Fairfax County man charged in scheme to steal fuel from U.S. Army in Iraq
By: Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
May 1, 2009
A Fairfax County man was charged in a scheme to steal nearly $40 million worth of jet and diesel fuel from a U.S. Army base in Iraq and selling it on the black market.
Michel Jamil, of Annandale, is accused of acting as the escort and translator to help illegally draw more than 10 million gallons of fuel during the Iraq war. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors said the group used false paperwork and fake IDs to extract truckloads of fuel from Camp Liberty in Baghdad between October 2007 and May 2008.
According to charging documents, Jamil, who spoke Arabic, used fake IDs to get access to the fuel at Camp Liberty, a large coalition military installation located northeast of the Baghdad International Airport. After loading the fuel trucks, Jamil drove outside the camp and turned the trucks over to Iraqi drivers, who in turn would sell the fuel on the black market and pass the proceeds to the masterminds of the scheme, prosecutors said. Prosecutors last month issued arrest warrants for the alleged leaders, Elias Maalouf and Robert Everett Young.
On Wednesday, special agents with the U.S. Army interviewed Jamil at his Annandale home. At first, Jamil denied any role in the scheme, but then asked his wife to leave the room, where investigators said he confessed to his participation, documents said.
He said he was brought into the scheme in exchange for helping to get Maalouf reinstated into Camp Victory after he had been expelled, documents said.
Jamil estimated that he escorted the trucks up to 15 times and was paid about $2,500 in cash for each trip, according to charging documents. He estimated that he made about $50,000 in all, agents said.
Lee W. Dubois, of Lexington, S.C., pleaded guilty last year to theft of government property and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Dubois had been a captain in the Army dealing with contract issues until he took a job in September 2007 with Kuwait-based Future Services General Trading and Contracting Co. He has been helping investigators track down the co-conspirators, who are scattered around the world, according to court records.
Information from the Associated Press was used this report.
