North Carolina automotive parts manufacturer and seller, Rudy’s Performance Parts Inc. (Rudy’s), and its owner, Aaron Rudolf, have agreed to pay a total of $10 million in criminal fines and civil penalties for manufacturing, selling, and installing devices known as “defeat devices” used to remove or disable required emissions controls in motor vehicles.
Rudy’s pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden for the District of Columbia ordered Rudy’s to pay a criminal fine of $2.4 million and to complete a three-year period of organizational probation, consistent with a plea agreement. Rudolf, sole owner and chief executive officer of Rudy’s, previously pleaded guilty for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by tampering with monitoring devices on approximately 300 diesel trucks, which involved the installation of defeat devices on those trucks. He was sentenced in April to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $600,000 criminal fine.
Separate from the criminal actions, the Justice Department, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil suit in 2022 against Rudy’s and Rudolf for violating the Clean Air Act by manufacturing, selling and installing defeat devices and failing to adequately respond to the EPA’s formal requests for information. Under a consent decree filed July 29, Rudy’s and Rudolf will pay a $7 million civil penalty for those violations. The consent decree would also prohibit them from making, selling, offering to sell or installing defeat devices; transferring intellectual property that would allow others to make or sell defeat devices; and investing in or profiting from defeat devices manufactured or sold by other businesses. The decree is subject to court approval.
“Defeat devices such as those sold by Rudy’s can lead to pollution at high levels that pose health risks and harm the environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This plea agreement and civil settlement show that we will take strong action to enforce the Clean Air Act and emissions controls requirements for motor vehicles.”
“For too many years companies like Rudy’s have installed illegal defeat devices to evade the public health protections of the Clean Air Act,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s announcement demonstrates that EPA will vigorously pursue criminal and civil penalties until this blatant illegal behavior comes to an end.”
“Those selling defeat devices are willing to pollute the environment so they can personally profit,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “Today’s sentencing makes clear that there will be significant consequences for those who traffic in these devices.”
“The Clean Air Act's protections are essential for our communities' health,” said U.S Attorney Sandra J Hairston for North Carolina's Middle District "Tampering with emissions controls adds excess pollutants... harms both public health & environment Settlements like these hold entities accountable prevent harmful air pollution"
According court documents criminal case Rudy's sold delete tuners tampered OBDs vehicles Top-selling product Mini Maxx delete tuner manufactured another company identified Company A Also sold XRT Pro After Company A stopped making tuners conspired manufacture imitation Agreement software technician convert certain tuners into imitation ran July 2015 December 2016 technician stopped converting
Afterward manufactured imitation delete tuners using laptop purchased $850K contained software convert tuners into imitation In-house manufacturing lasted December 2016 through July 2018 Total approximately 43K+ generating about $33M revenue
Civil lawsuit alleges at least since '14 mid-'19 over quarter-million products designed remove/disable EPA-mandated emission controls These include hardware parts blocking vehicle exhaust gas recirculation system pipes replacing pollution treatment components Disabling/removing emissions tampering diesel truck causes increase nitrogen oxides carbon monoxide particulate matter non-methane hydrocarbons Diesel exhaust mobile source toxic poses cancer noncancer risks Civil complaint EPA estimates number products adding over million vehicles’ worth pollution roads
$7M based financial capability EPA Criminal Investigation Division investigated case Senior Counsel Krishna S Dighe Trial Attorney Stephen J Foster ENRD Environmental Crimes Section Assistant US Attorney Jennifer L Blackwell prosecuting Senior Counsel Elizabeth L Loeb ENRD Environmental Enforcement Section Assistant US Attorneys Cassie Crawford Rebecca Mayer Middle District NC Attorney-Adviser Lauren Tozzi handling Consent decree lodged US District Court Middle District NC Subject 30-day public comment period approval Copy consent decree submitting comments available Justice Department website www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees Stopping manufacture sale installation illegal delete priority Learn more enforcement actions here here