Carnival Reaches Probation Deal With Federal Prosecutors

Carnival Corp. has reached a deal with federal prosecutors, avoiding what could have been a disastrous revocation of its probation after having already been convicted of environmental crimes.

The cruise line pled guilty in 2016 to criminal pollution charges and was given probation and a $40 million fine for dumping oily waste into the ocean for eight years. In addition, the feds said eight different ships would be subject to an environmental-monitoring program for five years.

That was the third time in 18 years that Carnival had been convicted of such a crime and accused of covering it up.

Earlier this year, the government accused Carnival of violating a previous order by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz to not prep its staff on how to handle government audits.

Seitz even threatened to suspend Carnival’s ability to dock at U.S. ports, which would have been a tremendous blow.

Instead, the two sides reached a tentative deal this week, the details of which were not made public.

The cruise line and prosecutors will be back in court before Seitz on Monday, June 3. The judge can either accept the deal or reject it and set a new court date to discuss revocation of probation.