Settlement OKd in Failed Landfill Bid

San Bernardino County prosecutors Monday announced a $5-million settlement with backers of a failed bid to build the world’s largest landfill in the Mojave Desert.

Prosecutors accused Rail Cycle Ltd. of conducting a campaign of corporate espionage to discredit and financially cripple Cadiz Inc., a Santa Monica-based agribusiness with extensive holdings near the proposed dump site. Cadiz was the proposed landfill’s chief foe.

The case received widespread attention--partly because many of the charges were based on the testimony of a colorful career con man, and partly because the allegations came as San Bernardino County government was coping with a raft of corruption cases.

Investigators have since scored a series of hefty financial settlements and jail sentences. County officials acknowledged that critics may question their decision to settle a criminal case for cash, especially because investigators initially brought charges that could have meant lengthy jail terms and fines for Rail Cycle executives.

But the settlement is a “step in turning the corner” to improve the county’s tarnished image, said Dan Lough, the county’s assistant district attorney. “The goal was to make the county and county taxpayers whole,” he said. “We did that and more.”

The defendants, however, said the settlement did not reflect an admission of guilt and was merely a business decision made to avoid sending lawyers into court for the next two years.

Through the settlement, criminal charges against trash-hauling company Waste Management Inc.--which owned the Rail Cycle limited partnership--and former Waste Management executive Stuart Clark have been dismissed.

In exchange, the partnership will pay almost $5 million into the county’s general fund. The county Board of Supervisors will have control over the money, Lough said.

Another former company executive who had been responsible for managing the Rail Cycle project, Glen Odell, agreed to plead no contest to related charges. He will pay a fine and a penalty that will total $50,000.

“It was a prudent settlement,” said Duane C. Woods, the Los Angeles-based general counsel for Waste Management, the world’s largest waste disposal firm. “Going through an extended trial on these relatively minor charges didn’t make any sense to us.”