U.S. Attorney R. Trent Shores announced today that the former president of Clark Oil Distributors, Inc. located in both Sapulpa and Oklahoma City, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan to five years in federal prison for filing over $10,000,000 in false excise tax refund claims with the Internal Revenue Service, and causing the United States Treasury Department to mail the fraudulent excise tax refund checks to Jack Jim Clark in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Clark pleaded guilty on Aug. 25, 2017 to one count of False Claims against the United States - Fuel Excise Tax Refunds and one count of Mail Fraud.
Jack Jim Clark, 44, of Oklahoma City and Sapulpa, filed 21 separate fraudulent claims for refunds of gasoline excise tax paid on gasoline purportedly later sold to tax exempt organizations such as local government, school districts and universities from July 6, 2010 through Feb. 27, 2012, totaling approximately $10,042,098.42. Clark had agreed to be held accountable for the entire $10,000,000 loss as if he had pled guilty to all charges.
“White-collar crime undermines the rule of law and disrupts the marketplace. It destroys lives and livelihoods. Our goals are to hold accountable perpetrators like Jack Jim Clark, who break the law to enrich themselves, and to seek restitution for victims of financial crimes. I am proud of the excellent work done by Assistant United States Attorneys Charles McLoughlin, Dennis Fries, and Catherine Depew, as well as Special Agent John Darin Weiwel, Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations and Trial Attorney, William F. Caster Internal Revenue Service/Office of Chief Counsel," said United States Attorney Shores.
Clark would prepare, on approximately a monthly basis, false and fraudulent claims that contained wildly inflated amounts of gasoline sold to tax exempt customers. Clark claimed to have sold 56,780,936 gallons of gasoline to tax exempt customers when in fact only 1,035,332 gallons of a gasoline were sold to those customers. Most of the listed customers had never purchased gasoline from Clark’s company. Of the claims submitted to the IRS, over 98% were fraudulent.
Most of the approximately $10,000,000 in fraudulent refunds were used by Clark to fuel an extravagant life style. This included the construction of an 11,513 square foot home in 2012 valued at approximately $4,000,000 at 11600 Mill Hollow Court, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As part of Clark’s sentence, this home was forfeited to the United States to be sold with the proceeds to be paid to the IRS as restitution.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S.District Judge Claire V. Eagan ordered Clark to pay restitution to the IRS of $10,042,098.42, forfeited the home in Oklahoma City and placed Clark under supervised release for 5 years after finishing his prison sentence.
The case was a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations, U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service/Office of Chief Counsel, Oklahoma Tax Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Charles M. McLoughlin, Dennis Fries and Catherine Depew prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
