WASHINGTON
A federal judge on Friday sentenced Jin Chul “Jacob” Cha, 41, to four years and three months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the government and commit wire fraud, according to authorities.
U.S. District Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. also ordered that the prison term to be followed by a three-year supervision after Cha, of Tustin, California, is released from prison.
According to the evidence and court testimony, Cha was a member of a conspiracy involving Gen-X Energy Group, Inc. (Gen-X), a renewable energy company formerly located in Pasco and Moses Lake, Washington.
Between October 2012 and March 2015, Cha and his co-conspirators falsely claimed the production of more than 9.4 million marketable renewable energy credits, which they then sold for more than $6 million and filed false claims with the IRS for $2.5 million in excise credit refunds.
Throughout this period, much of the renewable fuel claimed to be produced at the Gen-X facilities was either not produced or re-processed multiple times, according to officials.
“The defendant, Mr. Cha, has been sentenced to spend years in prison for his role in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud the renewable fuels program,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This prosecution, which is part of a broader effort involving the Gen-X Energy Group, shows there are serious consequences for this kind of fraudulent conduct. I applaud the work of the federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel involved in bringing down this criminal enterprise.”
“The defendant defrauded taxpayers and biofuels companies out of millions of dollars,” said Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This case shows that EPA and its law enforcement partners will prosecute those who seek to profit by breaking the law.”