The federal government of the United States has made it plain: breaking the Clean Air Act will result in serious consequences. Over the past three years, diesel truck tuners have had to learn this the hard way by paying hefty criminal fines and civil penalties that frequently reach the seven-figure range. It turns out that the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency are willing to take things even further, as they have successfully raided a $10 million aftermarket store in North Carolina.
This week, Rudy’s Performance Parts and its proprietor Aaron Rudolf were named by the DOJ in a news release for producing, marketing, and installing emissions defeat devices. After entering a guilty plea, Rudy was sentenced to pay $2.4 million in criminal fines for conspiring to violate the CAA on Tuesday, September 10. In April, Rudolf was sentenced to $600,000 in fines and three years of organizational probation. This is the second conviction and penalty the company has received.
Rudy’s Faces Record $10 Million Penalty in Defeat Device Lawsuit, Largest Fine in Independent Diesel Store Cases
The federal government’s civil lawsuit against Rudy and Rudolf resulted in the biggest financial punishment. In response to the defendants’ role in supplying customers with defeat devices, the DOJ took action on behalf of the EPA for their “failure to adequately respond to the EPA’s formal requests for information.” The outcome was a $7 million consent decree filed on July 29.
Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said, “For far too many years, businesses like Rudy’s have installed illegal defeat devices to evade the public health protections of the Clean Air Act, to the detriment of communities across America.” “EPA will aggressively pursue criminal and civil sanctions until this flagrantly illegal behavior ceases,” the agency said in a statement made today.
Ten million dollars is undoubtedly a big sum. Of all the cases I’ve reviewed involving independent diesel stores, this one has the highest fine and penalty total. However, tens of millions of dollars were made by Rudy’s just from the sale of software tuning devices, as per the conclusions of the DOJ and EPA. Every aspect of this scenario involves enormous sums of money.
Rudy’s Case Highlights Continued EPA and DOJ Crackdown on Clean Air Act Violations
According to court filings, Rudy’s best-selling item was the Mini-Maxx tuner, a component made by “Company A,” a different company. Additionally, Rudy’s sold XRT Pro tuners, which were also produced by Company A. It’s important to remember that H&S Performance, an additional aftermarket producer, produced items using the same brand before being ordered to pay damages for breaking the CAA. According to a press statement from the DOJ, Rudy’s and others plotted to produce fake tuners with phony labels when Company A stopped selling the Mini-Maxx and XRT Pro. Originally, this was accomplished through a contract that ran from July 2015 to December 2016 with a software technician who consented to work with Rudy’s.
The cooperation agreement mandates that, among other things, Rudy and Rudolf cease offering technical support for the defeat devices, reject any warranty claims, and give authorized dealers instructions to follow suit. Intellectual property pertaining to the defeat devices may not be sold or otherwise transferred, and any information on emissions control tampering must be removed from any marketing materials. Any aftermarket defeat devices that Rudy and Rudolf may still have must be given up.
This demonstrates that the EPA and DOJ will continue to fine and prosecute Clean Air Act violators to the utmost degree possible as long as they have the approval of the current administration.
