https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-31-me-standard31-story.html
The culprit, prosecutors allege, was not some scary extremist group, but the owner of The Standard, a trendy downtown hotel with a reputation for celebrity sightings and a rooftop swimming pool.
Hotel maintenance workers initially admitted pouring a small amount of chlorine down a rooftop drain. But investigators did not believe that would have accounted for the noxious cloud. An FBI agent, who specializes in environmental crimes and who is known for her pit bull-like tenacity, conducted follow-up interviews in which employees eventually acknowledged emptying the majority of two 50-gallon drums of muriatic acid and chlorine into the drain, the complaint alleges.
A New York public relations firm hired to represent the company that owns the hotel Andre Balazs Properties issued a statement of apology.
“We are sorry for this employee mistake involving diluted swimming pool chemicals,” the statement read. “We will continue to assist the government.”