Caterpillar Subsidiary Pleads Guilty To Faking Rail Car Repairs, Dumping Parts In Ocean

A company called United Industries LLC – a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Caterpillar, per an account in Corporate Crime Reporter – has pled guilty to dumping refuse in navigable waters and has agreed to pay a $5 million fine and $20 million in restitution, to three companies. In a plea agreement, the company admitted to doing unnecessary part replacements on rail cars and dumping the still good extracted parts, known as “green” parts, into the Port of Long Beach. The practice is alleged to have gone on for about six years and earned the company $5 million. The offending practices were not alleged to have resulted in any rail accidents.