DoD settles with Iraq War oil supplier in fraud case

WASHINGTON ― The International Oil Trading Co. (IOTC) announced May 3 it had reached an agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency–Energy (DLA) for unpaid fuel used by coalition troops during the Iraq War.

The Florida-based transportation and distribution company received $40 million for over 332 million gallons of fuel delivered to the DLA between July 2007 and August 2009. Accused of fraud in 2008, a recent Department of Defense investigation concluded “no fraud vulnerabilities were identified” in IOTC fuel contracts.

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According to the settlement “IOTC satisfactorily performed [the contracts and] DLA Energy will not consider the fraud allegations raised in these appeals associated with IOTC’s past performance ... in making future contract award decisions.”

Harry Sargeant III, CEO of IOTC, said the company “is pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of these issues with DLA. We can now look forward to again providing exemplary service to DLA.”

During the Iraqi conflict, IOTC received numerous awards from DLA for its delivery performance and quality. DLA contracting officer John Walker said IOTC’s “operations management team [was] fully cooperative to this mission’s needs, consistently yielding excellent performance ... [and] providing excellent service.”