SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 30, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A federal judge on Wednesday declined to release two brothers with ties to the polygamous sect The Order, who are accused in a $511 million biofuels fraud scheme.
Judge Brooke Wells set hearings to later to consider whether she will release the men, Isaiah Kingston and Jacob Kingston, who are co-owners of Washakie Renewable Energy. They were arrested Aug. 23 on a grand jury indictment alleging they plotted to defraud the United States government of energy tax credits between 2010 to 2016.
The brothers, 38-year-old Isaiah and 42-year-old Jacob, were indicted last week along with a third man, California business man Lev Aslan Dermen, who has been ordered held in Los Angeles.
Isaiah Kingston’s attorney, Scott C. Williams, argued Wednesday that a release pending trial is the standard for federal defendants with no criminal record, who are accused of white-collar crimes. Williams also said that Isaiah has been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer, and that his wife is due to have a baby in September.
Prosecutors accused the brothers of being flight risks, and say there is evidence they learned in 2016 federal officials were planning a raid, and destroyed evidence. The men also have assets and homes in Turkey, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.
The men are being held for the U.S. Marshal in the Weber County Jail.
