When the head of an Illinois-based asbestos abatement company falsely certified that a property he’d contracted to work on was clean, the contaminated material he left behind posed a significant risk of mesothelioma to workers and community members alike. After Carl Fioravanti, president of Lansing-based Alliance Environmental Control, Inc., pled guilty to federal wire fraud and tax charges, a federal judge sentenced him to six years and eight months in jail.
Mesothelioma Safeguards Abandoned at Hospital Site
Though the use of asbestos has been significantly curtailed in the United States, many buildings constructed before the 1980s contain enormous amounts of the material, and exposure to this legacy asbestos has been linked to many mesothelioma diagnoses. When renovation or demolition work needs to be done, there are both federal and local laws that require inspection and, where needed, abatement to ensure that the carcinogenic mineral is removed and disposed of safely.
Asbestos abatement companies like Alliance are specifically tasked with this important work to prevent deadly exposure for anybody exposed to a site where the material will be disturbed, specifically to prevent future cases of mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases. In 2023, the owner of the largely abandoned medical campus agreed to pay Alliance nearly $1.8 million to remove contaminated materials in compliance with these laws. Instead of doing the work, Fioravanti fabricated air-sampling clearance reports indicating the site had been tested and found free of asbestos. Two months after he certified the project as complete, the property owner discovered that asbestos-containing material remained throughout portions of the site.
Mesothelioma Danger for Workers and the Community
As demolition work on the site moved forward, the general contractor identified enormous amounts of asbestos mixed in with ordinary demolition debris. The clean-up of the site, as well as legal and regulatory expenses, cost more than $26 million. In a plea agreement, Fioravanti admitted to the charges concerning the hospital side, as well as to lying about having removed asbestos from another site that he’d been paid to clean up. He also falsified individual and corporate tax returns to avoid paying more than $2.7 million in state and federal taxes.
In handing down his sentence, U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama specifically referenced the risk of mesothelioma that Mr. Fioravanti’s actions had caused, saying, “The ultimate explanation for your callous behavior was greed — how to make more money, and the health consequences of your workers be damned, the health consequences for those demolition workers be damned, the health consequences for those neighbors living there be damned, as long as you, Carl Fioravanti, made a buck.” He also noted the dangers of secondary exposure from fibers carried home by workers, referencing, “Those same particles on their clothing [carried] back to their families, back to their loved ones, back to their children.
Mesothelioma Costs Extend Beyond Dollars
While the general contractor and property owner were forced to pay millions of dollars to remedy the situation, mesothelioma patients and their families know that the true cost of asbestos negligence is in the pain and suffering of those diagnosed with the disease. This sentence sends a clear message about the continuing danger of asbestos and of companies that continue to put profit over the welfare of other people.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net are here to help. For more information, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.
