Home Care In Kingston, UT

| Updated: 4:57 p.m.

Lev Aslan Dermen might be the defendant on trial, but Jacob Kingston’s name has come up again and again inside Salt Lake City’s federal courthouse.

Jurors put a face to the name Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Kingston took the witness stand for the prosecution about 2:40 p.m. and is expected to answer questions through Thursday.

The first questions were about his background. He was born and reared in Utah and inside the polygamous Davis County Cooperative Society. Kingston explained how members must report their incomes to the group and records are kept of how much each member draws from the cooperative’s accounts.

Kingston’s parents had 13 children together. He told the jury he grew up poor.

“We didn’t have things,” he testified. “We had seven kids in a two-bedroom house.”

While Kingston didn’t use the word “polygamy” or any of its conjugations or synonyms, he said his father, John Daniel Kingston, has perhaps more than 100 children.

“I don’t know all of my father’s children,” he said.

Kingston testified he and his wife Sally have 13 kids ages 2 to 25. He also has a total of seven other children with two other women, though Jacob Kingston did not refer to the women as his wives. Kingston said his 14th grandchild was born last week.

In 2006, Kingston earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Utah. During his last year or so in the program, he learned about biofuels. He decided to create a production facility on his father’s ranch in Plymouth. The Box Elder County business was called Washakie Renewable Energy.

“Were you profitable in the first few years?” federal prosecutor Richard Rolwing asked.

No, Kingston responded. Costs rose as the price of commodities such as soybean oil and diesel increased. Federal subsidies to encourage the production of biofuel offset some losses.

In 2009 or 2010, Kingston testified, he met a broker in Colorado who had some grease that could be converted to biodiesel. One part of the subsidy program was ending and another was beginning. To qualify for the money, Kingston said, purchasing contracts between his company and the Colorado firm were backdated.

The fraud was underway.

It was easy, Kingston explained, often requiring completing a one-page IRS form and falsifying papers about where the biofuel originated. The documents said Washakie was making biofuel when more often it was buying and selling the products.

Rolwing didn’t ask about Dermen until about 90 minutes into the questioning and just before court ended for the day. Kingston said a salesman in Texas in 2012 connected him to Dermen, who was then named Levon Termendzhyan.

In this photo provided by the Davis County Sheriff's Office shows Lev Aslan Dermen. Openings arguments are set Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Utah for a California businessman who prosecutors accuse of being a key figure in a $511 million tax credit scheme carried out by two executives of a Salt Lake City biodiesel company linked to a polygamous group. The men from the polygamous group pleaded guilty last year to money fraud and other charges and are expected to testify against Lev Aslan Dermen, who has pleaded not guilty. (Davis County Sheriff's Office, via AP)

Rolwing will resume his questioning Thursday before the defense asks its queries.

In the witness box, Kingston pivoted his seat back and forth as he answered questions. He wore a light blue, short-sleeve jail jumpsuit and shackles on his wrists and ankles. He has been in jail since his arrest in August 2018.

About 11 months later, Kingston pleaded guilty to 41 counts, including conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and witness tampering. His sentencing has been on hold while he cooperates with the government in the prosecution of Dermen.

Kingston is the witness for whom both sides have been waiting.

Prosecutors maintain Dermen pushed Kingston to escalate a fraud that sought more than $1 billion in federal biofuel credits. They say the company asked for $1.1 billion in tax credits from the U.S. government and received $470 million fraudulently.

Lawyers from a U.S. Department of Justice unit focused on tax crimes have told jurors that Kingston will testify how the 53-year-old Dermen helped him find more biofuel to buy and how and where to launder the money. Financial records, photographs, text messages and emails are supposed to corroborate Kingston’s testimony.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, in his opening argument, told jurors that Kingston and his family in the polygamous sect have defrauded the government for generations and that Kingston was looking for a way to send the proceeds of his scheme somewhere leaders of the sect couldn’t find them.

To keep his mother and legal wife from going to prison, Jacob Kingston agreed to plead guilty, Geragos argued to the jury, and to “blame Levon.”

Those two women, Rachel and Sally Kingston, respectively, have pleaded guilty to crimes. So, too, has Kingston’s brother Isaiah, Washakie’s chief financial officer. All four are awaiting sentencing.

Isaiah Kingston is also scheduled to testify during the Dermen trial.

It’s not just the lawyers and jurors who want to hear what Jacob Kingston will say. Journalists from Turkey and Belize are in Salt Lake City to listen for testimony about how Jacob Kingston and Dermen sent money to those countries and allegedly bribed government officials there.

(Courtesy U.S. District Court for the District of Utah) Lev Dermen, left, stands with Jacob Kingston at a banquet hall in Southern California in 2014. Federal prosecutors say this photo is evidence of how Kingston purchased the 2010 Bugatti Veyron, left, for $1.72 million to give Dermen, and Dermen purchased the Ferrari, right to give to Kingston to launder money from a biofuel fraud. Kingston has pleaded guilty to crimes. Dermen has pleaded not guilty. Behind the men is a sculpture of a lion's head, the animal Dermen associates himself with.

Reporters in Los Angeles are paying attention, too. Before the trial, prosecutors filed a motion saying Jacob Kingston also saw Dermen pay a cash bribe to then-Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. In 2017, Baca was convicted of charges relating to obstructing an FBI investigation and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Dermen is charged with 10 counts: one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and eight counts of money laundering. He faces up to 180 years in prison.

WEST VALLEY CITY — WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — A public charter school in West Valley City with ties to the polygamous Kingston group has decided it will look into the possibility of expanding, despite looming questions related to the school's handling of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Vanguard Academy was placed on "warning" status in June, as some members of the Utah State Charter School Board question whether the institution attempts to operate as a private religious school while accepting public money.

FOX 13 Investigates: Utah public school with ties to polygamous sect placed on 'warning' status

In 2020, FOX 13 Investigates discovered Vanguard Academy has only enrolled one non-white student. Public records show the school has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on companies related to the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston group.

FOX 13 Investigates: Public school with ties to polygamous sect is 100% white

During a public Vanguard Academy board meeting, Jonathan Bejarano asked the school to be more transparent in its procurement policies and its affiliation with the DCCS before considering whether to apply for an expansion.

"I feel like those issues are clearly not resolved," Bejarano said. "You also have other responsibilities, in your personal and professional life that may conflict."

Kent Johnson, who serves as chairman of the Vanguard Academy board, is also a known spokesperson for DCCS. He stated that the school continues to improve its spending policies, but otherwise declined to speak with FOX 13.

FOX 13 Investigates: Non-profit run by polygamous Kingston group faces tax questions and accusations

Suzanne Owen, the principal of Vanguard Academy, said the school would like to expand for the purpose of separating younger students from older students. She described any ideas to expand as in its "infancy stages."

Last December, in an interview with FOX 13, Owen was not forthcoming about her involvement as a member of the Kingston group.

"Well, I've heard of them," Owen said.

"But you're not familiar with it?" asked FOX 13 investigative reporter Adam Herbets.

"No," Owen responded. "Well, like I say, this is a public charter school."

Since that interview, multiple past and present members of the Kingston family confirmed Owen is one of the "spiritual" wives to Hyrum Kingston, the leader's brother.

According to Utah State Charter School Board policy, it is impossible for a school to be considered for expansion unless it is in "good standing."

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (KUTV) — Vanguard Academy, a charter school, known to cater to the children of the Kingston polygamist group, has been granted an extra six months to address its deficiencies.

In sSptember of 2022, in the wake of a Crisis In The Classroom investigation, the Utah State Charter School Board, identified three deficiencies: conflict of interest, CMP food contract, and board governance/open meetings. Two more deficiencies were added on October 25th: material misrepresentations in enrollment processes. The state appointed a co-director, co-finance, and board mentor in November.

While the school has resolved one of the five deficiencies, it still needs to address the remaining four. Vanguard has submitted an alternative plan and requested an extension, which is allowed by state law.

Vanguard took some initial self-corrections by identifying all the conflicts in the procurement process. Additionally, the school appointed new board members and created an oversight procurement committee that oversees purchases over $5,000. They also appointed a new procurement officer and vowed to use vendors from the state-approved vendor list when possible. Contracts previously indicated by the USCSC were rebid.

Rachel Anderson, a lawyer, appointed by the charter school board, attended Vanguard's meetings and felt the board meetings were run well, and followed the law. She expressed concerns about compliance, specifically when it comes to procurement, but she told the charter school board that Vanguard has put a robust procurement plan in place to comply with the law.

Michael Clark, a former teacher and administrator involved in charter school oversight, spent four months at the school. He found the culture at the school to be very positive and focused on learning. Clark says he was impressed with all three bodies at the school, students, staff/admin, and governing board. He says the school's leadership is sincere in trying to meet the terms of the probation.

MORE: Crisis in the Classroom's Vanguard investigation

Brad Wilkinson, a business administrator at Summit Academy Schools, also appointed by the charter school board, worked with Vanguard's team for four months. From a financial statement perspective, he felt their financial statements were lacking transparency, but Vanguard has made efforts to improve he sys. Wilkinson knows there are issues with conflicts and their RFP process. Vanguard has received some ERC COVID money from the federal government, which could potentially be an issue.

Vice Chair Cynthia Philips emphasized that progress towards resolution is not the same as resolution. Ultimately, the school needs to satisfy the board that authorized it to continue allowing it to spend public money.

Vanguard has six months to address its remaining deficiencies and satisfy the board that it is compliant with regulations.

It took the help of a Utah teenager to take down a powerful polygamist and Armenian fuel dealer, working together to carry out a $1 billion renewable fuel tax credit fraud scheme.

Mary Jacobs Nelson, who had grown up the Salt Lake City area as part of a polygamist group known as The Order, woke up the morning of June 15, 2013 knowing she’d be leaving her old life behind her, according to a new episode of CNBC’s “American Greed.”

Nelson, then just 17 years old, snuck out of her Taylorsville home in the pre-dawn hours to flee The Order just two days before she says she would be forced to marry her first cousin.

The dramatic escape, aided by Bryan Nelson, a man she met at community college and would later marry, would pave the path for Mary to create a new life on her own terms, but it also meant she took with her powerful secrets damaging enough to take down a massive biofuel scheme.

RELATED: Woman Who Lived Under Multiple False Identities Murdered Coworker Who Threatened To Expose Her

Mary had worked since she was a child in The Order’s accounting office and had intimate knowledge of a financial fraud being run by one of its members.

After leaving the group, Mary met with the FBI and gave them the financial details necessary to unravel the years-long con.

“They met with them for hundreds of hours, hundreds, to detail what the operations were, who the players were, what their role was and how the Washakie energy scam was being run,” Nelson’s attorney Mark Pugsley said in the episode. “Without Mary’s information that she brought with her when she left and Bryan’s very detailed research into the order, I don’t think this ever would have happened.”

Jacob Kingston—a man with three wives and 20 children—had been one of The Order’s prominent members and served as the chief executive officer for Washakie Renewable Energy, a Utah-based biodiesel company.

Kingston had gotten interested in renewable energy in the early 2000s during a doctoral program in mechanical engineering.

Initially, he set out to create the biofuel himself by turning French fry grease into diesel fuel as part of a new business effort for The Order. The polygamist sect willingly shares all its money collectively with the group’s estimated 3,500 to 5,000 members living within the Salt Lake area.

“They have many million businesses, they have security companies, they’ve got coin and laundry businesses, ice companies, pawn shops, and the idea is you build up these businesses for the greater good to restore wealth,” Lindsey Hansen Park, the host the Year of Polygamy podcast, told "American Greed."

Kingston set up a biodiesel refinery on his father’s Utah ranch and by 2008 the company began importing vegetable oil to create the fuel. But its remote location proved to be a challenge, not only for importing the raw materials but also for selling the resulting fuel to prospective customers.

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The company couldn’t make a profit until Kingston decided to fraudulently take advantage of federal tax credits – without actually making the product.

“Utah was a terrible place to make biodiesel, but as it turns out it was a fine place to commit fraud,” said Arthur Ewenczyk, a former trial attorney with the Department of Justice.

Kingston was able to pull off the ruse by connecting with other corrupt operators, who agreed to let him pretend to sell the biofuel. He enlisted his brother Isaiah Kingston, his mother Rachel Kingston and first wife Sally Kingston to help him falsify the books and paperwork.

Over the next few years, Kingston collected government checks totaling an estimated $10 million but it wasn’t until he connected with another man, Lev Dermen—an Armenian immigrant known as “The Lion”—that the fraudulent proceeds really skyrocketed.

“Once Lev Derman got involved and the conspiracy continued under his tutelage, the amounts of money are mind-blowing,” John Huber, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, told “American Greed.”

According to “American Greed,” before connecting with Dermen—who is also known by the name Levon Termendzhyan—the company had received IRS and EPA credit payments totaling an estimated $41 million, but those claims jumped to $1.1 billion in the five years after meeting Dermen.

By 2015, $511 million of those claims had already been paid out. The pair used the money to fund lavish lifestyles, complete with Rolex watches, large mansions and a yacht for Dermen and a chrome Lamborghini for Kingston.

“As part of their scheme, Dermen and Jacob Kingston shipped millions of gallons of biodiesel within the U.S. and from the U.S. to foreign countries and back again to create the appearance that qualifying renewable fuel was being produced and sold," the Department of Justice announced in a statement in 2020. “They also doctored production and transportation records to substantiate Washakie’s fraudulent claims for more than $1 billion in IRS renewable fuel tax credits and credits related to the EPA renewable fuel standard. To further create the appearance they were buying and selling qualifying fuel, the co-conspirators cycled more than $3 billion through multiple bank accounts.”

By 2015, the IRS and EPA had both taken notice of the company’s supposedly massive production of biofuel and started their own investigations into the company. But it wasn’t until Nelson’s harrowing escape and later decision to share what she knew with authorities that the scheme was fully revealed.

“I was able to see a lot of the different transactions or even businesses that Washakie laundered money through,” Mary said. “Once we started talking and we starting explaining that all these businesses are connected and all these people are connected ... that’s when they were like ‘OK, there’s something wrong.’”

Mary Nelson. Photo: Courtesy of CNBC

In August of 2018, Kingston was arrested at the Salt Lake City airport as he was trying to flee to Turkey. His family members who had helped him pull off the scheme were also arrested.

Kingston and his brother Isaiah agreed to plead guilty and testify against Dermen, who had also been charged in the scheme.

Dermen was found guilty in March of 2020 on 10 counts including money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He’s facing up to life in prison.

Kingston pleaded guilty to multiple charges including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aiding and assisting in the filing of false claims to the IRS and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison, authorities said.

His brother Isaiah, mother Rachel and wife Sally also pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme.

All five are still awaiting sentencing after delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Order has stated that they were not aware of the fraud and said they have been unfairly targeted by the media and others because some families practice plural marriage.

To learn more, tune in to “American Greed” at 10 pm ET/PT Tuesdays on CNBC.

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The Utah State Charter School Board (SCSB) has changed its mind as the state is now allowing Vanguard Academy, a public school run by the polygamous Kingston group, to keep its board.

FOX 13 News discovered Vanguard Academy paid millions of taxpayer dollars to Kingston-affiliated businesses in 2020. The state conducted its own investigation in 2021, confirming conflicts of interest related to the school's spending.

The latest vote is a complete 180 from a decision made by the SCSB in August to replace Vanguard Academy's board with nine members chosen by the state.

The school remains on "probation," which means the state will decide whether Vanguard Academy must be shut down after November 22.

"The reality is, this does not eliminate any of the oversight or any of what's going to happen in the future," said Charter School Board Executive Director Jennifer Lambert. "Our attempt to put in new board members was to give Vanguard Academy a tool to help them resolve the deficiencies. The deficiencies haven't gone away. We've just withdrawn that tool because it was obvious Vanguard Academy would not make use of that tool."

The board also voted to implement a new "mentor" for the existing board at a later date.

Lambert said it is now up to Vanguard Academy and its soon-to-be appointed advisors to make meaningful changes on their own to avoid shutdown.

"But your position is, they're never going to have a quorum of non-conflicted board members unless they make changes to the board," asked FOX 13 News investigative reporter Adam Herbets.

"Correct," Lambert said. "And if they are using vendors that are not in the best interests of the school, that would still continue to be a problem... It isn't the vendors themselves. It isn't the board members themselves. It's the relationship between the two."

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, has repeatedly stated she viewed replacing Vanguard Academy's board as a weak move.

She said the law is clear, the school should have been shut down months ago — if not last year.

"This is a lot of money that we're wasting," Riebe said. "You have a lot of nepotism, and you have a lot of people that are related... We’re not asking that school to do anything above and beyond. They're not following the same rules as every school district in the state. They think that they don't have to follow the rules."

Riebe said she was particularly disappointed to see the high amount of money being spent on family businesses rather than on the instruction of students.

"Charter schools are a very odd entity because (the board is) picked by their friends... We’ve asked them to fix it and rectify it and they have refused," Riebe said. "They’ve been warned. They’ve been told. They’ve been asked. They’ve been given extra resources to fix their problems. If they’re not going to put themselves back in order, they should be closed."

This graph provided by the state shows how Vanguard Academy spent MORE THAN 14X the average public school on meals last year.Premier Catering & Food Service, the school’s vendor, has direct ties to the polygamous Kingston group. pic.twitter.com/obFCpTsWPH

— Adam Herbets (@AdamHerbets) August 24, 2022

Vanguard Academy challenged the board's decision to replace the board and had a court date scheduled in October to argue the merits of the case. In light of the board's decision, the hearing is now moot.

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