Georgia HVAC Company CEO Charged with Illegally Importing Harmful Greenhouse Gases into the US
TRENTON, New Jersey — The CEO of a Georgia-based HVAC company has been charged with illegally importing 500 cylinders of potent greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) into the United States from Peru, U.S. Attorney John Giordano announced. This case is the second prosecution in the United States under the AIM Act, and the first prosecution of a corporate executive.
The 57-year-old man, of Woodstock, Georgia and Lima, Peru, is charged by complaint with violating the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act) by unlawfully importing 500 cylinders of HFCs. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark federal court.
HFCs include refrigerants used in HVAC systems. The global warming impact of an HFC can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide. Because of this, in 2020 Congress enacted the AIM Act, which authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs by 85% over time.
“The defendant’s actions in this case not only violated the AIM Act and created a threat to the environment, they also unfairly disadvantaged other law-abiding U.S. businesses,” said Dan Meyers, Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division. "Today’s charges send a clear message: Enforcement of the law protects our air, land, and water, ensuring a brighter future for our citizens and a level playing field for American businesses and workers.”
“[The defendant] disregarded our nation’s environmental laws and put our country at risk with shipments containing potent greenhouse gases,” said ICE HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel. “HSI Newark successfully conducts investigations into violations of U.S. import and export laws to ensure national security and protect the public’s health and safety. We will hold individuals and corporations accountable for violating global trade regulations.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In April 2022, on behalf of his company, the defendant purchased 500 cylinders of HFCs in Peru. Over the next several months, EPA officials explained to employees that, under the AIM Act and its implementing regulations, the company could not lawfully import the HFCs to the United States because it did not have the required EPA-issued allowances. In a July 22, 2022 email to one of the company employees, an EPA official stated, in substance, “it is not possible to import bulk HFCs without consumption allowances.”
The defendant's employees conveyed this information from the EPA to him on several occasions. On one occasion, an employee forwarded an email that the employee had received from an EPA official which stated, “[t]he HFC you listed (R-410A) is a regulated substance. So if you do not have allowances, you cannot import those bulk HFC refrigerants.” In another email exchange between the defendant and an employee, the employee informed him that, based on a video conference the employee had with EPA officials, shipping without the necessary allowances would violate import laws so “[i]t is out of our hands.”
The defendant nevertheless instructed his employees to illegally import the HFCs into the United States. In a July 28, 2022 email, he stated to his employees: “[y]eah you have to be careful what agencies you’re reaching out to because the EPA . . . can create a hassle and they can hold our stuff up in customs there[.]” In a subsequent email, he instructed his employees to “get [the HFCs] on the ship and get it out to sea . . . don’t care what it takes[.]” He later instructed his employees via email: “Do not call the EPA, please do not.”
The violation of the AIM Act with which the defendant is charged carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney John Giordano credited special agents of the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Divisions, under the direction of Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dan Meyers; special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel; and officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Francis J. Russo, Director of Field Operations, New York Field Office, with the investigation leading to today’s charge.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica R. Ecker and Bernard J. Cooney of the Health Care Fraud Unit, and Senior Trial Counsel Barbara Ward of the Asset Recovery and Money Laundering Unit, in Newark, and Trial Attorney Ronald A. Sarachan of the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division.
The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.