Pleading guilty to his role in the scheme, Malek Jalal, 52, admitted to a U.S. District judge in Ohio that his Unity Fuels bought fuel from a New York-based company that arranged for tax and RIN credits.
Unity then blended the fuel with other material and sold it back to the New York company in order to claim tax and RIN credits a second time.
Jalal also admitted to obstruction of justice for giving a federal grand jury doctored documents and destroying those that a subpoena ordered him to turn over.
“Congress enacted programs incentivizing the production of biofuels in order to make the United States more energy independent and to modernize our energy economy,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General John C. Cruden. “The fraud perpetrated by Mr. Jalal and his co-conspirators undermines these important public policies."
“Violations of renewable fuels laws can have serious impacts on the marketplace and hurt companies that play by the rules,” added John Gauthier of the EPA’s Criminal Enforcement Program in Ohio.
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