Tag: US Department of Justice

Five crew members were sentenced in a US court this week for smuggling 1,205 pounds of cocaine across the ocean in low-profile vessels, including a captain who received a 17-year term. The defendants were sentenced to spend between 84-210 months in prison. 

A US federal appeals court upheld the criminal convictions and penalties that were imposed on the operators of the Ocean Hope. The case stems after an inspection, during which senior engineers for the companies tried to hide that the vessel had been dumping oily wastes into the ocean for months.

UK-based marine services contractor Inchcape and some of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $20,000,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the US Navy under contracts for ship husbanding services, the US Department of Justice announced. 

Two Honolulu-based fishing companies, along with the company managers and vessel operators, have agreed to implement operational improvements and other compliance measures and pay civil penalties over numerous discharges of oily bilge waste from the commercial fishing vessels 'Triple Dragon' and 'Capt. Millions III'.  

The Japanese shipping company Nitta Kisen Kaisha Ltd., owning and operating the bulk carrier 'Atlantic Oasis', that delivered steel products to Wilmington, was convicted and sentenced by the US court for obstruction of justice and falsification of an Oil Record Book to cover-up intentional oil pollution from the ship.

Two US fishing companies and two individuals have agreed to pay a total of $414,000 in civil penalties and to perform fleet-wide improvements to resolve federal Clean Water Act claims stemming from oily bilge discharges from the fishing vessel 'Challenge', and a related fuel oil discharge in August 2017 in New Bedford.

Tank vessel operator Sea World Management & Trading, Inc. and Captain Edmon Fajardo were sentenced for maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oil and garbage from an oil tanker that was operating off the coast of Texas, according to the US Department of Justice. 

Hoegh Autoliners has made a settlement with the US Department of Justice, regarding accusations over price-fixing. According to sources, the Norwegian company is to pay a fine of USD21 million to Middle East exports for illicit actions against competition.

Houston-based Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC was sentenced on eight violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and one violation of the Clean Water Act, after explosion in November 2012 on an offshore oil production platform, the US Department of Justice informed.

A fishing vessel company that operated in and around American Samoa was sentenced for maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oil and garbage, the US Department of Justice informed. The fishing vessel responsible for the pollution is owned by Yuh Fa Fishery (Vanuatu) Co. Ltd.