Convicted of selling $9.1 million in credits for biodiesel fuel that his company didn’t produce, American Rodney Hailey was convicted on 42 counts including money laundering, wire fraud, and violations of the US Clean Air Act.
His company, Clean Green Fuel, claimed it produced biodiesel from used fryer oil and other renewable energy sources which it sold credits under a federal program designed to help increase the production of clean energy sources. However, Hailey is not alone which has brought a new problem to the US push for renewable energy claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) management of the program has only worsened the situation.
The EPA has retaliated saying that program regulations clearly define that buyers must ensure the validation of credits; however, the organization is amending its program to combat fraud. Hailey was investigated after luxury cars, purchased via the false credit sales, resulted in a neighbor complaining about the cars being parked at a school bus stop – which tipped off authorities.
Hailey’s lawyers said if proper research had been done, purchasers would have known that the company could not have produced as much biodiesel as it was claiming. He currently faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the eight wire fraud counts, 10 years each for 32 counts of money laundering, and two years each for two of the Clean Air Act counts, according to the US Attorney’s office.
Ben Evans, a spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board, said Hailey’s “greed has caused immeasurable damage to an industry and a government policy that are working for the public good — to improve our environment, create US jobs and boost our energy security.”
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