Mayo Group founder ordered to pay $200G in fines

Item Staff ReportBOSTON – JM Realty Management, Inc., a Boston-based real estate development and property management company, and president John McGrail pleaded guilty and were sentenced Thursday for the improper removal and disposal of asbestos and for failing to provide pay records and evading unemployment insurance payments, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced in a press release Friday.Suffolk Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan ordered McGrail, 44, of Boston and JM Realty collectively to pay $200,000 in fines and sentenced the defendants to three years probation under the condition that they not violate applicable federal, state or local laws including those governing protection of the environment, unemployment insurance, withholding taxes and fair labor practices.The defendants must also provide all employees involved with the development of real estate with asbestos awareness training and retain the services of an independent auditor to review the actions of the defendants and associated companies to ensure their compliance with environmental and labor laws.For three years between 2005 and 2007, McGrail, the principal of JM Realty and the founder of a group of businesses known as the Mayo Group, instructed his employees to perform demolition and renovation services at three different Mayo Group properties in Lynn, Boston and Worcester, that had asbestos-containing materials and other building components, according to former Mayo Group employees, according to the press release.Those employees informed the Attorney General’s Office that asbestos-containing materials were transferred to a warehouse in South Boston and thereafter asbestos debris was distributed in dumpsters at various Mayo Group properties around Boston for regular trash disposal. None of these locations were permitted for the disposal of asbestos waste.McGrail, 44, of Boston, pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Massachusetts Clean Air Act for failure to file notices of asbestos removal with the MassDEP and failure to comply with procedures for asbestos emissions control. McGrail also pleaded guilty to charges of evasion of unemployment insurance (four counts) and failure to provide pay records (four counts).JM Realty pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Massachusetts Clean Air Act for failure to file notices of asbestos removal with the MassDEP (two counts), failure to comply with procedures for asbestos emissions control (two counts) and improper disposal of asbestos waste, according to the press release.Assistant Attorneys General Andrew Rainer, David Lieberman and Jesse Siegel, of AG Coakley’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force, prosecuted this case with the involvement of Don Heeley, Gregory Levins and Mary Jude Pigsley from the MassDEP Central Regional Office and John MacAuley, Ken Atkinson and Karen Golden Smith from the MassDEP Northeast Regional Office.The pleas are the result of an investigation by the Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force, an interagency unit which is overseen by AG Coakley, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Commissioner Kenneth L. Kimmell and Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan, Jr. The ECSF comprises prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office, Environmental Police Officers assigned to the Attorney General’s Office and investigators and engineers from the MassDEP who investigate and prosecute crimes that harm or threaten the state’s water, air, or land and that pose a significant threat to human health.McGrail issued a statement through a Boston public relations firm that read, “There was never any intent to improperly dispose of construction materials. The safety of our workers is always paramount, as is compliance with all state and environmental regulations and laws. We believe strongly these allegations were brought forth by one union that I did not hire. I make independent hiring decisions in an effort to build quality housing for working pe