Isaac Benjamin Voss, $37M Fraud Scheme, Oregon 2023

Grimy Times has learned that Isaac Benjamin Voss, a 41-year-old resident of Clark County, Washington, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for his role in a $37M fraud scheme involving a false clean energy company based in Oregon.

According to court documents, Voss, through his company XFuels, defrauded domestic and foreign investors who believed they were investing in a viable clean energy company. This scheme involved claiming that XFuels owned a commercial refinery in Canada and another one being constructed in Washington state.

Voss used elaborate marketing materials, including flyers, brochures, and a website, to lure investors with false information about his company, the technology, and the investment opportunity. He claimed that XFuels was producing ‘clean fuel, clean chemicals, [and] clean power from garbage, biomass, and plastic.’

Investors were also told that more than 90 percent of the project’s funding would come from other institutional and private lenders and that an independent, third-party feasibility study guaranteed the project’s commercial viability. However, in reality, XFuels had not constructed any facilities, and the only capital raised was from individual investors in the U.S. and abroad.

On numerous occasions, Voss hosted foreign investment seminars, telling investors that supporting XFuels with a minimum $500,000 investment would qualify them for American Employment-Based Fifth Category ‘EB-5′ visas. However, the XFuels project did not qualify for the EB-5 program, and all investors’ visa applications were denied as a result.

Voss previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on March 8, 2018. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, IRS, and the Department of Homeland Security investigated this case, which is being prosecuted by Michelle H. Kerin and Gavin W. Bruce, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

The investigation revealed that Voss’s company used the funds raised from investors to support Voss’s personal lifestyle, rather than investing in the clean energy technology as promised. The full extent of the financial losses suffered by the investors is not clear.

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