The Crafar family, as well as being accused of animal cruelty, were prosecuted seven times over a period of three years before their farms were placed in receivership in October 2009. A $45,000 fine was handed down to the Crafars and their sharemilker in 2010 for allowing effluent to enter a waterway near the town of Bulls.[10] In 2010 the Whataroa company Potae and van der Poel Ltd were given a $120,000 fine, possibly the largest of its type up to that time, for repeated breaches of effluent discharge.