E-scrap executive pleads guilty of fraud, tax offenses

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Brian Brundage, the owner of two recycling businesses, has pleaded guilty to illegally landfilling potentially hazardous electronic scrap as part of a scheme to resell the materials and avoid paying income taxes.

Brundage, who owned Chicago Heights, Illinois-based Intercon Solutions Inc. and Gary, Indiana-based EnviroGreen Processing LLC, which purported to recycle electronics on behalf of corporate and governmental clients, was, in reality, from 2005 to 2016, landfilling, stockpiling and reselling at a profit to companies who shipped the materials overseas, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Brundage also admitted to evading $743,984 in federal taxes by concealing the income he earned from reselling the e-scrap and paying himself funds that he falsely recorded as Intercon business expenses.

Brundage pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and one count of tax evasion, which is punishable by up to five years incarceration. Sentencing is slated for Feb. 27, 2019.

According to the plea agreement, Brundage caused employees of Intercon and EnviroGreen to sell some of the e-scrap and other materials to vendors whom Brundage knew would ship the materials overseas. Some of the materials contained CRTs (cathode ray tubes), which contain leaded glass. Brundage admitted causing multiple tons of CRT glass and other potentially hazardous materials to be destroyed in environmentally unsafe ways and later landfilled.

To read the plea agreement, click here.