week. The indictment alleges that on March 6, 2022, Miguel Delgado, 73, hosted a series of individual cockfights, known as “derbies,” at his Providence home. Delgado is also charged with sponsoring and exhibiting roosters in an animal fighting venture on multiple dates, buying and transporting sharp instruments or “gaffs” for use in the cockfights and unlawfully possessing roosters for use in an animal fighting venture. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gjVmZjXF

United States Reaches Agreement with COBB Tuning Products for Clean Air Act Violations https://lnkd.in/gJQq3YPx

Two Puerto Rican Men Sentenced for Destroying Wetlands Including in the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve https://lnkd.in/gYHmdECv

The Justice Department celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month! #HispanicHeritageMonth #MesDeLaHerenciaHispana https://lnkd.in/eKxYm9EX

#ThisWeekatJustice, the Department: ▶️ Attorney General Merrick B. Garland delivered an address to the Justice Department workforce ▶️ Charged leaders of a transnational terrorist group with soliciting #HateCrimes & conspiring to provide materials to terrorists ▶️ Commemorated the 23rd Anniversary of September 11 ▶️ Issued new guidance regarding #VoterRegistration ▶️ Held a #ViolentCrime Reduction Sterring Committee meeting – announcing continued decline in violent crime ▶️ Convened an interagency meeting with Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian & Hindu community stakeholders Keep up with the latest news from the Justice Department at justice.gov/news For closed captions: https://lnkd.in/gwsz_4tQ

#ThisWeekatJustice, the Department: ▶️ Announced terrorism charges against the senior leaders of Hamas ▶️ Convened the Election Threats Task Force to announce major #LawEnforcement actions to secure our elections ▶️ Announced Civil Rights investigation into correctional staff sexual abuse at two California prisons ▶️ Arrested a dual U.S. and Iranian Citizen for unlawfully exporting U.S. technology to Iran ▶️ Seized aircraft used by Nicolás Maduro Moros in violation of U.S. Export Control and Sanctions Laws Keep up with the latest news from the Justice Department at justice.gov/news

Mississippi Seafood Distributor and Managers Plead Guilty to Conspiracy and Misbranding of Seafood Company Agrees to Pay More than $1.1M in Criminal Penalties A Mississippi seafood distributor and two company managers pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to mislabel seafood and to commit wire fraud by marketing inexpensive and frozen imported substitutes as more expensive and premium local species. Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc. (QPS), the largest seafood wholesaler on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, has agreed to pay the United States $1 million in forfeitures and a criminal fine of $150,000. QPS sales manager Todd A. Rosetti and business manager James W. Gunkel, both of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, also pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood to facilitate QPS’ fraud. QPS admitted to participating in this fish substitution scheme from as early as 2002 and continuing through November 2019. The indictment alleges that QPS recommended and sold to its restaurant customers foreign-sourced fish that could serve as convincing substitutes for the local species the restaurants advertised on their menus. QPS also labeled the cheap imports that it sold to customers at its own retail shop and café as premium local fish. “QPS and company officials went to great lengths in conspiring with others to perpetuate fraud for more than a decade, even after they knew they were under federal investigation,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Mislabeling seafood harms local wholesalers and fishermen who compete to sell locally sourced, premium fish in a market unfairly flooded with less expensive fish, frozen and imported from overseas.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/gGRMnq9c

#ThisWeekatJustice, the Department: ▶️ Sued RealPage for Algorithmic Pricing Scheme that Harms Millions of American Renters ▶️ Announced a major #HumanSmuggling update from Joint Task Force Alpha with ties to a 2022 mass casualty event in Texas ▶️ Launched a #CivilRights investigation into conditions at Tennessee’s Trousdale Turner Correctional Center ▶️ Announced that Former Congressman George Santos has pleaded guilty to #Fraud and identity theft ▶️ Ten additional states joined Justice Department’s suit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster for monopolizing markets across the live concert industry ▶️ Deputy AG Monaco and DHS Secretary Canegallo joined #WomenInLawEnforcement at the Washington Nationals game Keep up with the latest news from the Justice Department at justice.gov/news For closed captions: https://lnkd.in/gcAKrZQh

Iowa Man Charged with Distributing Videos Depicting Monkey Torture and Mutilation An indictment was unsealed today in which an individual was charged based on his involvement with online groups dedicated to creating and distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys. Philip Colt Moss, of Iowa, was charged with conspiracy to create and distribute so-called “animal crush videos,” and with distributing animal crush videos. According to court documents, in March and April 2023, Moss allegedly conspired with Nicholas Dryden and Giancarlo Morelli to create and distribute videos depicting acts of sadistic violence against baby, adolescent and adult monkeys. Dryden and Morelli were previously indicted and are awaiting trial. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gYXg9425