A Brooklyn-based real estate firm has pleaded guilty to illegally storing hazardous waste after federal agents found expired hand sanitizer in an outdoor pile at its Niagara Falls property. JEMF Buffalo Industrial LLC entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, admitting it stored the hazardous material without a permit at its commercial site on Highland Avenue.
The case traces back to January 2022, when JEMF agreed that its tenant, Regional Logistics Group LLC, would accept and handle 326 pallets of hand sanitizer from a commercial property in Pennsylvania, according to the United States Attorney's Office. Those pallets were shipped to JEMF's property at 3800 Highland Avenue in Niagara Falls between January 13 and May 18 of that year, as reported by btpm.org. At the time, Regional Logistics Group LLC, a warehousing business, was a tenant of the property, per the same outlet.
Sanitizer Found Leaking, Then Dumped Outside
JEMF is engaged in commercial real estate development and is based in Brooklyn, prosecutors said. The company reportedly had considered purchasing the Pennsylvania property the sanitizer originated from before arranging for its tenant, Regional Logistics Group LLC, to accept and handle the pallets.
By May 2023, JEMF learned that some of the hand sanitizer was leaking and had spilled onto the ground, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, according to the wnypapers.com account. Rather than the material staying contained, it eventually ended up dumped onto the property in an outdoor pile.
EPA Search Turns Up a 73-Foot Pile
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency executed a search warrant at the Highland Avenue property in December 2023. Agents found the expired hand sanitizer dumped in a pile measuring approximately 73 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 5 feet high, per btpm.org's reporting.
Samples pulled from that pile were confirmed to be ignitable pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, making the material hazardous waste, wnypapers.com reported. U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo's office said JEMF was aware that the sanitizer was hazardous at the time, according to the same btpm.org report.
Violation Carries Steep Potential Penalty
Storage of hazardous waste without a permit carries a maximum sentence of $50,000 per day of violation, prosecutors noted in outlining the charge, as News 4 Buffalo reported. Sentencing for JEMF Buffalo Industrial LLC is scheduled for March 15, 2027.
The case is part of a broader pattern of expired alcohol-based hand sanitizer creating hazardous waste headaches across the region. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer typically contains at least 60 percent alcohol by volume and is classified as ignitable hazardous waste once discarded, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many organizations nationwide are now sitting on excess sanitizer stock that has reached or exceeded its expiration date, the agency has noted.
Elsewhere in Niagara Falls, a separate case saw Lockport resident Michael J. Hale plead guilty to making a materially false statement connected to hazardous waste dumped in the city, according to the Department of Justice. In January 2026, the EPA also completed a cleanup at a Highland Avenue warehouse involving large volumes of stored sanitizer, as detailed by newyorkupstate.com. The outlet also reported that the EPA separately removed approximately 230,000 gallons, or 920 tons, of expired alcohol-based sanitizer from a former Seneca Army Depot warehouse in Romulus, with the agency saying it would coordinate with state partners and pursue enforcement to hold responsible parties accountable for cleanup costs.
