FORT PIERCE — A Fort Pierce biofuel company owner was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to generate more than $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency renewable fuel credits and seeking more than $6 million in fraudulent tax credits tied to biodiesel production that never happened at the scale claimed.
Christopher Burdett, who owned a Fort Pierce-based company that claimed to turn feedstocks into biodiesel, was also ordered to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, followed by two years of supervised release. Burdett and his general manager, Royce Gillham, vastly overstated production volumes when reporting to the IRS and EPA, and provided false information to auditors who questioned the numbers, according to court documents.
“This was not a paperwork error or a regulatory misunderstanding. It was fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “Burdett inflated biodiesel production numbers, misled auditors, generated more than $7 million in fraudulent EPA renewable fuel credits, and sought more than $6 million in fraudulent tax credits from the American taxpayer. Today’s sentence of 18 months makes clear that fraud against public programs carries real consequences.”
Reding Quiñones added that “public incentive programs depend on honesty” and warned that companies that “try to turn environmental programs into vehicles for fraud” will face “federal prosecution, prison time, and financial accountability.”
Gillham, the general manager, received a harsher sentence — 37 months in prison — for his role in the scheme. Burdett had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to file false claims. The case was prosecuted in the Southern District of Florida under case number 25-cr-14071.
“The defendant lied to and defrauded the federal government, fuel producers, and fuel consumers of the United States by claiming and profiting from renewable fuel credits for fuel that was never produced or sold,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Leslie Carroll of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Florida. “His actions compromised and undermined a program designed to provide an abundant source of clean renewable fuel.”
Acting Special Agent in Charge Scott A. Johnson of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Florida Field Office called the scheme theft from the public. “Claiming fraudulent tax credits is not just cheating the system — it’s stealing from the American public,” Johnson said. “We will remain committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring that those who engage in these schemes are held accountable.”
The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and IRS-CI, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Funk and Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. The sentencing follows the Justice Department’s April 7 creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance.