from the seeking-justice-in-west-virginia dept.
The Center for American Progress reports
The former president of the company that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians this past January has been arrested on criminal fraud charges, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation complaint(PDF) unsealed Monday.
Former Freedom Industries president Gary Southern was charged with bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, and lying under oath during the company's bankruptcy proceedings following the massive spill--a 10,000 gallon dump of a coal-cleaning chemical called crude MCHM into the Elk River. FBI Special Agent James F. Lafferty said in a sworn affidavit that Southern, in an attempt to protect his personal fortune of nearly $8 million and shield himself from lawsuits, developed a scheme to distance himself from the company and "deflect blame" to other parties.
Related:
Massey CEO Indicted for Acts Resulting in Coal Mine Explosion that Killed 29
Related Stories
The Charleston [West Virginia] Gazette reports.
Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he orchestrated the routine violation of key federal mine safety rules at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners.
A federal grand jury in Charleston charged Blankenship with conspiring to cause willful violations of ventilation requirements and coal-dust control rules — meant to prevent deadly mine blasts —during a 15-month period prior to the worst coal-mining disaster in a generation.
The four-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court, also alleges that Blankenship led a conspiracy to cover up mine safety violations and hinder federal enforcement efforts by providing advance warning of government inspections.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:26PM
Guy would have probably gotten off pretty easily if he hadn't tried to impede the investigation.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:29PM
Sounds like someone didn't "contribute" enough to the correct political campaigns in the last election cycle. That'll learn 'em!
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday December 16 2014, @08:04PM
I wanted to accuse you of being too cynical, but then I remembered that my state's current governor is the CEO of a company that had a major coal ash spill. And there was no action. At all.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday December 16 2014, @10:04PM
I find it cynical I'm marked +5, Informative :)
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:38PM
... BUT why is James Clapper not in jail for lying to Congress about the NSA's snooping activities?
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:55PM
... BUT why is James Clapper not in jail for lying to Congress about the NSA's snooping activities?
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. -- Anatole France
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Tuesday December 16 2014, @07:12PM
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @09:29PM
Quis aureum habeamus.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Wednesday December 17 2014, @01:09AM
As in the case of the FBI in the J. Edgar Hoover days, it's the Mafia. Supposedly they had pictures of him wearing a dress while giving a man a blow job. One wonders what the NSA has on Congress.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MrGuy on Tuesday December 16 2014, @07:13PM
not what you'd like it to be.
Mr. Southern has been indicted, not convicted. A good step, but there's a lot of road between here and a trial, and a lot of places this charge could break down (or that he could plead out to a much lesser charge with a fine, and not admit wrongdoing.
But more fundementally, Mr. Southern has NOT been indicted for criminal negligence. He has NOT been indicted for reckless endangerment. Neither he nor his company has been charged here with causing massive environmental damage, risking lives, failure to monitor their equipment, or failing to clean things up. Mr. Southern has been charged, not with the crime, but for LYING about the degree of his involvement with the crime. He's (currently) facing no charges directly related to the spill.
This isn't a victory for environmental justice, where those responsible for an environmental disaster are held accountable. Because the environmental disaster isn't anywhere in the charges.
This is like catching the person who knocked over a bank, having plenty of evidence that he's the one who committed the robbery, and then indicting him solely for making a false statement to the police when he claimed to be "at home, alone" during the crime. I guess I'm glad he's charged with something. I guess I'm glad he didn't lie to the police and get away with it. But where's the indictment for the bank robbery?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @08:25PM
When submitting this item, I gave some consideration to suggesting a dept. line that mentioned how Al Capone was imprisoned for tax evasion.
Guys who are this slimy have broken a lot of laws.
It goes with the territory.
Pick one for which you have the evidence and get him behind bars so he can't do any more damage for a while.
Maybe in the process he'll reexamine his life.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Tuesday December 16 2014, @09:25PM
Behind bars? I think you're a heck of an optimist. Very, very few people go to jail for corporate crimes. I think he'll claim he misspoke or misremembered, but what he said was technically not untrue, or that his intent was not to deceive. It will turn into a "was it technically true?" he said/she said, it will be clear as mud to a jury, and eventually they'll be some kind of deal with probation and a fine.
Your Capone analog is in many ways a good one, but it makes assumptions about the motives of the prosecutors. For Capone, everyone wanted to put him away, and finally the tax angle gave them an opening. There was strong motivation to make it stick.
Here? Maybe, maybe not. There aren't indictments for the actual underlying environmental crime, which worries me that there isn't a strong desire to prosecute. It's not obvious whether the prosector really wants this guy to go down, or wants to make a show to say "hey, I'm doing my job." It's not obvious that they're trying to hold everyone accountable who was responsible, or just pick one case with one of potentially many cases, cut a deal, say "we won!" and stop.
Maybe you're right and this is the first step of many to bring genuine accountability by any means available. I'm less confident.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday December 16 2014, @09:32PM
Notice how many articles have the following start:
"gewg_" writes:
The Center for American Progress reports
Dude, if anybody gives a crap what George Soros has to say they probably know the URL already.
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday December 16 2014, @10:48PM
Sometimes it's
"gewg_" writes:
El Reg reports
(on the main page its 2 vs 2 right now)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Wednesday December 17 2014, @12:16AM
True, but El Reg does have nerdy stories, unlike the slashkos stuff Soros puts out.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 17 2014, @12:23AM
Quit your usual Reactionary whining, buy yourself a pair of big-boy pants, and find something that an editor will salute.
http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl [soylentnews.org]
-- gewg_
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 17 2014, @12:47AM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MrGuy on Wednesday December 17 2014, @02:58AM
Yes. gewg_ reads their site, and occasionally feels their content might be relevant here, and so submits as a story.
Your problem is...what?
That gewg_ submits stories from sources that you don't feel are from unbiased sources, and so you personally don't want to read?
Or that the editors find the stories relevant and publish these stories?
Or that no one else gets off their ass and submits stories, so a disproportionate number of stories here come from the same submitter?
As a loyal reader, I feel gewg_ owes me.
Owes you? He's given you months of readable stories for free. What could he possibly owe you?
Wost. Story. Ever.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 17 2014, @03:35PM
It's funny how much your basic reality can shift in a year. Once, I had a perception that sometimes Justice gets it right, and sometimes gets it wrong, but on balance the good guys win more than they lose and civilization therefore continues. Now, thanks to Snowden and the CIA and Wikileaks and many, many exposes in the past year, I no longer have any expectation of actual justice and see everything through the lens of, "Who didn't they pay off or kiss up to enough?"
Yes, there are extreme cynics or sociopaths who always thought this way, and will summarily line up to mock me and those like me for our naivete. But, friends, that naivete has permitted those of you deviants among us to exist. Now that moral, honorable, naive people take it as a given that those doing this stuff are mentally ill, morally deviant, and worthy of purging, it is only a matter of time before they do. Remember, kids, that everything that you say and do online lives forever, so that when the decent people recapture control of the system there will be no place for you to hide or plausible deniability for you to claim. Exit the stage and shut up now, or be held to account when that day arrives.
Just a deep thought, and a bit of free advice, on a grey day in New York.
Washington DC delenda est.