Property Developer Nati Stoliar is facing a US jail sentence of up to 20 years, having pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from a US biodiesel fuel program, The Australian reports.
Nathan Stoliar, 64, of Australia, the former owner of a string of Sydney’s most expensive homes — including Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay, James Jariv, 63, of Las Vegas, had been charged by the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Criminal Division, and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, for offenses involving the federal renewable fuel program, which netted them more than $37 million.
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The 57-count indictment against them included charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements under the Clean Air Act, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
The Australian describes Stoliar as a “Forrest Gump-style character” of Sydney’s corporate “sleaze set.” Apparently, he was connected to or involved with “many of the most controversial deals and personalities of the past two decades.”
Back in 2001, Stoliar hosted former president Bill Clinton in a $1, 100-a-head charity dinner in Stoliar’s mansion on Wolseley Road, Point Piper, Australia’s most expensive street.
Stoliar also made headlines in 2001 when he promised an American film executive $160 million to produce The Godfather IV. His business partner in that deal was Karl Suleman, who was later jailed for a crooked investment scheme.
This past week, Stoliar pleaded guilty to conspiring to two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering and one count of making false statements under the US Clean Air Act.
Stoliar’s co-defendant, James Jariv, a property developer, fled the US in 2004, owing creditors about $6 million.
“Stoliar and his co-conspirator perpetrated a massive fraud against a renewable-fuels program created to protect our nation’s energy security and independence, ” a spokesman for the US Department of Justice stated.
