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.