Environmental consulting agency CEO sentenced for false discharge reports

September 15, 2022

The CEO of a Tennessee-based environmental consulting firm was sentenced to serve three years in prison and pay more than $200,000 for fabricating discharge monitoring reports for polluting companies in Tennessee and Mississippi.

DiAne Gordon, 61, of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to 26 months in prison for submitting fraudulent documents to state regulators and 10 months for having engaged in criminal conduct while on probation. She was also ordered to pay $222,388 in restitution.

Gordon was the co-owner and CEO of Environmental Compliance and Testing, an environmental consulting firm that provided sampling and testing of stormwater, process water and wastewater for concrete companies and other businesses.

According to federal documents, Gordon told the clients the company would gather and send samples to a full-service environmental testing laboratory, as required by the Clean Water Act and state law. Gordon fabricated test results and related reports, forged documents from a testing lab, then billed her clients for sampling and analysis.

Law enforcement officials said Gordon created and submitted at least 405 false lab reports and other forms since 2017.

“The Clean Water Act ensures that water quality is maintained throughout the United States,” said U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Joseph C. Murphy Jr. “Correct and accurate test results of discharges into rivers and streams and the honest reporting of those results to regulatory authorities are important parts of the Act’s regulatory framework. Without accurate test results and reporting of those results, the Clean Water Act will not work as Congress intended. Because honest reporting of this data is so important to the functioning of the Act, our office will vigorously prosecute individuals who falsely report test results.”

Environmental consulting agency CEO sentenced for false discharge reports

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