2 Utah polygamous group members plead guilty in tax scheme
Source: Associated Press
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Updated 6:08 pm CDT, Friday, July 19, 2019
Photo: AP
FILE - These undated file photos released by the Weber County Sheriff's Office show Jacob Kingston, left, and Isaiah Kingston. Two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group are pleading guilty to charges filed in a $511 million tax credit scheme. Court documents made public on Friday, July 19, 2019, show Jacob Kingston and Isaiah Kingston with the company Washakie Renewable Energy have pleaded guilty to charges including money laundering, mail fraud and conspiracy. (Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group have pleaded guilty to charges filed in what prosecutors have called a $511 million tax credit scheme, according to documents made public Friday.
Washakie Renewable Energy once described itself as the largest producer of clean burning and sustainable biodiesel in Utah, but prosecutors said the company was actually creating fake production records to get renewable-fuel tax credits, then laundering the proceeds from 2010 through 2016.
Prosecutors plan to seize items including a $3.6 million home in Huntington Beach, California, as well as a Bugatti and Lamborghini as a result of the pleas.
Company CEO Jacob Kingston pleaded guilty Thursday to more than three dozen counts, including mail fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. His brother and company CFO Isaiah Kingston pleaded guilty to more than a dozen similar counts.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Biodiesel-executives-linked-to-polygamous-group-14109362.php
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Federal prosecutors plan to seek more charges in the Kingston fraud case
POSTED 4:23 PM, DECEMBER 4, 2018, BY BEN WINSLOW, UPDATED AT 08:47PM, DECEMBER 4, 2018
Jail mugshots of the defendants in the Kingston fraud case.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Federal prosecutors plan to seek more indictments in a massive fraud case against members of the Kingston polygamous family.
In a court hearing on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to seek another indictment against Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob Kingston, his brother, Isaiah, and Turkish businessman Lev Dermen. They also revealed there were other co-conspirators who would likely be indicted.
. . .
The case stems from a 2016 raid by the IRS on businesses linked to the Kingston polygamous family. In civil lawsuits against Jacob Kingston, lawyers have claimed Washakie Renewable Energy produced no biofuels.
In 2016, FOX 13 found Washakie Renewable Energy was a heavy contributor on Utah’s Capitol Hill, making numerous political donations to members of the legislature, the governor, attorney general and Utah Republican Party. The company also advertised heavily at Utah Jazz games and Megaplex movie theaters.
The case has also raised some interesting connections between the Kingstons, who are prominent members of one of Utah’s largest fundamentalist Mormon groups, and Turkish political leaders. Photos published in Turkish news media last year showed Jacob Kingston meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other political leaders when he was pitching business investments there.
More:
https://fox13now.com/2018/12/04/federal-prosecutors-plan-to-seek-more-charges-in-the-kingston-fraud-case/
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A Lamborghini and Huntington Beach home? Usually from what I've read these guys use the money scammed from the gov't to just fund their polygamist enclaves back in the hills somewhere in Utah or thereabouts.
