Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Thomas J. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, announced that Macsons, Inc., a Virginia environmental company, and William McCloud, one of its employees, were sentenced yesterday by the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema, United States District Judge for making false statements regarding asbestos training certificates.

Judge Brinkema sentenced Macsons, Inc. to a $100,000 fine and one year probation, and McCloud to one year supervised probation and a fine of $12,000. They both pled guilty on September 30, 2003, to making the false statements. Macsons contracted in the asbestos and lead abatement industry as an abatement contractor.

Macsons and McCloud admitted to buying false training certificates from F&M Environmental Technologies, Inc. ("F&M"), a Virginia company. F&M pled guilty in February 2001 to selling hundreds of such false training certificates in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

McCloud purchased false asbestos training certificates for himself and other Macsons employees, and then used these certificates to obtain contracts to conduct asbestos abatement related services at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, and at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, as well as numerous other federal and state facilities. The Macsons employees who participated in these projects did not have the proper training to conduct asbestos monitoring. The falsified certificates were presented to state and federal agencies as proof of appropriate training in asbestos removal.

Under federal and state law, individuals who intend to work on asbestos abatement projects are required to undergo extensive training on how to properly and safely remove asbestos without contaminating either themselves, co-workers, or members of the public. Workers in the hazardous waste clean-up industry are required to take similar courses. Macsons falsely and fraudulently certified that the workers had taken the required courses, passed the exams, and were otherwise entitled to work on such projects. In fact, Macsons simply paid F&M Environmental Technologies, Inc. to fax, mail or otherwise deliver certificates for workers supposedly taking the course.

Asbestos has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Congress in the Clean Air Act as a "hazardous" air pollutant. Asbestos causes a wide range of illnesses, including various forms of cancer and asbestosis, a usually fatal lung disease. The EPA has determined that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

The guilty pleas by Macsons and McCloud are part of a continuing investigation into the improper training of workers in the asbestos and lead abatement industry in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

This investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, NASA Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, Airforce Office of Special Investigations, Army Criminal Investigations Division, Defense Contract Audit Office and the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Assistant United States Attorney John Klein and Department of Justice attorney Noreen McCarthy are handling the case for the United States.

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