Government Lab Workers Acquitted of Fraud

Date: November 22, 2001

Source: News Room

Eight lab workers have been acquitted of falsifying test results in what federal officials had called the largest case of fraud in environmental testing in U.S. history. Jurors rejected all 77 federal charges Tuesday against the former employees of Intertek Testing Services' Environmental Laboratories. The workers were accused of misrepresenting results in the cleanup of thousands of hazardous-waste sites and other environmental cases in a moneymaking scheme. All the employees worked at the company's lab in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, which stopped operating in 1998. As part of its agreement, the corporation will pay a $9 million fine. Prosecutors said Intertek managers pressured employees to bypass procedures required to produce reliable tests in order to complete lucrative government contracts faster. From 1994 to 1997, the company handled as many as 250,000 samples from more than 59,000 polluted sites nationwide, grossing more than $35 million. The results were used for making decisions at Superfund sites, Department of Defense facilities and hazardous waste sites, and also for monitoring hazards affecting soil and ground water. More information: www.itsglobal.com.

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