Early Enforcement Actions Under Title VI

More recent enforcement actions | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
September 6, 1995: United States v. Paul Zborovsky and Jose Prieto (S.D. FL): Jose Prieto and Paul Zborovsky were sentenced on September 6, 1995, for smuggling the ozone depleting refrigerant gas dichlorodifluoromethane (also known as CFC-12) into the United States. Prieto was sentenced to 26 months of imprisonment. Co-defendant Paul Zborovsky was sentenced to two months of imprisonment, two months of home detention and a $5,000 fine. Zborovsky entered a plea prior to trial. Zborovsky pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) by importing CFC-12 into the United States without the consumption allowances issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. He also pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling.
August 30, 1995: United States v. Irma Henneberg (S.D. FL): Irma Henneberg, manager of Caicos Caribbean Lines, Inc., was found guilty by a federal jury on August 30, 1995 on 34 counts of making false statements on customs documents used to illegally smuggle the refrigerant gas dichlorodifluoromethane (also known as CFC-12) into the United States. Henneberg made false statements on shipping manifests filed with the U.S. Customs Service to document the purported shipment of 209 cargo containers of refrigerant gas allegedly shipped from Miami. The purpose of the false manifests was to conceal the smuggling of large quantities of CFC-12 into the domestic commerce of the United States.
July 24, 1995: United States v. Adi Dara Dubash and Homi Patel (S.D. FL): Adi Dara Dubash was sentenced on July 24, 1995, after pleading guilty to smuggling 8,400 cylinders of CFC-12 into the United States in violation of the Clean Air Act. He was sentenced to 22 months of imprisonment, 3 years of probation and a $6,000 fine. Dubash's co-defendant, Homi Patel, was sentenced on July 25, 1995, for the same offenses. Patel was sentenced to 3 years of probation and was required to pay a mandatory special assessment. Beginning in October 1994, Dubash, Patel and other co-conspirators caused seven cargo containers of the CFCs to be shipped into the New York/New Jersey area in bonded status. They further arranged for five of the seven containersto be forwarded to Miami, purportedly for reshipment out of the United States.
June 23, 1995: United States v. John Tominelli (S.D. FL): Customs broker John Tominelli pleaded guilty on June 23, 1995, to one count of violating the Clean Air Act by importing into the United States 11 cargo containers of the ozone depleting refrigerant dichlorofluoromethane, known as CFC-12, without possessing the consumption allowances required by the CAA; one count of smuggling CFC-12 into the United States; and one count of importing distilled spirits without paying the required taxes. Tominelli faces possible penalties including 15 years incarceration and fines in excess of $750,000.
May 4, 1995: Illegal Disposal: On May 4, 1995, an administrative complaint was issued to S.D. Richman Sons, Inc., a Philadelphia wholesale scrap metal dealer, for violations of the stratospheric ozone protection requirements of the Clean Air Act. Specifically, the company disposed of numerous small appliances without verifying that the refrigerant had been evacuated from the appliances. This failure to verify prior refrigerant evacuation resulted in the likelyrelease of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) containing refrigerant to the environment. The complaint seeks a civil penalty of $186,000.
More recent enforcement actions | 1999 | 1998 | 1997

Early Enforcement Actions Under Title VI

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