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. 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.
U.S. v. Pro-Mark Services, Inc.
On October 30, 2023, the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota entered into a non-prosecution agreement (“NPA”) with Pro-Mark Services, Inc. Between 2008 and 2020, Pro-Mark’s former owners executed a scheme to obtain government set-aside construction contracts for the company, amounting to approximately $70 million in federal contracts being awarded, despite Pro-Mark not being eligible to compete for these contracts. The former owners then cashed out of company, selling it to Pro-Mark’s employees via an employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”) transaction. The NPA requires the company to pay a penalty of $949,000 and to continue implementing a compliance and ethics program.
HealthSun Health Plans, Inc.
Pursuant to the Criminal Division’s Voluntary Self-Disclosure and Corporate Enforcement Policy, on October 25, 2023, the Fraud Section declined to prosecute HealthSun Health Plans, Inc. for violations of United States Code Title 18 Sections 1343, 1347, and 1349, because the company voluntarily self-disclosed the misconduct, cooperated with the government’s investigation, and timely and appropriately remediated.
As part of the agreement the company agreed to repay approximately $53 million in overpayments made by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”).
From approximately 2015 until early 2020, HealthSun’s former Director of Medicare Riks Adjustment Analytics orchestrated a scheme to submit false and fraudulent information to CMS in order to increase the amount HealthSun received for certain of its Medicare Advantage enrollees.
United States v. Tysers Insurance Brokers Limited and H.W. Wood Limited
United States v. Didion Milling, Inc., et al.
On September 29, 2023, Didion Milling, Inc., pleaded guilty to charges related to a catastrophic explosion at its Cambria, Wisconsin, corn mill facility. Five Didion Milling employees were killed in that explosion and others were injured. The company pleaded guilty to falsifying records related to its Occupational Safety and Health Act and Clean Air Act obligations to conceal violations from government agencies (18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3)).
Didion Milling was required to operate “baghouses,” equipment designed to prevent particulate matter, such as corn dust, from being released into the environment from the corn mill. From at least 2015 to May 2017, Didion Milling employees, including shift workers and shift superintendents, made false entries in the mill’s “baghouse logs,” disguising data meant to monitor and document whether the mill’s baghouse equipment was working properly to filter particulates from the air. Didion Milling’s environmental manager provided baghouse logs for 2015, 2016 and 2017 to environmental inspectors, knowing that they contained false entries.
The company was also required under Occupational Safety and Health Act safety standards to develop and implement a housekeeping program to reduce the accumulation of fugitive grain dust within its corn mill. Didion Milling maintained a “master sanitation schedule” logbook listing each of the required dust cleanings and the specific dates by which the cleanings were supposed to be completed. The sanitation logbook contained spaces for Didion Milling employees to record that the dust cleanings had been performed and that documentations procedures had been followed. On May 19, 2017, Didion Milling employees falsely initialed, signed and dated entries in the sanitation logbook for the week of May 1 through May 7, 2017, giving the appearance that the required dust cleanings were performed when they had not been. Didion Milling provided the sanitation logbook containing the false May 2017 dust cleaning entries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) during its investigation of the May 31, 2017 explosion at the Didion Milling corn mill.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conducted the investigation.
In re. Albemarle Corp.
United States v. FeelGood Natural Health Stores, Ltd.
On September 28, 2023, a court sentenced FeelGood Natural Health Stores, Ltd., (FeelGood) to pay an $18,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation to include implementing an environmental compliance plan. FeelGood also will forfeit $1,374. The company pleaded guilty to a felony Lacey Act violation for trafficking in wildlife products (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1),(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)).
Between April 2019 and June 2020, this Canadian company made seven shipments of harp seal oil pills from Canada into the United States. FeelGood knew importing marine mammal products such as seal oil is prohibited by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. After illegally importing the seal oil capsules, the company contracted with a third party to transport them for sale in the United States. The total value of these seven shipments was more than $10,000.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.
U.S. v. Daniel L. Israel
Daniel L. Israel pleaded guilty to one count 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. The Information charged a conspiracy that began at least as early as March 2013 and continued until at least as late as November 2018.