Sentencing in fraud superfund site case

//March 1, 2010//

Sentencing in fraud superfund site case

//March 1, 2010//

Listen to this article

A former representative for a New Jersey subcontractor got a 33-month jail sentence and a $30,000 criminal fine for a kickback and fraud conspiracy at a federal superfund site, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

James E. Haas Jr., who previously pleaded guilty to engaging in a kickback and fraud conspiracy at the Federal Creosote Superfund, in Manville, also has to pay $53,049 in restitution. Haas admitted to paying kickbacks to former employees of a prime contractor in exchange for the award of a subcontract to the company he represented.

Others have been nabbed as a result of an investigation into New Jersey superfund sites, according to the agency:

  • John Drimak Jr. and his Laurel Springs company, JMJ Environmental Inc., previously agreed to plead guilty to rigging bids and providing kickbacks to a contractor at the Manville site from 2002 to 2007.
  • Canada-based Bennett Environmental Inc. was previously sentenced to pay criminal fines and restitution of more than $2.7 million, while Christopher Tranchina, an employee of an unnamed Sewell-based company, got a 20-month jail sentence and had to pay $154,597 in restitution.
  • Frederick Landgraber, co-owner of an unnamed Martinsville company, was previously sentenced to five months in jail and five months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $35,000 restitution in connection with the superfund cases.