The defendants' scheme exploited recycling incentives created by New York State's Returnable Container Act (the "RCA"). The RCA created a $.05 deposit on bottled soft drinks, beer, and water sold in New York State to promote the recycling of bottles and cans by bottlers, beverage distributors, and container redemption centers. Under the RCA, the first bottler, distributor, or dealer to collect the required deposits on beverage containers is required to reimburse the $.05 deposit to redeeming individuals or entities and to pay a handling fee of $.035 per empty beverage container redeemed by redemption centers.ELDAR RAKHAMIMOV and NASIM RAKHAMIMOV managed a bottle collection company ("Company-1") that focused on aggregating recyclable containers and delivering them, in exchange for payment, to redemption centers in the New York City area. ELDAR RAKHAMIMOV and NASIM RAKHAMIMOV, along with ZABRODIN, KADIROV, and FINNERAN, worked together to falsely inflate the number of bottles delivered by Company-1 to induce redemption centers to overpay bottle deposits and handling fees to Company-1.Using an assortment of deceptive techniques, ranging from doctored invoices to "redeeming" the same bottles twice to impermissibly collecting bottles from New Jersey to paying (or receiving) kickbacks, the defendants extracted hundreds of thousands of dollars from victim companies - and, ultimately, the State of New York.
CS is a Confidential SourceCC is a Co-ConspiratorUI means UnintelligibleOV means Overlapping Voices
CS-1: OK, bro, of course. Listen, there is another question. [CC-1] called me. He's kind of starting to get brazen. He said that he wants more money. He's driving me fucking crazy.ER: What's with him?CS-1: I don't know. He said that -- he said, "I'm taking a great risk," he said, "You--" he said, "different people -- there's you," he said, "your assistant." I said, "So what's the matter? Don't you get paid everything, everything is like it's supposed to be. You are getting your salary every Friday." He said, [noise]"I am adding quite a lot. You are still paying me little." . . . .ER: [OV] I don't understand. What does [UI] mean?CS-1:[OV]I don't understand either.ER:[OV]He gets decent dough. Is he a fool or something?CS-1:[OV]Yes, he gets very decent dough, three a week.ER:[OV]So here it is.CS-1:[OV]I told him that he's getting two times more than I. He's been fucking adding 30/30 earlier and now he's adding kind of less, getting more for that, and -- I don't know what's fucking happening with him. Maybe someone is fucking goading him on again, either Vova [i.e., ZABRODIN] or someone else.ER: Well, I don't think so.CS-1: You don't think so?ER:[OV] [UI]ER:[OV]Ah, so-so, this has happened once, if you remember. He started bullshitting and then he was told, "You know what? If you don't want to do it -- take a hike." And he stopped that.CS-1: Aha.ER: [OV] [UI]CS-1: This is also alternative yes -- I didn't even think about it.ER:[OV] We had that alternative before.CS-1:[OV] Yes.ER:[OV] Someone sucked the blood out of us and go to fuck yourself.CS-1:[OV]I told him, "What do you want?" I said, "You want money -- add some bags." He said, "No." I say. . . He says that he just wants more money for the same bags. I said, "Well . . . "ER:[OV]No, no, no. Tell him, "It doesn't happen that way. It's not a first day we work with you, that's why nothing changes like that."CS-1:[OV]Okay, then when I'll get to work, I''ll explain it to him.ER: Explain, just tell him, "Listen, it's not that simple. We work -- it's not that simple," say, "we have to pay here and we to pay there, we have to here and there [UI]."