Financial Fraud: Gregory Schnabel Sentenced For Defraud The Federal Government And The Public Through Unlawful Renewable Fuel Credit Schemes

<h2>Ohio Man Sentenced to 63 Months in Prison for Renewable Fuel Fraud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The owner of a company that bought and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced to serve 63 months in prison to be followed by a three year term of supervised release and &dollar;26&comma;244&comma;437&period;06 in restitution for his role in a conspiracy that generated over &dollar;47 million in fraudulent EPA renewable fuels credits and over &dollar;12 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of renewable fuel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The sentencing of defendant Gregory Schnabel was imposed by The Honorable Judge James L&period; Graham for the U&period;S&period; District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H&period; Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division&semi; U&period;S&period; Attorney Benjamin C&period; Glassman for the Southern District of Ohio&semi; Special Agent in Charge Ryan L&period; Korner of the Internal Revenue Service &lpar;IRS&rpar; Criminal Investigation&semi; Acting Special Agent in Charge John K&period; Gauthier&comma; of the Environmental Protection Agency &lpar;EPA&rpar;&comma; criminal enforcement program in Ohio&semi; and Special Agent in Charge Grant Mendenhall of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Indianapolis Division&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today’s sentencing shows that the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute those who seek to defraud the federal government and the public through unlawful renewable fuel credit schemes&comma;” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This sentencing serves as a powerful deterrent to those who would consider participating in similar schemes in the future&period; We applaud the work of the DOJ&comma; EPA&comma; and IRS law enforcement team that obtained justice in this case&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The outcome of this case is a great achievement&comma;” said Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;how-to-defend-yourself-from-fraudulent-charitable-schemes&sol;">defendant participated in a complex scheme<&sol;a> to defraud his clients and the United States Government&period; Through the great work of investigators from EPA and its law enforcement partners&comma; that criminal activity is over and those involved have been prosecuted&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Vigorously prosecuting cases like this one not only protect the public fisc&comma; but are also crucial to safeguarding the integrity of national programs that benefit the environment&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Glassman&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will continue to investigate and prosecute those who defraud government programs&comma; including environmental programs&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today’s sentencing reinforces the message that there are serious consequences for those who manipulate the system for their own <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"865">financial<&sol;a> gain and defraud taxpayers and the United States government in doing so&comma;” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Grant Mendenhall&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to uncover fraudulent schemes such as this&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This investigation uncovered a complicated fraudulent fuel tax credit scheme that generated millions of dollars through a tangled web of financial lies&comma;” said Ryan L&period; Korner&comma; Special Agent in Charge&comma; IRS Criminal Investigation&comma; Cincinnati Field Office&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We hope that today’s sentencing deters others who might be tempted to engage in similar illegal activity&comma; which not only defrauded the U&period;S&period; Government and the American taxpayers&comma; but also created an unfair competitive advantage over businesses that play by the rules&period; Investigations of this magnitude would not be successful without the collaborative efforts of the prosecutors and agents who investigated this case&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to information disclosed during the court proceedings&comma; Schnabel&comma; owner of GRC Fuels of Oneonta&comma; New York&comma; engaged in a scheme with other co-conspirators to fraudulently claim EPA renewable fuels credits &lpar;also known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;RIN” credits&rpar; and tax credits on fuel that did not qualify for the credits&comma; on fuel that had already been used to generate credits&comma; and on fuel that was exported or otherwise used contrary to EPA and IRS regulations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Schnabel bought and sold fuel and RINs from several individuals who have already pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme&comma; including&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fred Witmer and Gary Jury&comma; formerly of Triton Energy&comma; who pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Indiana to conspiracy&comma; fraud&comma; and false statements and were sentenced to 57 months’ and 30 months’ incarceration&comma; respectively&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Malek Jalal&comma; formerly of Unity Fuels&comma; who pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Ohio to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and was sentenced to 60 months’ incarceration&semi; and<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dean Daniels&comma; William Bradley&comma; Ricky Smith&comma; and Brenda Daniels&comma; of New Energy Fuels and Chieftain Biofuels&comma; who pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Ohio to conspiracy and were sentenced to terms of incarceration ranging from 12 months to 63 months&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This case was prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney J&period; Michael Marous for the Southern District of Ohio&comma; and Trial Attorney Adam Cullman and Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy Korzenik of the Environment and Natural Resources Division&period; The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS&comma; EPA-CID&comma; and the FBI&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;ohio-man-sentenced-63-months-prison-renewable-fuel-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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