Corporate Crime Case Database
Consistent with the Department’s ongoing commitment to transparency in corporate crime cases, the DOJ launched a new case database. While it is still in the process of being populated, it will eventually contain the significant, relevant cases from each component and U.S. Attorney’s Office, resolved since the beginning of 2023.
United States v. Northridge Construction Corp., et al.
On January 5, 2024, Northridge Construction Corporation pleaded guilty to violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) (29 U.S.C. § 666(e). Sentencing is scheduled for April 3, 2024.
In 2018, during the construction of a shed on Northridge’s property, a company employee fell from an improperly secured roof and died. OSH regulations require companies and employers to maintain the stability of a metal structure during construction. Northridge pleaded guilty to violating this worker safety standard and to making two false statements that obstructed OSHA’s inquiry into the employee’s death.
Richard Zagger, a company superintendent, was indicted in November on conspiracy and obstruction of official proceedings relating to this investigation (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1505).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted the investigation.
U.S. v. Al’s Asphalt Paving Company, Inc. and Edward D. Swanson
Al’s Asphalt Paving Company, Inc. and Edward D. Swanson pleaded guilty to two counts of entering into and engaging in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by agreeing to rig bids for contracts to provide asphalt paving services in the State of Michigan. Count One charged a conspiracy that began at least as early as March 2013 and continued until at least as late as November 2018. Count Two charged a separate conspiracy that began at least as early as June 2013 and continued until at least as late as June 2019.
United States v. John H. Cross, III, et al.
On December 21, 2023, a court ordered the final restitution in this case, originally sentenced in April 2019. John H. Cross and his company, John Cross Fisheries, are jointly responsible for paying $1,032,132 to be paid to the National Fish Hatcheries, which stock Lake Michigan with lake trout. The court previously sentenced Cross to 12 months’ intermittent incarceration, as a condition of a five-year term of probation. The judge wanted Cross to serve the time during the winter months when his business is not operating. The company was sentenced to complete a five-year term of probation to include implementing a compliance plan.
The defendants previously pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for trafficking in illegally caught lake trout and falsely labelling the fish (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), (d)(2), 3373(d)(2), (d)(3)(A)). The company sold more than 48,000 pounds of lake trout that it should have known had been illegally harvested, transported, and sold in violation of Michigan fishery laws.
Between September 2011 and October 2013, Cross and Cross Fisheries repeatedly purchased lake trout from “Fisherman A,” a tribal fisherman who fished from a boat converted to trap net gear at taxpayers’ expense (and thus barred from lawfully harvesting lake trout). Instead, the defendants made and submitted records and accounts of these purchases indicating the seller was a licensed gillnet fisherman (“Fisherman B”) who could legally harvest lake trout.
Between approximately September 2011 and October 2013, the defendants made approximately 42 purchases of lake trout from “Fisherman A,” totaling approximately 48,498 pounds, all of which Cross Fisheries falsely claimed it received from “Fisherman B.”
This case is a result from Operation Fishing for Funds, a two-year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undercover operation. The operation investigated the illegal harvest and sale of fish (primarily walleye and trout) taken from the Great Lakes. Agents established an undercover wholesale fish business in Baraga, Michigan, named Upper Peninsula North Fish Company (UPNFC). UPNFC bought and sold fish wholesale and retail across the region.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Michigan and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources.
United States v. Joseph Jensen, et al.
On December 21, 2023, a court sentenced Joseph Jensen to pay a $4,250 fine, and complete a two-year term of probation to include six months’ home detention. Jensen also was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Hatchery System. The court sentenced his father, Robert Jenson, in December to similar terms, except he will pay $211, 578 in restitution. The defendants pleaded guilty to making and submitting (and causing to be submitted) false records with respect to fish in violation of the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(d)(2), 3373(d)(3)(A)(ii), (d)(3)(B)).
The Jensens are enrolled members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe, who commercially fish Lake Michigan pursuant to licenses issued by their tribe. James and Michael Hermes are non-tribal fish wholesalers doing business as Garden Bay Fisheries, located in Michigan’ s Upper Peninsula. During 2017, the Jensens repeatedly harvested lake trout in excess of established daily trip limits. These fish were purchased by Big Bay de Noc Fisheries (the predecessor to Garden Bay Fisheries), which sold them in interstate commerce. To conceal the illegal nature of the fish, Robert Jensen falsified monthly catch reports filed with the tribe, and Big Bay de Noc Fisheries, with assistance from Joseph Jensen, falsified wholesale reports filed with the State of Michigan.
The court previously sentenced James and Michael Hermes, along with their company Garden Bay Fisheries, for selling illegally possessed fish in interstate commerce and making and submitting false records in violation of the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(d)(2), 3373(d)(2)). The three defendants are jointly and severally responsible for $180,000 in restitution to be paid to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Hatchery System (with James and Michael Hermes each paying $90,000), of which $135,000 was paid at the time of sentencing. All three defendants also paid $8,500 in fines. The company will complete a four-year term of probation. James and Michael Hermes will each complete two-year terms of probation to include six-months’ home confinement.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Michigan and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources.
United States v. Freepoint Commodities LLC
U.S. v. Ike Tomlinson and Kris Bird
Following a court-authorized wiretap investigation, a federal grand jury in Boise, Idaho, returned an indictment in December 2023 charging two executives of competing companies with conspiring to rig bids and allocate territories in violation of the Sherman Act, conspiring to commit wire fraud and committing wire fraud. According to the seven-count felony indictment, Ike Tomlinson and Kris Bird’s conspiracy affected contracts for forest-firefighting services.
United States v. Carl Zaglin, Aldo Marchena, Francisco Cosenza
A Georgia businessman, a former Honduran government official, and a former Florida resident were indicted for their alleged participation in an international scheme to pay and conceal bribes to Honduran government officials to secure contracts to provide uniforms and other goods to the Honduran National Police in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering laws.
The indictment was returned on November 28, 2023, and was unsealed on December 20, 2023 in the Southern District of Florida.
United States v. Changpeng Zhao
On November 21, 2023, Binance’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to violating the BSA by causing Binance to violate the BSA by causing Binance to fail to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. Simultaneously, the Department of Justice announced that Binance Holdings Limited (Binance) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and to fail to register as a money transmitting business, failure to register as a money transmitting business, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, prioritized growth, market share, and profits over compliance with U.S. law in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by U.S. law. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties and will undertake compliance enhancement and remediation and retain an independent monitor. This is the Department’s largest corporate guilty plea that also involves the guilty plea of a Chief Executive Officer. This prosecution was led by the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
United States v. Binance Holdings Limited, d/b/a Binance.com
On November 21, 2023, the Department of Justice announced that Binance Holdings Limited (Binance) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and to fail to register as a money transmitting business, failure to register as a money transmitting business, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, prioritized growth, market share, and profits over compliance with U.S. law in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by U.S. law. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties and will undertake compliance enhancement and remediation and retain an independent monitor. Simultaneously, Binance’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to violating the BSA by causing Binance to violate the BSA by causing Binance to fail to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. This is the Department’s largest corporate guilty plea that also involves the guilty plea of a Chief Executive Officer. This prosecution was led by the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (f/k/a Landec Corporation)
Pursuant to the Criminal Division’s Voluntary Self-Disclosure and Corporate Enforcement Policy, on November 16, 2023, the Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California declined to prosecute Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (formerly known as Landec Corporation) for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) because the company voluntarily self-disclosed the misconduct, fully cooperated with the government’s investigation, and timely and appropriately remediated.
As part of the agreement, the company agreed to disgorge the costs it avoided having to pay as a result of the bribery scheme.
From approximately May 2018 to August 2019, certain officers, employees, and agents of Yucatan Foods L.P., Lifecore’s former U.S. subsidiary, paid bribes to one or more Mexican government officials, both prior to and after Lifecore’s acquisition of Yucatan.
United States v. Emanuele Palma, et al.
On November 14, 2023, a court sentenced Emanuele Palma to one day time served. Because he is removable from the United States and has agreed to self-remove to Italy (where he lives and works), Palma was not given a term of supervised release. He was not ordered to pay a fine due to his financial condition.
Palma pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA). Palma and others conspired to withhold information from the United States Environmental Protection Agency regarding the design, calibration, and function of the emissions control systems on more than 100,000 Model Year 2014, 2015, and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles, and about these vehicles’ emission of pollutants, fuel efficiency, and compliance with U.S. emissions standards.
Beginning at least as early as 2010, FCA US developed a new 3.0-liter diesel engine for use in FCA US’ s Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 vehicles (the Subject Vehicles) that would be sold in the United States. Palma, Sergio Pasini, and Gianluca Sabbioni, purposely calibrated the emissions control functions of several “clean diesel vehicles” to produce lower NOx emissions under conditions when the subject vehicles would be undergoing testing on the federal test procedures or driving “ cycles,” and higher NOx emissions under conditions when the subject vehicles would be driven in the real world. Palma and his co-conspirators employed “cycle beating” to achieve best-in-class fuel efficiency and make the subject vehicles more attractive to FCA’ s potential customers, i.e., by increasing fuel economy and reducing the frequency of a required emissions control system service interval.
Pasini and Sabbioni await extradition on conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violate the CAA and six CAA counts.
In August 2022, a court sentenced FCA US, LLC, to pay a $96,145,784 fine; a forfeiture money judgment of $203,572,892; and complete a three-year term of probation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
United States v. Sinister Mfg. Company, Inc.
On November 14, 2023, a court sentenced Sinister Mfg. Company, Inc. (Sinister) to pay a $500,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation. The company pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA) and defraud the United States, and to violating the CAA by tampering with a monitoring device (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413 (c)(2)(C)). Under the plea agreement, the defendant agrees to pay a $500,000 criminal fine and fully comply with the terms of a civil Consent Decree.
Between 2010 and April 2020, Sinister manufactured and sold parts for use with primarily diesel trucks, to enable “deleting” the trucks’ emissions controls systems by removing or disabling them. Sinister often sold its products as part of “delete kits,” sometimes bundled with “delete tunes.” The delete tunes were software produced by another company which could alter a diesel truck’ s on-board computer to allow a truck with its emissions controls “deleted” to appear to run normally. Through its employees, Sinister reached agreements with other companies that manufactured tuners or tuning platforms to sell their products bundled together.
Though the company sometimes labeled its delete products for “racing” and included disclaimers in marketing materials indicating that its products should be used only in off-road settings, the company knew most of its delete products were purchased by diesel truck drivers who used those products on public roads, not racetracks.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.