The Environmental Investigation Agency’s seventh Illegal Trade Bulletin highlights two U.S. enforcement cases involving illegal refrigerant trade under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act. The bulletin also notes a new investigative report on illegal refrigerant trade in the European Union.
In one case, William Randolph Hires, CEO of Georgia-based HVAC company Extreme Residential, was charged in Newark Federal Court on March 20, 2025, for illegally importing 500 cylinders of HFC refrigerants without the required import allowances. On February 9, 2026, Hires pleaded guilty to violating the AIM Act by importing R-410A into the U.S. without authorization.
According to the source, Hires formed an affiliated company in Lima, Peru, to source and export refrigerants. Around April 2022, he purchased 500 cylinders of refrigerant in Peru for use in the U.S., despite communications from U.S. EPA staff stating that regulated HFCs cannot be lawfully imported without EPA-issued consumption allowances.
The shipment was exported from Peru to the U.S. around April 25, 2023, and arrived at the Port of Elizabeth, New Jersey, around May 11, 2023. It was declared as “500 BOXES LOADED IN 10 PALLETS” of “Mixed Refrigerant (R125+R32)”, R-410A. At EPA’s request, Customs and Border Protection detained the shipment and confirmed its contents by testing.
EIA said the shipment amounted to almost 11,000 metric tons of CO2e, equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from using over 1.2 million gallons of gasoline (approx. 4.5 million liters). Sentencing is scheduled for June 17, 2026. Extreme Residential was administratively dissolved and will not be prosecuted.
In a separate case, an individual was sentenced on February 10, 2026, after pleading guilty to smuggling refrigerants into the U.S. in their vehicle. Authorities in Brownsville, Texas, found 17 canisters and/or cylinders in October 2024, including R-410A, R-32, R-134a, and R-125. The source said these HFCs have GWPs ranging from 675 to 3,500.
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