The owners of Washakie Renewable Energy pleaded guilty to charges Thursday in what the government has called a $511 million biofuel fraud, and the pleas could have repercussions for the polygamous sect to which they belong.

Jacob O. Kingston, the company’s CEO, pleaded guilty Thursday to 41 charges including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and witness tampering and obstruction of justice, according to a court docket. His brother and the chief financial officer, Isaiah E. Kingston, pleaded guilty to 17 counts.

Their mother, Rachel Ann Kingston, 64, also pleaded guilty to five counts. Jacob Kingston’s legal wife, Sally, pleaded guilty to two counts....

....Federal prosecutors earlier in the week filed an intent to seize dozens of homes, businesses and other properties. Some of them, including Jacob Kingston’s $4 million home in Cottonwood Heights and Washakie Renewable Energy assets, tie directly to the fraud."

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/07/19/feds-move-seize-homes/

The homes and businesses could be worth several hundreds of millions of dollars:

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/07/19/look-some-businesses/

Oh what tangled webs they weave when first they practice to deceive.

You must not get around much! (It's a cliche as old as time.)

;)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2019 05:24PM by Amyjo.

...often attributed, incorrectly, to Shakespeare.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2019 04:35PM by caffiend.

They are in trouble for running a racket, not polygamy.

If only the government would prosecute TSCC.

Yes. It appears that assets will be seized both from their church and also from individual members. While the group is not being prosecuted for polygamy, I have to wonder if the structure of a polygamous group is such that fraud is more likely to occur.

The Feds have been able to do what the state of Utah has not -- use applicable laws to put a stop to the fraud that polygamous groups have been committing.

The Kingstons, LeBarons, and Warren's group all seem to operate in a rather lawless manner whether with regard to how they arrange marriages or how they conduct business.

That's because the men of the group believe they literally ARE Gods and therefore not subject to the law. And the women believe it of their menfolk.

I remember reading in Under the Banner of Heaven, how one of the Lafferty brothers drove as fast as he pleased and on whichever side of the road he felt like driving. Even the rules of the road did not apply to him. He was a god. the state had no business telling HIM how to drive.

And of course, if ou are a God, you cannot mate with just anyone. You must marry a woman whose genetic material is as close to yours as possible -- like a sister or a niece or even a daughter.

The plygs weren't the first ones to come up with this bizarre logic. That is how the Egyptian pharaohs lived their lives, and even European royalty.

But the FLDS plyg families outdid them all.

Lois

loislane Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> And of course, if ou are a God, you cannot mate
> with just anyone. You must marry a woman whose
> genetic material is as close to yours as possible
> -- like a sister or a niece or even a daughter.
>
> The plygs weren't the first ones to come up with
> this bizarre logic. That is how the Egyptian
> pharaohs lived their lives, and even European
> royalty.
>
> But the FLDS plyg families outdid them all.
>
> Lois


The Kingstons operate according to this rationale, but for many of the others, the consanguinity is more a function of availability. In most of those groups, there's not really anyone with whom to mate other than a relative.

<<<<The Kingstons operate according to this rationale, but for many of the others, the consanguinity is more a function of availability. In most of those groups, there's not really anyone with whom to mate other than a relative.<<<<

Good point. Either marry a close relative or go out and convert a girl to your way of thinking -- not as easy as you might think.

Still the doctrine of the Pure Seed is strong in many a polygamous cult. keep the inbreeding going until the One Mighty and Strong emerges from the womb of some hapless 14-year-old.

If a bunch of babies born with deformities get conceived in the process, oh, well. We are making gods here.

"Consanguinity:" you know how much I like it when you use big words!

It's the only reason I use them, not that I do so with any great frequency. I normally would have said something along the lines of of "All them Kingstons is kin with their wimminfolk."

Very interesting. A young "woman" is the one who ratted them out as she worked in the Kingston's own bank. There used to be big ads at the Megaplex Theatres in Utah (owned by Larry Miller family) of Washakie. They up and disappeared. This is why. I guess there was actually a big raid by the FBI a few years ago.

Watch Escaping Polygamy on I believe A&E. It is mostly about the Kingstons. Quite a group.

They force child marriages to close relatives and beat women and children without mercy if they don't comply.

Remember the case where a "prophet" went to court to take custody of a daughter. The judge asked him to name his children and he couldn't remember many of them.

“Some of them, including Jacob Kingston’s $4 million home in Cottonwood Heights and Washakie Renewable Energy assets, tie directly to the fraud."

He wanted a big house. Now he’s going to an even bigger house.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> He wanted a big house. Now he’s going to an even
> bigger house.

That tops the thread, Babylon!

long time. I knew a nurse who taught CPR to the folks who worked in the coal mines they own. Must be one law they followed. He called them 'diggers' who worked in the mines. Some were seldom seen anywhere else and he felt inbreading was responsible for some not being healthy. Anyway, everything was off the books when they paid him for his time. No checks. He could go to the family owned pawn shops and pick out a rifle or something.

I hope they make a whole new division of the IRS just for them.

There's lots of work the IRS should be doing right now, sadly.

My guess is that the locus of investigation and prosecution will be the Department of Energy, for fraud in bio-fuel energy credits, and IRS for failure to report and money laundering. Hopefully, this will spread to other departments, such as Agriculture, Housing, etc. as polygamous groups are reputed to engage in Food Stamp (a D/Agr activity) and Housing (Section 8) and other types of welfare fraud.

An irony (tip of the hat to LoisLane, above). The Kingston inbreeding is based on the belief that by excluding non-Kingstons from their gene pool, they purify and improve it (they don't). Ironically, the young woman (N.B.--woman) who turned them in is, I gather, something of a math whiz with a powerful faculty and memory for numbers. Because of her abilities, she was assigned to their private, family bank, where she had access to their records. With her memory and numerical gifts, she was able to spill quite a few beans to the Feds.

LOL N.B. noted. See, that didn't hurt. :). If she was smart enough and brave enough to single-handedly bring down the Kingstons (OK, she and the FBI) she deserves a medal, IMHO.

CBS, via Alex Ferrer and "Whistleblowers," helped a bit to call attention to it as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2019 08:47PM by scmd1.

From LA Times, this gives more information on the coconspirator, Lev Dermen of California. The four Kingstons have pled guilty, and Dermen is to be tried separately.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-22/polygamists-admit-512-million-fraud-for-fuel-tax-credit

I thought it was worth noting because it was a young woman who is the primary instrument for their takedown. Women, especially teen girls, are especially powerless in that sect. I consider this to be rich in irony--and importance.

The article I posted from LA Times not only brings in the California party (Dermen), but notes the Kingstons' belief and practice concerning "bleeding the Beast," i.e. defrauding the US Government ("the Beast") by any means possible, such as welfare and foodstamp fraud. This practiced is also found in Aryan Nations and other white supremacist/separatist groups.