DOJ, EPA bring criminal charges tied to Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against two shipping-related corporations and a shoreside superintendent in connection with the 2024 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a disaster that also triggered significant pollution concerns in the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay.

According to a newly unsealed federal indictment, Singapore-based Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, India-based Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd and technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair face charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction and false statements tied to the March 2024 crash of the container vessel Dali. Prosecutors allege the companies knowingly failed to disclose hazardous vessel conditions that contributed to the bridge strike, which killed six construction workers and caused an estimated $5 billion in economic losses.

The indictment also includes misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act and Refuse Act related to discharges into the Patapsco River, including oil, chemicals, bridge debris and shipping containers. Investigators allege the vessel lost power twice within four minutes due to electrical and fuel system failures as it departed the Port of Baltimore.

“No foreign company should profit by poisoning American communities,” said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in an EPA press release. “Today's indictment alleges that dishonest foreign corporations cut corners on safety operating a foreign-flagged vessel with a foreign crew and hazardous cargo with catastrophic results: lives lost, a major American port shuttered, and oil and chemicals fouling the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay.”

EPA said its Criminal Investigation Division worked alongside the FBI and Coast Guard Investigative Service on the case. Federal officials emphasized that the indictment is an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.