Rodney Hailey, owner of Clean Green Fuel located in Perry Hall, Maryland, faces a maximum sentence of 484 years in prison for wire fraud, money laundering, and violating the Clean Air Act. He was convicted on Monday, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein:
A federal jury convicted Rodney R. Hailey, age 33, of Perry Hall, Maryland, today of wire fraud, money laundering and a violation of the Clean Air Act, in connection with a scheme in which he sold $9 million in renewable fuel credits which he falsely claimed were produced by his company, Clean Green Fuel, LLC. …
In order to encourage the production of renewable fuel and lessen the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, all oil companies that market petroleum in the U.S. are required to produce a given quantity of renewable fuel or to purchase credits, called renewable identification numbers (RINs) from producers of renewable fuels to satisfy their renewable fuel requirements. …
Between March 2009 and December 2010, Hailey sold over 35 million RINs (representing 23 million gallons of bio-diesel fuel) to brokers and oil companies for at least $9 million, when in fact Clean Green Fuel had produced no fuel at all and Hailey did not have a facility capable of producing bio-diesel fuel. …
Hailey used the proceeds of the wire fraud scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, including BMWs, Mercedes Benz’, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and others, as well as real estate and jewelry.
The government plans to forfeit Haley’s prizes for $9 million. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. will sentence him on October 11.
"Hailey faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of eight counts of wire fraud; 10 years in prison for each of 32 counts of money laundering and two years in prison for each of two counts of violating the Clean Air Act," according to the release. In total, the launderer could face 484 years in prison.
IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Rick A. Raven said, "This verdict puts corrupt business owners on notice, that their appearance of wealth and success is simply a façade for a tangled web of lies."