A former U.S. Army captain arrested in July when he landed at Washington Dulles International Airport for stealing nearly $40 million in fuel has become a government witness helping investigators in a worldwide search for his co-conspirators, court documents said.
Lee William Dubois is expected to be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors are arguing he should receive the maximum eight-year prison term partly because he hasn’t handed over his $450,000 in profits, according to documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court.
His attorneys argue in court filings that Dubois has “worked tirelessly” to get the money released, but his Lebanon-based bank has been slow to release the cash.
Meanwhile, he’s helping the government track down his fellow thieves, documents said. So far, he has led investigators to the Philippines, where they arrested Robert John Jeffrey, a sworn statement said.
Jeffrey is accused of helping escort the fuel trucks and was paid as much as $150,000 for each trip, Dubois told investigators.
Dubois earned his $450,000 between December 2007 and May 2008 by stealing and then selling on the black market about 3.5 million gallons of jet fuel and nearly 7 million gallons of diesel, he admitted in his October guilty plea.
The fuel was taken from Camp Liberty in Iraq. When Dubois started the scheme, he was working for Kuwait defense contractor Future Services General Trading. He obtained that job in July 2007 from Elias Maalouf, who Dubois met while he was approving contracts for the U.S. Army in 2005, Dubois admitted.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Maalouf who, according to court documents, helped Dubois execute the scheme after hiring him. Using his knowledge of Army procedures, Dubois was able to create false documents so he and several co-conspirators could enter Camp Liberty and steal the fuel, court documents said. Dubois lied to officials at the base, telling them he was acquiring the fuel for Future Services.
In December 2007 and January 2008, Dubois was the lead escort to the convey of stolen jet fuel and diesel, but after that he took a managerial role, he admitted. By May 2008 he was fired from Future Services, but continued to represent himself as an employee of the company as he filled the black market-bound tankers.
Dubois attorneys said in court documents he has turned over $7,000 of the $450,000 he owes. The cash was taken from his daughter’s education fund.
