Summary

On October 6, J & N Coatings International (J & N) and the company's president, Drossos Tiliakos, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, OK for their roles in illegally transporting and disposing of lead-based paint removed from bridges by J&N employees on two federally-funded highway projects in Oklahoma. Tiliakos was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The company was fined $20,000 and placed on two years’ probation. Investigation found that falsified waste analysis reports, altered by a project inspector in exchange for a $3000 bribe allowed J&N to transport and dispose of the hazardous waste in non-hazardous waste landfills, thus saving the contractor thousands of dollars in disposal fees. The inspector and a J&N secretary were previously sentenced in this case, which was investigation jointly with the EPA’s Criminal Investigations Division (EPA-CID). This investigation has been referred to the FHWA for debarment consideration of Tiliakos and J&N.