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Man Sentenced for CFC Tax Fraud Conspiracy
Release Date: 11/21/2002
Contact Information:
Teresa Libera 202-564-7873/libera.teresa@epa.gov
(11/21/02) Douglas E. Castle, of Huntington, N.Y., was sentenced on Nov. 7 in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in New Haven for conspiracy to defraud the United States of taxes due on hundreds of tons of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant gasses (CFCs). His sentence included 15 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Castle admitted that he assisted his co- defendants Barry Himes, John Mucha and Richard Pelletier in their conspiracy. Castle set up a shell company in Wyoming that was used to import CFCs. He also used a false loan agreement to conceal the receipt of income and processed more than $1.3 million of CFC sales from offshore bank accounts and a Nevada bank account through his New York bank. CFCs are highly regulated because their release into the atmosphere damages the earth’s ozone layer, which protects people, animals and plants from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Customs Service. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven.
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