America’s first e-scrap fraud conviction

United States – An enterprise that investigators say stretched ‘all the way from Michigan to Egypt’ has landed an e-scrap criminal with a fine of over US$ 2 million and a jail term of two and a half years. Mark Glover, aged 44, pleaded guilty to both trafficking in counterfeit goods and illegally storing and disposing of hazardous waste – making it the first e-scrap conviction in the country, according to the federal court.

Glover’s illicit activities, which earned him US$ 5.5 million in total, began when he purchased old computers from businesses with the intention of exporting them. ‘There is a market for this kind of product, whether it is getting the precious metals out of it or resale of those computers,’ explains William Hayes from Homeland Security Investigations. Glover shipped cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to other countries, including Egypt, between May 2007 and July 2011.

Since Egyptian Customs do not permit the entry of monitors that are more than five years old, Glover had to get creative; he assembled a crew and started creating fake labels for the equipment. ‘By counterfeiting these labels, he was able to export these monitors that were no longer wanted in the USA but had a value in Egypt,’ states Hayes.

A large volume of computers was discovered not only in Glover’s Canton Township warehouse but also at warehouses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Missouri, notes Carol Paszkiwwicz from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ‘I believe there were more than 300 shipments that went to Egypt between 2007 and 2011,’ asserts Paszkiwwicz. Incidents like this are taken ‘very seriously’ by the EPA, she adds.

For more information, visit: www.epa.gov 

Source: Click on Detroit