Start date 2007 | Location Iraq | |
The Victory Fuel Point fuel thefts was a series of thefts of diesel and jet fuel in 2007 and 2008 from the United States Army's Victory Fuel Point and Camp Liberty fuel depots in the Victory Base Complex near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. In the thefts, a group of Americans and Nepalese using fake military identification cards and forged requisition documents tricked US military personnel into allowing them access to the depot to fill up tank trucks with millions of gallons of fuel. The thieves would then drive the trucks to downtown Baghdad and sell the fuel on the Iraqi black market.
In 2008, after an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, Lee William Dubois, 32, of Lexington, South Carolina pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in the fuel scam. On August 25, 2009 Dubois was sentenced to three years in prison. Dubois had paid $450,000 to the government he had made through his participation in the crime.
On April 24, 2009 12 more Americans, including a Robert John Jeffery, 55, of Neosho, Missouri, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia for the same offense. The indictment alleges that the twelve stole at least 10 million US gallons (38,000 m3) of fuel from the Iraq depot. Jeffery's trial is set to begin on August 10, 2009.
On July 24, 2009 Robert Young, 56, pleaded guilty to stealing $39 million of fuel between October 2007 and May 2008 from Camp Liberty of which he kept $1 million in personal profit. Young's sentencing was set for October 30, 2009.
On July 27, 2009 Michel Jamil, 59, of Annandale, Virginia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal government property. Jamil was paid $75,000 for his help with the fuel thefts. His sentencing was scheduled for November 13, 2009.
Two US Army officers who assisted in the thefts, Captain Austin Key and Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Crenshaw, went on trial in 2009 and 2010. Key has pleaded guilty. Crenshaw was acquitted of the charges on January 6, 2010.