Aegean Shipping Management to Pay USD 2 Million After Pleading Guilty to Pollution Charges

DOJ Greece-based tanker operator Aegean Shipping Management, S.A., has pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, to violating the US Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice related to the illegal discharges of oily bilge waste from the chemical tanker, T/V Green Sky, in 2015. Aegean agreed to pay a financial penalty of USD 2 million, which includes a criminal fine and a smaller community service component directed toward the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The company will also be sentenced to probation and an environmental compliance plan. Aegean pleaded guilty to one APPS count for the illegal discharges and one obstruction count based on misrepresentations made by the vessel’s captain to the US Coast Guard during the August 2015 boarding. The vessels operator had been indicted, along with the vessel’s owner, Aegeansun Gamma of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the tankers three engineers, on July 15, 2016. The company pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2016. The plea materials were previously sealed to protect the integrity of the jury and the witnesses in the trial against the individual defendants. Sentencing of the company will take place at a date that will be set by the court. The Green Skys captain, Genaro Anciano, also pleaded guilty to charges brought up against him.