{"id":18606,"date":"2015-12-23T17:39:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T01:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=18606"},"modified":"2015-12-23T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T01:46:09","slug":"feds-man-used-cooking-oil-to-rip-off-consumers-and-the-federal-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=18606","title":{"rendered":"Feds: Men Used Cooking Oil As Renewable Fuel Scam That Netted $50 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Environmental<\/a>Two men who used a green energy scam involving used cooking oil are being charged with conspiracy and providing false statements to the government, officials announced this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials allege that David Dunham,<\/strong> 35, of Bethlehem, PA, and Ralph Tommaso<\/strong>, 46, of Warren, NJ, engaged in a multi-million dollar conspiracy, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

From 2010 through 2012, in Wind Gap<\/strong>, Allentown, Bethlehem, and elsewhere, the defendants operate Smarter Fuel, Inc.<\/strong> and Environmental Energy Recycling Corporation, LLC<\/strong>, under the umbrella of Greenworks Holdings, LLC.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The 101-count indictments allege that the\u00a0defendants falsely claimed to have produced and sold renewable fuel for which they misappropriated approximately $50 million in payments, subsidies, and other benefits, the indictment alleges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunham and Tommaso allegedly defrauded government programs intended to encourage the production of renewable fuel as an alternative to traditional fossil fuel, the indictment indicated.<\/span><\/p>\n

By claiming credits for renewable fuel they never produced, and that otherwise did not qualify, Duhnam and Tommaso stole tens of millions of dollars from the United States government.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is further alleged that Dunham and Tommaso stole millions more by fraudulently claiming and generating tradable credits that they sold to unsuspecting purchasers who believed these credits satisfied their legal obligation to introduce a certain quantity of renewable fuel per year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants, through their companies, collected used cooking oil from restaurants and other food service locations, sometimes processing it to remove hard particles, water, and other waste, the indictment states.<\/span><\/p>\n

They then sold this cleaned cooking oil primarily to renewable fuel producers that used it as a \u201cfeedstock\u201d ingredient in their production process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunham and Tommaso didn’t sell their cleaned used cooking oil as a final fuel but applied for every gallon of cleaned used cooking oil that they produced, the indictment states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their claims vastly exceeded their actual production.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2010, Dunham and Tommaso allegedly claimed subsidies and other payments on more than 917.5 million gallons of product, when they produced less than six million gallons.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011, Dunham and Tommaso allegedly claimed subsidies and other payments of more than 18 million gallons, when they only produced about 7.5 million gallons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the cleaned used cooking oil they did produce, the vast majority did not qualify for credit or subsidy, the indictment alleges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally,\u00a0Dunham and Tommaso provided false information and altered and forged documents and records to government and private auditors in an effort to conceal their fraud, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

They allegedly directed employees to alter the documentation of obviously unqualified sales and change them to show sales that qualified for subsidies and other payments, the indictment shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunham is also charged with underreporting his taxable income for the tax years 2009 and 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his filings for these years, Dunham allegedly altered the dates on sales invoices, and delayed generating invoices on other sales, in order to avoid paying taxes on these sales until a subsequent tax year.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also allegedly obstructed an IRS audit of Smarter Fuel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe illegal activity in this case has real consequences, including undermining a law that reduces our nation\u2019s dependence on foreign oil and achieves important greenhouse gas reductions,\u201d said Director Doug Parker, of EPA\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division.<\/strong> \u201cCompanies and their managers should think very carefully before taking similar actions that could lead to prosecution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFulfilling individual tax obligations is a legal requirement and those who willfully evade that responsibility will be prosecuted,\u201d said Special Agent-in-Charge Akeia Conner, IRS Criminal Investigation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In a related matter, William Barnes, a professional engineer, was charged by information, unsealed today, with two counts of conspiring to provide false statements to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials said<\/span><\/p>\n

Barnes was allegedly hired to help the companies in Wind Gap and in Allentown register for the EPA\u2019s program as renewable fuel producers and allegedly conspired with the company owners to provide false Engineering Reports to the EPA, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two men who used a green energy scam involving used cooking oil are being charged with conspiracy and providing false statements to the government,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[2044],"class_list":["post-18606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-renewable-fuel"],"yoast_head":"\nFeds: Men Used Cooking Oil As Renewable Fuel Scam That Netted $50 Million<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two men who used a green energy scam involving used cooking oil are being charged with conspiracy and providing false statements to the government,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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