[BioFuelsDigest] In Massachusetts, Christopher N. Condron was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court in Boston in connection with his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Treasury Department of more than $50 million in tax-free energy grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
For each application, Condron falsely said that the entities had acquired, placed into service, or started construction of energy property that included three different bio-fuel gasification systems, purportedly built at a cost of approximately $88 million, as well as an $84 million wind farm project.
Condron and his partners asked to be reimbursed for more than $50 million based on the costs, which they never actually suffered. Condron also submitted fake documentation to a Massachusetts-based attorney who submitted the applications to the Treasury Department. Evidence at a trial demonstrated that Condron overstated property costs in the grant applications and defrauded the government out of more than $8.7 million. Further evidence showed that Condron attempted to get another $42 million in energy grants.
Condron was sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of supervised release. Condron was ordered to pay $8.7 million in return.
| These were funds from the Obama Stimulus Program, aka, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Biden was, per Obama, put in charge of eliminating fraud in this. Condron's fraud worked through 2013. In 2017 he was charged with fraud. In 2021 convicted. Shows how slowly the Federal prosecution works. |
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