Lev Dermen Gets 40 Years Prison Time for Billion-dollar Tax Fraud
Lev Dermen
Lev Dermen, the Los Angeles-based businessman who made the news during his tax fraud trial in February 2020, when former Minister of National Security John Saldivar was named as receiving money in tranches from him, has been handed down a forty-year prison sentence. Dermen was one of five persons who were sentenced for the roles they played in the bio-fuel tax conspiracy. The others are Dermen’s business partners, Jacob Kingston, who was sentenced to eighteen years; Isaiah Kingston, who received twelve years; Rachel Kingston, who received seven years; and Sally Kingston, who got a six-year sentence. They were sentenced on Good Friday after they were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, Dermen was ordered to pay over four hundred thousand dollars in restitution to the I.R.S. and a money judgment of more than a hundred and eighty thousand dollars against him. They had conspired to fraudulently claim more than a billion U.S dollars in refundable renewable fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2018, and the I.R.S. paid out more than half of the amount in credits to Washakie Renewable Energy, a Utah-based biodiesel company owned by Jacob and Isaiah Kingston. They then distributed the monies among themselves and Dermen and thereafter, they conspired to purchase millions of gallons of biodiesel and rotate it through the U.S. shipping system to create the appearance that qualifying fuel was being produced and sold by their company. News Five’s Marion Ali has the story in the following report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Lev Dermen, the man who former U.D.P Minister John Saldivar said he accepted campaign monies from in tranches, is spending forty years behind bars, along with his former business partners, Jacob and Isaiah Kingston and the Kingstons’ mother, Rachel and Jacob’s wife, Sally. All were convicted of colluding to fraudulently claim refunds of more than a billion dollars in renewable fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2018. Monies that were disbursed from the fraudulent claims were distributed to Dermen and the Kingstons. Dermen had Jacob Kingston send more than seven hundred thousand dollars on his behalf to purchase land in Belize where they would have opened a casino. But the plan backfired when the details of the money transactions came to light during the quintet’s seven-week trial.
At that time, Jacob Kingston testified that he had communicated with Saldivar via text messages on Dermen’s behalf on how he would get the monies to Saldivar. Saldivar, who had just won the bid for his party’s leadership over Patrick Faber, around the time when the Dermen case began, was forced to resign as the leader-elect just three days after his convention victory and was suspended as a government minister. From the time the news broke, Saldivar has always maintained that he never saw his acceptance of the monies as corruption and swore that he did nothing criminal or unethical in accepting the monies. But last November, the United States designated Saldivar for his “involvement in significant corruption”.
The U.S accused Saldivar of accepting bribes for the improper acquisition of Belizean immigration documents and that he interfered in public processes for his personal benefit during his tenure as a government official. Saldivar and his immediate family members were effectively banned from setting foot on U.S. soil. Saldivar came forth soon after to speak his mind about the designation by the U.S government.
John Saldivar
John Saldivar, Former Minister of Government (File: Nov 24, 2022)
“My child of nine years old, though not named in the actual information sheet, is targeted by this action. My son of fifteen years old has been named, my other son who has lived the last sixteen years in the United Kingdom has been named, as well as my daughter, my eldest daughter who has also lived in the United Kingdom for the last sixteen years has been named, as well as, of course, my wife. I find this to be egregious. I find this to be unjust for them to also be targeted in this, not to mention that I find it unjust to also be targeted without any opportunity at all to respond to the charges. But this is not just about John Saldivar, this is about human rights of all. This is about natural justice, this is about due process. Let me state, therefore, for the record, as I have stated many times before. I am innocent of any allegations that have been made against me. At no time have I participated in any corruption at the Immigration Department while I was the minister or even before or after. And there can never be any proof brought out against me in that respect. I challenge the United States government to provide that proof. I have no difficulty in facing a trial whether here in Belize or abroad in the U.S., once those evidence are presented to me, so that I may answer properly. I am not a corrupt person. As a matter of fact, I have conducted myself in public life, you would almost want to say that, as the saying in Creole goes, “Macalala look like snake fu me,” when it comes to corrupt acts. I have guarded my reputation. Unfortunately, incidents like the one with Lev Dermen, again, where I was not involved in any corruption have cast aspersions on my reputation.”
In the first week of December, the United Democratic Party’s Special Committee voted that Saldivar could no longer run as a candidate for the party in Belmopan. Only two weeks later, however, the U.D.P.’s National Party Council held a vote of its own on the matter and Saldivar narrowly won the support of that body, but his own party leader, Shyne Barrow had called on Belmopan voters to reject Saldivar and went further to suggest that Saldivar should be criminally charged.
Shyne Barrow
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition (File: January 4, 2023)
“Endemic corruption is a bipartisan matter and I would think with the vigor that the Briceño administration went after Rene Montero for essentially the same thing, using their ministerial powers to abuse assets under their control for personal gain. That is what I heard on the recording about the Mormons and Mr. Lev Dermen. It’s clear in the constitution that you can’t use your office for personal gain. And so, if a willful suppression charge could be slapped on Mr. Montero, I don’t see why it can’t be applied to Mr. Saldivar. And if they are not prepared to do that, then there are not serious about fighting corruption and they can have nothing to say to the nation as we proceed. While I hope, I implore all eligible voters in Belmopan that can vote in the U.D.P. convention for Belmopan to vote for anybody except Mr. Saldivar. Either one of the candidates would be better for Belmopan, better for the U.D.P. and better for the country.”
Interestingly, while the Lev Dermen saga has pitted Saldivar’s back against the wall, he always seems to persevere. Despite Barrow’s vote of disapproval of him at the convention, in January, Saldivar went on to contest and win the convention for the U.D.P in Belmopan, the area he represented prior to losing the last general election. Upon Dermen’s guilty verdict, the Special Agent in Charge, Michael Mentlavos had said that the guilty verdict brings Dermen and his coconspirators to justice, that they created and implemented the massive biofuel scheme to fund their greed at the expense of taxpayers, and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division had said that the conviction should serve as clear notice to criminals who engage in any form of tax fraud in the U.S. The biofuel tax credit program was established by the U.S Government to promote a clean fuel alternative to traditional fuel options. Upon Dermen’s sentencing on Friday, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the L.A. Justice Department’s Tax Division, Stuart Goldberg said that Dermen and members of the Kingston family cost law-abiding taxpayers more than five hundred million dollars and attempted to steal double that.
Marion Ali for News Five.
