Gillham sentenced for biodiesel RIN, tax-credit fraud

Royce Gillham with the biodiesel production company Indian River Biodiesel in Fort Pierce, Florida, was sentenced March 13 to serve 37 months in prison, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release, for his role in a fraud scheme.

According to the U.S. government, the scheme generated over $7 million in fraudulent renewable identification number (RIN) credits under the U.S. EPA-administered Renewable Fuel Standard program and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.

The U.S. Department of Justice said while the company claimed to turn various feedstocks into biodiesel, Gillham and his employer vastly overstated their production volume when reporting to EPA and the Internal Revenue Service the number of gallons they produced in an effort to generate more RIN credits.

When auditors sought more information from the company, Gillham and his co-conspirators provided false information about their fuel production and customers, the U.S. government stated.

Gillham previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to file false claims.

The case was investigated by the criminal-investigation divisions of both EPA and IRS.