Father and Son Sentenced For Environmental Crimes

Rather than following the legal requirements for the proper removal and disposal of asbestos in order to make sure that this toxic substance was not released into the environment, the Salvagnos used illegal “rip and run” techniques to remove the asbestos, releasing what former AAR workers described at the trial as indoor “snow storms” of asbestos. To conceal his crimes Alexander Salvagnos secretly and illegally co-owned an accredited laboratory, Analytical Laboratories of Albany Inc., which colluded with AR to create up to 75,000 fraudulent laboratory analysis results. Some false sample results were termed “890 samples,” which air monitors created by holding air cassettes out the window as they drove down Interstate 890 in the Albany, NY area. Other results were changed in the laboratory. These false lab results were used to defraud clients into believing that buildings that AAR had “remediated” were free of harmful levels of asbestos.