From his early days, Charles Santich harbored the ambition of leading his grandfather’s renowned mustard enterprise, a dream fondly chronicled on the family’s personal website.
In 1992, Santich realized that dream by taking the reins of the Old Dutch Vinegar & Mustard Company, propelling it to unprecedented success and reaping substantial profits over the past thirty years.
These financial gains afforded Santich, now 60, a luxurious lifestyle. He resides in a $1.9 million mansion nestled on Long Island’s North Shore, complete with a BMW parked in the driveway, and enjoys frequent lavish vacations.
Yet, beneath the surface of this thriving business lies a troubling secret. Since 1972, the modest red-brick mustard factory, standing in Greenville, New Hampshire, has been more than just a symbol of success.
Unbeknownst to many, the quaint Victorian-style five-story building has been illicitly discharging pollutants into the picturesque Souhegan River under Santich’s directive for several years.
Acidic brown vinegar water trickling from the factory to the stream has been wiping out wildlife since the 1990s, and it even contributed to mercury contamination in fish in the picturesque town, according to the Department of Justice.
The scandal suddenly sullied generations of hard work, and Santich was found guilty of knowingly polluting the river for more than a quarter century this year.
He was sentenced to 18 months behind bars on Friday, bringing the picture-perfect life he built to come crashing down.
A Facebook page belonging to Charles Santich’s wife, Aimee Santich, 60, who works as the Vice President of the mustard company, displays their ritzy vacations and family life. The photograph above from the account shows Santich with his wife and daughter posing beside a Gucci sign
Between visits to the factory, Santich, 60, has been living an enviable life with his wife in a $1.9million mansion sandwiched between a golf course and a country club in Long Island, New York, while his company continued to rake in the cash
There was a hidden dark side to the simple red-brick mustard factory which has been operating in Greenville, New Hampshire, since 1942
The mustard tycoon was also slapped with a year of supervised release and ordered to personally pay a $250,000 fine, while his company was billed $1.5million.
It came after he pleaded guilty in February to knowingly discharging a pollutant without a permit in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Santich had hatched a plan to elude monitoring of his company’s impact on the river, by secretly pumping excess wastewater into it to save on shipping costs.
In May 2017, he even hired an excavation company to extend an underground pipe to the top of a hill several hundred feet behind the factory.
The company also constructed a drainage ditch to divert water from the pipe into the river.
Santich carefully erased any trace of a paper trail by asking the owner of the excavation firm to remove any references to the illegal pipe and drainage ditch in documents shared between their companies.
During the six years that followed, Santich told factory employees to ‘repeatedly pump his acidic wastewater and stormwater through the underground pipe,’ according to the DoJ.
His cowed employees said he threatened to fire them if they did not assist in the crime.
The unassuming Victorian-style five-story facility has been quietly pumping pollutants into the beautiful Souhegan River for the last several years – all on Santich’s orders
Ever since he was a boy, Charles Santich dreamed of taking over his grandfather’s successful mustard and vinegar business, according to the family’s homespun website. He is pictured above as a child on the Old Dutch Vinegar & Mustard Company factory site in Greenville, New Hampshire, in 1973
Aimee Santich’s Facebook page shows the couple enjoying a ski holiday in Vail, Colorado
At Santich’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors said his factory has been wiping out wildlife in the area since the ’90s, and his personal orders had ‘continued to pollute the river and prevent its recovery,’ per the DoJ.
A toxicologist even told his sentencing hearing that his illegal activities had ‘likely contributed to the conditions’ that resulted in people being sold mercury-contaminated fish.
Santich pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal that would avoid the case going to trial. He will now spend the next year and a half behind bars in a federal prison – a far cry from the life of luxury he had grown accustomed to.
His wife, Aimee Santich, 60, also worked as the Vice President of Finance and Planning at the mustard company, according to her LinkedIn page.
She has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Her Facebook page displays the couple’s ritzy vacations and family life.
Aimee posed outside a Gucci store with her husband and their 22-year-old daughter in one photograph, while others show them enjoying a ski holiday in Vail, Colorado.
Aimee also shared a photo of herself enjoying a vacation in glitzy Palm Beach.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Santich family for comment.
US Attorney Erin Creegan condemned the condiment tsar’s conduct in a statement released after his sentencing.
Pungent brown vinegar water trickling from the factory to the stream has been wiping out wildlife in the Souhegan River (pictured) since the 1990s, and it even contributed to mercury contamination in fish eaten by residents of the picturesque town, according to the DoJ
Charles Santich oversaw the mustard factory while wife Aimee worked as vice president
‘Throughout years of repeated civil and administrative attempts to encourage Santich and his company to follow the law, Santich lied to state and federal authorities and even purposefully built the illegal infrastructure needed to pump his manufacturing waste into New Hampshire’s waterways, pushing his employees to help him violate the law,’ Creegan said.
‘New Hampshire is the best place in the country in which to start and run a business.
‘State and federal agencies tried over and over to help Santich and his company end the pollution that left waterways with fewer fish, and impacted the recreationalists and homeowners who use the Souhegan River.
‘As the result of this years-long scheme of intentional misconduct and deceit, a criminal sanction is necessary to protect the public.’
A spokesperson for the Old Dutch Mustard Company told the Daily Mail it employs more than 60 people and will be continuing with operations.
Speaking about Santich’s sentencing, they said in a statement: ‘While we are disappointed by today’s outcome, the Company remains steadfast in its commitment to continued compliance, environmental responsibility and to serving the Greenville community that has been our home for generations.’
The mustard company was established in Brooklyn by Santich’s Yugoslavian grandfather Karlo Sancer-Santich in 1941, and it began operating at the Greenville facility in 1972.
