News

Second Engineer Acquitted Of All Charges

Following a three (3) week bench trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Californian, Dimitrios Georgakoudis, the Second Engineer on board the M/T CAPTAIN X. KYRIAKOU, was acquitted of all three (3) felony charges pending against him. His former co-defendants, Athenian Sea Carriers, Ltd. and Chief Engineer Artemios Maniatis, were previously acquitted by a jury of all charges arising from an Indictment that alleged that the defendants conspired to illegally discharge oil through a so-called "magic pipe", made false statements to Coast Guard investigators, falsified the ship’s oil record book, obstructed justice and destroyed evidence.

The government claimed that the testimony of six Filipino crewmembers established that the M/T CAPTAIN X. KYRIAKOU violated MARPOL and U.S. law by bypassing illegally discharging the contents of the vessel’s oil bilge tank into international waters. However, the Court was not persuaded by the allegations put forth by crewmembers, and held that the Filipinos’ were not creditable. In its finding of facts, the Court held that the Filipinos had lied about their knowledge of rewards and that these rewards provided a strong motivate for the crewmembers to testify falsely about their time on board the vessel. Dimitrios Georgakoudis was represented by senior partner and lead counsel, Michael G. Chalos, senior associate, Brian T. McCarthy, and Robert Breakstone of Rogers Joseph O'Donnell.

To read the Court’s finding of facts and verdict, click here.

To read Lloyd’s List coverage of the verdict titled: "US court acquits Greek engineer in oil trial," click here.

To read Tradewinds coverage of the verdict titled: "US Court Acquits Athenian Officer," click here.