Ethanol Blog

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The general manager of Indian River Biodiesel in Fort Pierce, Florida, was sentence on Thursday to 37 months in prison and a three-year term of supervised release for his role in a scheme that generated more than $7 million of fraudulent renewable identification numbers, or RINs, and sought more than $6 million in fraudulent tax credits for biodiesel that was not produced.

Royce Gillham pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 2024, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing false claims. Gillham faced up to a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy count.

According to court documents from the U.S. District Court for the District of Southern Florida, the scheme began on or around Feb. 1, 2017, and continued through February 2020.

The company produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits and claimed to turn various feedstocks into biodiesel under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

When reporting the number of gallons produced to the IRS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gillham and his employer "vastly overstated" their production volume in an effort to generate more credits, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to court documents, Gillham's company filed with the IRS forms requesting tax payments for $2.3 million in March 2018, as well as for $5.9 million and $1.5 million in February 2020.

Between Feb. 17, 2017, and April 19, 2019, Gillham and an employee of his company generated 1,574 batches of RINS and claimed to have produced 9.7 million gallons of biodiesel, according to court documents.

Then between April 19, 2017, and April 16, 2019, Gillham and an employee sold RINS 52 times totaling 14.5 million RINS.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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