₦airaland Forum

$40M fuel theft from Army prompts global manhunt

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer Matthew Barakat, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 16, 4:56 pm ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former Army contractor convicted of stealing $40 million worth of fuel from a military base in Iraq is helping authorities in a global search for other suspects in the case, according to court records.

One suspect has already been arrested in the Philippines and now awaits indictment from a federal grand jury in Virginia.

Lee W. Dubois of Lexington, S.C., pleaded guilty last year to theft of government property and faces up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing hearing scheduled Thursday in Virginia was postponed.

The thefts occurred in 2007 and 2008 from Camp Liberty in Baghdad. Dubois admitted that he and others stole more than 10 million gallons of jet fuel and diesel fuel from the base. They used fraudulent paperwork so that fuel trucks could drive in and withdraw tens of thousands of gallons a day.

Dubois made a personal profit of at least $450,000 from the scheme and told investigators after his arrest that he may have profited by as much as $800,000.

According to court records, other suspects have scattered around the world and Dubois has been cooperating with investigators to locate them.

Robert John Jeffery, who was arrested in the Philippines in January and deported to the United States, is currently out on bond in the custody of his mother in Neosho, Mo., and awaiting indictment.

Jeffery, who according to an affidavit served as an escort for the fuel trucks, was paid anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000, Dubois told investigators.

One of Jeffery's lawyers, John Zwerling, said Jeffery lives in the Philippines with his wife and that he wasn't hiding out there evading capture.

"We believe the evidence will establish that he was offered what he believed to be a legitimate job with legitimate pay," Zwerling said.

Prosecutors have obtained arrest warrants for at least two other alleged coconspirators, identified as Elias Maalouf and Robert Everett Young. A court affidavit states that Maalouf recruited Dubois into the scheme. Young profited from the scheme by as much as $800,000, Dubois told investigators.

Dubois and Maalouf worked in late 2007 and early 2008 for Kuwait-based contractor Future Services General Trading and Contracting Co. Jeffery and Young were never employed by the contractor, but carried fraudulent ID cards listing them as company employees, according to an affidavit.

Dubois' sentencing hearing was postponed to give him an opportunity to make good on his promise to provide $450,000 in restitution. Dubois' lawyer, James Clark, said the money has not been turned over primarily because of paperwork delays in obtaining the funds from a Lebanese bank account.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee warned Thursday that he would likely deal with Dubois harshly at sentencing if he fails to make restitution.

"I'm looking at someone who has stolen from the government at a time of war," Lee said. "I'm curious about where all the money went."

The case is one of several in federal courts dealing with contractor fraud and theft in Iraq.

From 2003 to 2007, an estimated $85 billion — or about 20 percent of the entire budget for the Iraq war during that time — was awarded to contractors supporting the war.

Congress, concerned that fraud has been rampant, enacted a special commission to examine wartime contracting.

The Army's Criminal Investigations Command, which investigated Dubois, said last year that it had 90 criminal investigations under way related to alleged contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Two dozen U.S. citizens had been charged or indicted.

how old r u?

hmmmmm

DON'T DO IT.
statistics tells me chances of it working out is close to ZERO.

Somethings are just meant to be seen admired not touched or messed around with.
Your best friend will always be around (at least she is your best friend for a reason) whilst men will come and go.

If she is as hot as H Berry, has ass like J lo, body like beyonce then i will definitely count myself the luckiest man alive.
Dedicate my entire marriage life to satisfy her 24/7 (one call away kind of).
Don't see anything wrong with it as long as she is just demanding it from me alone.

What happened to the other returned loots?

Nice move but where is the money coming from? Nation's coffers?

afam4eva:
Not shola but yetunde

Yetunde Price

Yes Yes Yes Yes

thread already opened and extensively discussed on NL.

MrCrackles:
Who gives a flying saucer?

BOUNCE!

na fight brash?
fair enuff she crash landed into an enemy territory but u don't av to be dat hostile bruv.

why flood NL with same/similar topic?

"the second was in a nigerian restaurant in south east london,was waiting for a friend on xmas day and eating,after i finished eating went to the toilet to ease myself and the guy came at me with a small pistol and took 650pounds off me"

tasty restuarant abi?

80k budget for yourself ALONE (no second wife, no awon bois come lets go drink and eat pepper soup cos you had be expected to pay all the time) should def be more than enough to live on.

AjanleKoko:
I was referring to Nigeria.

coolios. You need to get into that game bruv if not already in it.
Trading soft commodity is relatively low risk as it's not usually political driven. Lets go make 'em cool cash

@ Spike'
The real segways not the concept shown in ur post. dig?

'em segways are real massive fun.
enjoyed my ride and def thinking of getting me one of 'em (the off-roader)

Fireman Jr:
@jaybee
what's it like being an information engr. What do u guys do?

Ain't working as an Information Engineer. Only studied it for MSc. Basically it's the development, application, and maintenance of parameters (generation, distribution, analysis) needed in engineering systems to make it function as designed.
Involves loads of control engineering though.

As an Information Assurance Analyst i basically manage information related risks (throughout the lifecycle of the information). Heavy quantitative and qualitative analysis though, but just do 'em line management stuffz dis dayz.

AjanleKoko:
The day energy becomes a traded commodity, just like telecom airtime is today, I am into power the next day!

Unfortunately I've moved beyond the 'engineering' side of things. man just wan make cash now jare.
Peace

Dude, energy is already a major traded commodity on regulated exchanges.

another elect/elect engineer in the house. BEng Elect/Elect Eng & MSc Information Engineering.
Work as an Information Assurance Analyst though.

MrCrackles:
Shut up there, BIG FAT LIAR!

History ko, commotion ni!

Brash na thru yarn oh. u know read sun today? or you only roll with independent, financial times et al?

MrCrackles:
Enough of all these bloody "CAN YOU GET MARRIED TO A" threads please!

For chicken tongue sake, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Abeg tell 'em oh cos it seems NL keeps breeding jobless/senseless idiots with zero reasoning whatsoever.

Telecoms standard for sending messages that include multi-media objects (images, video, audio).

In simpler terms, extension of SMS as it allows longer message lengths

a friend once confirmed to me that his dad (one time head of military police in naij) and his boys helped themselves to stash of foreign currencies stored in diya's house when he was arrested as per the failed coup saga.

The point is where the he get 'em from if he his claiming not to be aware of the high scale looting?