Four sentenced to federal prison for RIN and biodiesel tax credit fraud

In Florida, four people were sentenced in US district court for RIN fraud with sentences ranging from just over a year to more than five years.  First the group committed the fraud with New Energy Fuels in Waller, Texas claiming to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil and then moved to Chieftain Biofuels in Logan, Ohio. Though they did collect the UCO and did process it to a low grade fuel, it didn’t reach biodiesel standards and therefore shouldn’t have generated RINs or biodiesel tax credits, both of which were claimed. The group produced about $15 million in fake RINs and claimed $7 million in biodiesel tax credits.