Matthew J. Abbott, 34, of Kansas City pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Scott Wright for violating federal standards for asbestos removal during renovation of the property last year. This was revealed by US Attorney John Wood on Monday. Abbott was the developer of a downtown Kansas City condominium project. The federal court charged him for violating the Toxic Substances Control Act and another federal information that charges Manhattan KC LLC with violating the Clean Air Act after he admitted that he had removed asbestos-containing material in the then-University Towers building in April and May 2006 without state accreditation as the Toxic Substances Control Act suggests. Manhattan KC owns the Manhattan (the previous university Towers building) at 700 E. 8th St.Abbott is the managing member of Manhattan KC. The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Rauch. It was on May 26, 2006 that the Kansas City Health Department received an anonymous call saying that Abbott was removing asbestos from the 12th floor of the University Towers building violating the laws. Department sent inspectors to the location who discovered a large amount of construction debris and asbestos dust on the 12th floor. According to the reports of inspectors, samples contained 3-4 percent chrysotile asbestos which is a regulated asbestos-containing material. Abbott agreed that it was unaccredited workers who removed the regulated asbestos-containing material. He pleaded guilty in a related case as well. He admitted that he failed to comply with work practice standards related to the asbestos abatement during his work in University Towers and thus violated the Clean Air Act. In a second plea agreement, he admitted that he and his workers failed to follow the Clean Air Act work practice requirements when removed the regulated asbestos-containing material from different areas of the building involving around 160 sq ft of material. Abbot was fined $25,000. Manhattan KC will be charged $75,000 as fine.
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