Several members of a family and an associate implicated in a billion-dollar biofuel tax fraud scheme were sentenced last week.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Lev Aslan Dermen, a.k.a. Levon Termendzhyan, 56, was sentenced to 40 years in prison; Jacob Kingston, 46, was sentenced to 18 years; Isaiah Kingston, 42, was sentenced to 12 years; Rachel Kingston, 67, was sentenced to seven years; and Sally Kingston, 45, was sentenced to six years.

“According to court documents and testimony from Dermen’s 2020 trial, from 2010 to 2018, Dermen conspired with Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, their mother, Rachel Kingston, Jacob Kingston’s wife, Sally Kingston, and others, to fraudulently claim more than $1 billion in refundable renewable fuel tax credits,” the release reads. “The IRS ultimately paid out more than $511 million in credits to Washakie Renewable Energy … a Utah biodiesel company owned by Jacob and Isaiah Kingston. The Kingstons distributed the fraud proceeds among themselves and Dermen.”

The business had been based in Box Elder County.

The release goes on to detail the charges and penalties levied against each individual in the scheme, which stretched all the way back to 2010:

• “Dermen was found guilty after a seven-week jury trial of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish ordered Dermen to pay $442,615,520 in restitution to...

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