Originally published October 8 2013
Corrupt EPA official found guilty of money laundering, fraud
by L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
(NaturalNews) The government agency entrusted to take care of the environment, the EPA, has become a center for corruption. The American people are learning that a governing body like the EPA cannot even responsibly manage tax dollars, let alone responsibly manage the environment. One corrupt EPA official has just been found guilty of fraud against the US and sentenced for wasteful money laundering schemes that would make any hard working American grit their teeth in disgust.
What do you get when you trust the EPA?
For one, you get more chemicals like glyphosate blasted into the environment.
Wait, wasn't the EPA supposed to regulate chemicals and keep the public safe?
This can't happen because the EPA works directly with corporations like Monsanto. Since 1970, the EPA has hired at least twelve high-level employees who had previously worked for chemical juggernaut Monsanto and Waste Management Inc.
The EPA consistently sells out to corporations like Monsanto. Earlier this year, the EPA raised the allowable levels of Monsanto's pesticides used en masse on Monsanto's genetically modified crops. What kind of environment are the people getting from the EPA? It seems as though the EPA's standards continue to fall, giving the people more toxins in their soil, plants and water. The EPA welcomes Monsanto's widespread use of glyphosate, which disrupts human gut bacteria, compromising immune system function.
What else happens when the people auction off their responsibilities, entrusting government agencies for their well being?
Millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted, go missing and are laundered, as the people's hard work is squandered away in government fraud schemes. This couldn't be truer than in the case arising from New Jersey.
EPA manager guilty on ten charges of fraud
The Justice Department has recently brought up ten charges on a former EPA project manager, Gordon McDonald. McDonald was initially responsible for cleaning up two New Jersey superfund sites, the Diamond Alkali in Newark and the Federal Creosote in Manville.
An EPA superfund site is set up when an environment is declared a hazardous waste site. The superfund cleanup is funded through taxes on petroleum and chemical industries, an environmental tax on corporations and other general tax revenues, including trust funds and hazardous waste superfunds.
After seven years of managing the sites, between 2000 and 2007, McDonald was investigated for laundering money and blowing taxpayer dollars, while he received kickbacks on the side. McDonald rigged bids, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and awarded insiders with big money payoffs.
A New Jersey jury has returned guilty verdicts on all ten charges that were filed back in 2009. The kickbacks that McDonald received totaled over 1.5 million dollars. The convictions also revolve around a network of eight other individuals, including three companies who have pleaded guilty for co-conspiring.
Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice's Antitrust Division, says, "Today's guilty verdict sends a clear message that corrupt purchasing officials will be held accountable for engaging in fraudulent schemes designed to undermine the government's competitive contracting practices."
EPA manager guilty of accepting 1.5 million in kickbacks while accepting highest bids from companies he initially tipped off
McDonald and co-conspirators from his former company indulged in several kickbacks over a seven year period, awarding subcontractors big paying jobs at two EPA cleanup sites. McDonald went as far as tipping off Bennett Environmental Inc. from Canada about competitor's bids. McDonald accepted Bennett's kickbacks, which totaled in excess of 1.5 million dollars, and in return, McDonald accepted Bennett's over-the-top bids, brushing off any low bids from competitors.
Furthermore, McDonald indulged in kickbacks from the owner of JMJ Environmental Inc., a waste water treatment and chemical supply company. The two of them rigged bids and designated subcontracts at bloated prices for services and treatment supplies provided at the federal cleanup site at Creosote.
Those involved are scheduled for sentencing on January 6, 2014. Five individuals have already been sentenced, which includes over 6 million dollars in fines and ten years of prison time.
Sources for this article include
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/10/01/61654.htm
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2013/301155.htm
http://www.law360.com
http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-glyphosate-roundup-epa-483/
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