Jasen Butler, 38, of Jupiter, Florida, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for defrauding the U.S. military of over $4.5 million through a scheme targeting fuel contracts for warships operating in international ports. U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks imposed the sentence in West Palm Beach federal court after a jury convicted Butler on 34 counts of wire fraud, forgery, and money laundering.
Butler, who owned Independent Marine Oil Services LLC, corrupted the competitive bidding process by submitting dozens of falsified documents including wire transfer memos and invoices to U.S. warships between August 2022 and January 2024. The ships were attempting to purchase fuel in international ports in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Croatia to defend strategic American interests around the globe. Butler received payments for phony expenses that he had not incurred.
When Navy officials began scrutinizing his activities, Butler escalated his fraud by adopting a false name and feigning employment by a fictitious fuel division of a different company. He used the millions in criminal proceeds to purchase multiple multi-million-dollar properties in Florida and Colorado, which Judge Middlebrooks ordered forfeited.
"The defendant stole millions of dollars from our military with a fake job, fake identity, and fake invoices," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. "This administration takes defrauding the American military seriously with a prison sentence reflecting the seriousness of the crime."
"The Defendant made his choice: to rip off the federal government and the Navy to line his own pockets. The Justice Department made its choice: to pursue maximum incarceration for the Defendant. In response, Judge Middlebrooks rightly ordered the Defendant imprisoned for 5 years," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. "The Antitrust Division and its wonderful staff have zero tolerance for those who seek to corrupt competition."
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida emphasized that "When you defraud our armed forces, you are not just committing fraud, you are undermining operations that protect this country."
The case was prosecuted as part of the Justice Department's Procurement Collusion Strike Force and investigated by the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service.