OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Justin Lane Foust, 41, of Sulphur, Oklahoma, is facing federal charges after allegedly bilking Chesapeake Energy out of more than $4.3 million through a sophisticated invoice fraud scheme, federal prosecutors announced today. The indictment, unsealed this afternoon, details a years-long operation where Foust allegedly fabricated work orders and submitted them for payment.
Foust, a former employee of Chesapeake Operating, Inc., a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corporation, reportedly leveraged his inside knowledge of the company’s approval processes. He founded Platinum Express, LLC in July 2011, which quickly became an approved vendor for Chesapeake, primarily tasked with transporting wastewater. However, according to the indictment, the bulk of Platinum Express’s invoices were for work that was never performed.
The scheme centered on creating bogus invoices for services like steam cleaning, dirt berm construction, truck plating, rock hauling, fence repair, and sand separator supply. Crucially, Foust allegedly crafted these invoices for amounts just under $5,000 – a threshold he knew triggered a lower level of scrutiny within Chesapeake’s accounting department. He then allegedly forged or electronically copied signatures and employee identification numbers of legitimate Chesapeake employees to further bypass oversight.
Prosecutors say Foust submitted over 1,100 fraudulent invoices through interstate wire communications to Oildex, the Denver, Colorado-based claims processor for Chesapeake Operating. These fraudulent claims allegedly netted Platinum Express over $4.3 million in illicit payments. The indictment also includes two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of money laundering, alleging Foust used $43,857.09 of the fraudulently obtained funds to cover Platinum Express payroll, with at least $10,000 of that amount directly derived from the fraudulent activity.
If convicted on all counts, Foust could face a lengthy prison sentence. He’s facing up to twenty years imprisonment on each of the eight wire fraud counts, along with a mandatory minimum of two years for each of the two aggravated identity theft counts, and an additional ten years for the money laundering charge. Each conviction also carries the potential for up to $250,000 in fines and mandatory restitution to Chesapeake Energy. Supervised release periods range from one to three years per count.
The investigation was a collaborative effort by the Oklahoma City Economic and Identity Crimes Task Force, a multi-agency team including the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigations, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and various Oklahoma law enforcement agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica L. Perry is prosecuting the case. Foust is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, officials stated.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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