A federal court in West Palm Beach has sentenced 38-year-old Jasen Butler of Jupiter, Florida, to 60 months in prison after a jury convicted him on dozens of counts tied to a scheme that bilked the U.S. military of more than $4.5 million through falsified fuel contracts and sham invoices.
U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks handed down the 60-month sentence after Butler was convicted in January on 34 counts including wire fraud, forgery, and money laundering. The case centers on Butler’s company, Independent Marine Oil Services LLC, and a pattern of false paperwork submitted to procure military fuel. The convictions reflect a months-long investigation into procurement fraud affecting naval operations overseas.
Court filings say Butler corrupted the competitive bidding process for military fuel services and supplied dozens of falsified records such as wire transfer memos and phony invoices. Those fabricated documents were provided to multiple U.S. warships operating in international ports between August 2022 and January 2024. The ships sought fuel in places including Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Croatia while carrying out missions tied to U.S. strategic interests.
Prosecutors say Butler received over $4.5 million in payments for expenses that never existed, then used the proceeds to enrich himself. He allegedly bought multiple multi-million-dollar properties in Florida and Colorado with the illicit gains. Judge Middlebrooks has entered a preliminary order of forfeiture for those properties as part of the court’s remedy.
“The defendant stole millions of dollars from our military with a fake job, fake identity, and fake invoices,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. After Butler attracted Navy attention, officials allege he concealed his identity, adopted a false name, and pretended to work in a fictitious fuel division of another company to keep the scheme going under scrutiny.
“The Defendant made his choice: to rip off the federal government and the Navy to line his own pockets. The Justice Department made its choice: to pursue maximum incarceration for the Defendant. In response, Judge Middlebrooks rightly ordered the Defendant imprisoned for 5 years,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. The Antitrust Division treated the conduct as a corruption of fair competition and procurement integrity.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones emphasized how the fraud targeted military operations and taxpayer dollars tied to national defense. “This sentence reflects the seriousness of what the evidence at trial showed: a calculated scheme that targeted the U.S. military for personal gain,” he said. “The defendant submitted false documents, stole millions in taxpayer funds, and then tried to hide behind a fake identity when scrutiny began. When you defraud our armed forces, you are not just committing fraud, you are undermining operations that protect this country. That conduct will be investigated, prosecuted, and punished.”
Investigators from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service spearheaded the probe in coordination with the Department of Justice’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force. “Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: those who defraud the U.S. military will be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Josh Packer, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office. The joint task force approach aimed to identify bid rigging, forged paperwork, and other procurement crimes.
Officials from DCIS underlined the operational risk the scheme posed to readiness and global logistics. “This outcome reinforces DCIS’s commitment to safeguarding DoD resources and ensuring taxpayer funds are available for their intended purpose: supporting the readiness and effectiveness of the warfighter,” said Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Sargenski of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Southeast Field Office. “This scheme stole millions from the American taxpayer and threatened to undermine a program essential for our global military operations. DCIS, working alongside our law enforcement partners, will relentlessly pursue and hold accountable those who seek to defraud our military and exploit systems designed to support our nation’s warfighters.”
Naval investigators also stressed the importance of protecting procurement channels used by sailors overseas. “The sentencing of Jasen Butler sends the unequivocal message that the Department of the Navy has zero tolerance for fraud within its procurement systems,” said Special Agent in Charge Greg Gross of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Economic Crimes Field Office. “The SEA Card program is indispensable to the U.S. Navy’s global readiness. NCIS, along with our federal partners, are committed to aggressively dismantling any criminal enterprise that attempts to exploit systems designed to enable U.S. warfighting capabilities around the globe.”
