Refrigerant smuggler sentenced to 18 months

Refrigerant smuggler sentenced to 18 months    A Miami man was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison, fined $10,000, and ordered to forfeit $935,240 in illegal proceeds for importing about 278,256 kilograms of illegal hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22 or R-22) into the United States.
   Brendan Clery, 34, pleaded guilty in April to knowingly importing the ozone-depleting chemical, which is regulated by EPA under the Clean Air Act.
   “EPA takes seriously the smuggling of illegal substances that can harm the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful UVB radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts,' said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. 'Today's sentencing is an example of EPA's commitment to aggressively enforce U.S. laws and meet our international obligations.”
   According to EPA, in 2005 Clery formed and served as president of Lateral Investments LLC, a corporation he established in Florida for the purpose of importing merchandise, including refrigerant gas he intended to sell illegally. From June to August 2007, Clery illegally smuggled about 20,460 cylinders of restricted HCFC-22 from China, with a market value of $1.4 million, and at no time did Clery or Lateral Investments hold the consumption allowances required to legally import HCFC-22.