Seattle e-recycling company not so green, federal charges say
The Northwest's largest recycler of electronic waste has defrauded customers and auditors for years, falsifying documents and defying environmental certifications, the company's co-owners admitted in a federal guilty plea Friday morning..
Prosecutors accused Craig Lorch and Jeffrey Zirkle, owners and CEOs of Total Reclaim, Inc., of conspiracy, saying they falsely advertised the environmental friendliness of their services and shipped hazardous waste abroad to be processed by Chinese manual laborers in toxic working conditions.
The Department of Justice filed the charge Wednesday and announced the co-defendants' guilty plea Friday. A statement from the federal court claims Lorch and Zirkle agreed to pay restitution up to $1.1 million. They face sentencing Feb. 1, 2019.
The environmental departments of both Washington and Oregon fined the company three times since September 2016 for the same behavior, amounting to more than $675,000 in penalties.
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/Seattle-e-recycling-company-not-so-green-federal-13396282.php