United States v. Hong

Hong (defendant) acquired a wastewater-treatment facility, changed the company’s name to Avion Environmental Group (Avion), and moved the company to a new facility. Hong was not identified as an officer of Avion but controlled Avion’s finances, played a substantial role in operations, and maintained an office at Avion’s facility. Avion’s plant did not have a system to treat wastewater. Hong purchased a carbon-filter treatment system that he knew was not intended for completely untreated wastewater. Whenever the system became clogged, Avion employees advised Hong, and Hong inspected the system himself at least once. Hong was also advised that the system needed an additional filtration mechanism to operate properly, but no additional filtration mechanism was purchased. Avion began discharging wastewater directly into the city sewer system in violation of its discharge permit. Hong was charged as a responsible corporate officer with failing to properly maintain and operate a treatment system and discharging untreated wastewater in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Hong was convicted and argued on appeal that the government (plaintiff) had failed to prove that he was a responsible corporate officer because he was not a formally designated corporate officer of Avion and he did not exercise sufficient control over Avion’s operations to be held responsible for the discharges.