Philip Joseph Rivkin, 61, Sentenced to 10+ Years for Biodiesel Fraud Scheme
Philip Joseph Rivkin, aka Felipe Poitan Arriaga, was sentenced to 121 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $87 million in restitution and to forfeit $51 million for his role in a biodiesel fraud scheme in Houston, Texas.
Rivkin pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of making a false statement under the Clean Air Act in June 2015. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 created or extended several federally-funded programs that created monetary incentives for the production of renewable fuels, including biodiesel.
As admitted in the plea agreement, Rivkin operated and controlled several companies in the fuel and biodiesel industries, including Green Diesel LLC, Fuel Streamers Inc., and Petro Constructors LLC, all based in Houston. He claimed to produce millions of gallons of biodiesel at the Green Diesel facility and then generated and sold renewable identification numbers (RINs) based on this claim.
In reality, no biodiesel was ever produced at the Green Diesel facility. This scheme allowed Rivkin to generate over 60 million RINs that were fraudulent, which were then sold to companies that needed to obtain them and resulted in millions of dollars in sales.
The collaborative investigation that led to today’s sentence was the result of work by Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Guatemalan Special Investigations Unit.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leslie E. Lehnert of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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