Florida Man to Serve 18 Months, Pay $3 Million for Biodiesel Fraud Scheme
The owner of a Florida biodiesel company has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and will pay a little more than $3 million for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel, the Department of Justice said on Friday.
Christopher Burdett’s sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release, according to a DOJ news release. He was also ordered to pay roughly $2.86 million in restitution in addition to a separate $150,000 fine.
Burdett claimed to convert various feedstocks into biodiesel at a plant he owned in Fort Pierce, Fla. However, when reporting to the IRS and the EPA about the number of gallons the facility produced, Burdett and the plant’s general manager, Royce Gillham, “vastly overstated their production volume to generate more credits,” DOJ said.
When auditors requested additional documentation, Burdett and Gillham “provided false information about their fuel production and customers,” according to the DOJ.
In February, Burdett pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to file false claims. Gillham was sentenced last year to 37 months in prison for his role in the scheme.
Prosecutors charged Burdett in December with conspiracy for his involvement in the RIN fraud scheme. The fraudulent activity took place between 2017 and 2019, OPIS confirmed previously with the DOJ.
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and IRS-CI investigated the case.
“This was not a paperwork error or a regulatory misunderstanding,” Jason A. Reding Quiñones, a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a DOJ news release. “It was fraud.”
“Burdett inflated biodiesel production numbers, misled auditors, generated more than $7 million in fraudulent EPA renewable fuel credits, and sought more than $6 million in fraudulent tax credits from the American taxpayer,” Quiñones said. “Today’s sentence of 18 months makes clear that fraud against public programs carries real consequences. Public incentive programs depend on honesty. When companies lie to regulators and try to turn environmental programs into vehicles for fraud, they will face federal prosecution, prison time, and financial accountability. Fraud does not pay, and defendants do not get to keep the proceeds of their crimes.”
Reporting by Bryan Sims, bsims@opisnet.com; Editing by Aaron Alford, aalford@opisnet.com