CHICAGO — In a shocking case of environmental deception, Brian Brundage, owner of Intercon Solutions Inc. and EnviroGreen Processing LLC, has pleaded guilty to recycling fraud and tax offenses in federal court in Chicago.
Brundage, 46, of Dyer, Ind., admitted to causing thousands of tons of potentially hazardous electronic waste to be landfilled, stockpiled, or re-sold at a profit to companies who shipped the materials overseas from 2005 to 2016. He also evaded $743,984 in federal taxes by concealing the income he earned from re-selling the e-waste and from paying himself funds that he falsely recorded as Intercon business expenses.
The company, Intercon Solutions Inc., purported to recycle electronic waste on behalf of corporate and governmental clients, representing to the clients that the materials would be disassembled and recycled in an environmentally sound manner. In reality, Brundage caused employees to sell some of the e-waste and other materials to vendors whom Brundage knew would ship the materials overseas. Some of the materials contained Cathode Ray Tubes, which are glass video display components of computer and television monitors, and which contain potentially hazardous amounts of lead.
Brundage also admitted causing multiple tons of CRT glass and other potentially hazardous materials to be destroyed in environmentally unsafe ways and later landfilled.
The guilty plea was announced by John C. Kocoras, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
According to the plea agreement, Brundage spent the purported expenses for his own personal benefit, including wages for a nanny and housekeeper, jewelry purchases, and payments to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean J.B. Franzblau and Kelly Greening of the Northern District of Illinois, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Crissy Pellegrin of the EPA.
Brundage pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and one count of tax evasion, which is punishable by up to five years. U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow set sentencing for February 27, 2019, at 2:00 p.m.
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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