The Slippery Slope of Dumb Pricing

A California businessman has been sentenced to 17 years in Colorado prison and fined $100,000 for illegally disposing of hazardous dry cleaning waste collected from more than 240 cleaners in Colorado for at least 5 years.

The sentence for Hormoz Pourat, 44, is the toughest ever imposed for an environmental crime in Colorado, state Attorney General Ken Salazar said Monday. Pourat's 40-year-old brother, Homayoun, also was convicted in the scheme but remains at large. Authorities say he may have fled to the family's native Iran.

Authorities allege the Pourat brothers ran companies in Colorado and California that made millions in illicit profits by mislabeling containers of the liquid solvent perchloroethylene (a central nervous system depressant that causes liver and kidney damage) so it could be buried in landfills instead of incinerated.

Since the cost of incineration is several hundred dollars per drum more than burying it in a landfill, prosecutors allege the brothers and their companies were able to underbid their competition and become the dominant player in the dry cleaning disposal market.

Salazar said the brothers intended to comply with environmental requirements when they started their businesses 12 years ago. But their business grew so fast that they became overwhelmed by the volume of waste. And they realized they could make more money by breaking the law.

The Pourats face additional charges in California.

The Denver Post, July 9, 2002

Printer Friendly Version

(Keep reading on...) Tales of Dumb Pricing

Click on a rabbit and peer through the looking glass at the exploits and stories of those who employ Dumb Pricing

Home