http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/law-and-order/federal-and-international/53800-houston-man-charged-with-biofuels-fraud-scheme.html
Houston Man Charged with Biofuels Fraud Scheme
19 Jun 2014 05:50
Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—June 19, 2014. A federal grand jury in Houston,
Texas, today indicted Philip Joseph Rivkin, a/k/a Felipe Poitan Arriaga,
for offenses involving a federal renewable fuel program that allegedly
netted him more than $29 million, the Justice Department’s Environment
and Natural Resources Division announced. The 68-count indictment
against Rivkin, 49, of Houston and most recently, Guatemala City,
Guatemala, includes allegations of wire fraud, mail fraud, Clean Air Act
false statements, and money laundering.
The indictment was unsealed late Thursday following Rivkin’s initial
appearance in federal court in Houston. He was arrested on Wednesday
evening when he arrived in Houston from Guatemala, which had deported
him earlier in the day after learning that he had fraudulently secured
Guatemalan citizenship.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 created or extended
several federally-funded programs that created monetary incentives for
the production of renewable fuels, including biodiesel, and to encourage
the use of such fuels in the United States. Authorized biodiesel
producers and importers could generate and attach credits—known as
“renewable identification numbers” or “RINs”—to biodiesel they produced
or imported. Because certain companies need RINs to comply with
regulatory obligations, RINs have significant market value.
The indictment alleges that beginning around February of 2009, Rivkin
operated and controlled several companies in the fuel and biodiesel
industries, including Green Diesel LLC, Fuel Streamers Inc., and Petro
Constructors LLC, all based in Houston. It is alleged that Rivkin
claimed to produce millions of gallons of biodiesel at the Green
Diesel’s Houston facility and then generated and sold RINs based upon
this claim. In reality, no biodiesel was ever produced at the Green
Diesel facility. The indictment alleges that this scheme allowed the
defendant to generate approximately 45 million RINs that were
fraudulent, which were then sold to companies that needed to obtain them
and resulted in millions of dollars in sales. Rivkin is also alleged
to have caused fraudulent tax credit claims based on fictitious
biodiesel production.
The indictment goes on to allege that the defendant created false
records and made false statements to conceal his fraudulent claims of
biodiesel production, importation and RIN generation. Finally, the
indictment alleges that the defendant laundered the proceeds of his
crimes, using banking institutions and complex financial transactions to
benefit from the illegal funds he received, and to attempt to protect
these funds from government enforcement. The indictment includes a
notice of forfeiture to include: cash in excess of $29 million; three
vehicles including a Lamborghini, Maserati, and a Bentley; a Canadair
LTD airplane; and millions of dollars worth of artwork that was
previously seized from Rivkin in 2012 and is now included in a civil
action for forfeiture.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. All
defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at
which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The collaborative investigation that led to today’s indictment and
yesterday’s arrest was the result of work by EPA’s Criminal
Investigation Division, the United States Secret Service, Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security
Investigations. The Guatemalan Special Investigations Unit worked with
federal investigators to uncover the fraudulent nature of Rivkin’s
Guatemalan citizenship, which led to his deportation back to the United
States.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leslie E. Lehnert of the
Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
Source: justice.gov
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