Two of the four Michigan individuals arrested in February on charges of selling mislabeled motor oil were sentenced to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine. Of the two others, ones June 4 sentencing was delayed for a year and one was only given one year of probation.
Operators of Dearborn, Mich.-based City Petroleum – brothers Moussa Kaddough and Joe Kaddough – both pleaded guilty to intentionally selling an improperly labeled commodity. In the Wayne County Third Circuit Court, each was slapped with a $2,000 fine and a one-year probation period.
M. Kaddoughs son, Ali Kaddough, also pleaded guilty to the same charge under advisement, and was given a one year delayed sentence. If [A. Kaddough] fulfills the terms of probation during the one-year deferral period, the court may dismiss the case at the end of the year, and he will not receive the felony conviction on his record, a representative from Attorney General Bill Schuettes office told Lube Report.
The June 4 sentencing follows the states stop-sale order in November 2013 – which prohibited sale of City Petroleum and Detroit-based Star Petroleum motor oils and transmission fluids after a state agency tested the two companies products, named City Star, and Star, respectively, and found they contained less than their labels claimed and deceitfully contained used motor oil – and a February 2014 arrest of the four individuals operating the two companies.
Schuettes office maintains that the two companies are not affiliated.
According to Schuettes office, the charge to which the offenders pleaded is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine. The public prosecutor assigned to the case did not respond to Lube Report by deadline.
Also arrested in February was Star Petroleums operator, Ayman Faraj. Faraj also pleaded guilty on April 29 to the count of intentionally selling a mislabeled product and was sentenced to one year of probation, but was not issued a fine beyond standard court fees.
The terms for the three individuals on probation include the defendants setting up a quality control program with third-party product testing, Schuettes office said. The parties must maintain and submit detailed records related to sampling, analysis and receipt of packaged motor oil and transmission fluids. The company will have to submit the testing results to the Michigan Weights and Measures department four times in the one-year period, while the office will take its own samples – up to 16 in the year – which the company must pay for.