Greek officer acquitted in magic pipe case

   A Houston federal court jury cleared a Greek maritime officer of charges he engineered the dumping of oil waste off of the Texas coast in early 2009.
   Attorneys for Ioannis Mylonakis said the jury rejected claims by the U.S. Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section that the chief engineer of the 40,000-ton Georgios M ordered his crew to use a so-called "magic pipe" to bypass pollution control equipment and discharge sludge and oily waste into the seas near Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas.
   Mylonakis was represented by lead attorneys Joel Androphy and Kathryn Nelson, of Berg & Androphy, of Houston, and assisted by George M. Chalos and George A. Gaitas, of the Chalos & Co., P.C., of New York.
   Eight crewmembers testified for the government that Mylonakis orchestrated the magic pipe bypass during his tenure on the vessel, but the attorneys said they demonstrated that the crew misled the government about the involvement of Mylonakis in return for grants of immunity. The jury found the Filipino crewmembers were not credible.
   "This is an extremely rare defense victory,” Androphy said. “What we showed demonstrated that the crew misled the government about the involvement of Chief Mylonakis in return for grants of immunity. There was good reason that he defiantly testified in his own defense and loudly protested the charges. He is innocent. Justice was finally done today."
   The defense team said Mylonakis, a 48-year-old married father who has been held in the United States for more than a year, has had an exemplary 30-year maritime career.