Company admits dumping contaminated waste into sewers, must pay $2.8 million
Firm also owed $1.5M in unpaid taxes
Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes on Friday announced that Jack Abel and Avi Abel, the father-and-son owners of Sepco Industries, Inc. , a subsidiary of Watermark Designs, LLC., pleaded guilty on the corporation’s behalf to a New York Environmental Conservation Law prohibiting the unlawful discharge of industrial waste and for repeated failure to file corporate tax returns.
Kings County Supreme Court Justice Alex Jeong took the plea and sentenced the corporation to a conditional discharge; a $2.8 million settlement, including $1.5 million of unpaid corporate taxes, and four years of an extensive compliance, monitoring and remediation plan
“The illegal discharge of this hazardous industrial waste by this company was abhorrent,” said Hynes. “This office has a zero tolerance policy towards environmental offenders and will continue working together with the DEP [city Department of Environmental Protection], the DEC [state Department of Environmental Conservation] and other agencies to investigate, prosecute and punish corporations or individuals who put profits ahead of the health and safety of employees and the public at large.”