Former employee admits to stealing nearly $10 million

HOUSTON – A 65-year-old Texas man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in his connection to stealing millions from a Deer Park oil corporation, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

James Arthur Camp, New Braunfels, admitted that from April 1998 through November 2017, he defrauded Lubrizol Corporation of $9,256,712.54. During the scheme, Camp submitted fraudulent invoices for laboratory services from two companies he owned, knowing they had not been performed.

Specifically, Camp admitted that one of those fraudulent laboratory charges included one from his company Bay Area Analytical in the amount of $2,774.06. Camp inputted the data into Lubrizol’s accounting system, causing it to be transmitted electronically from Deer Park to company headquarters in Wycliffe, Ohio. That fraudulent charge was then bundled with other similar charges and paid via electronic funds transfer to Bay Area Analytical’s bank account at J P Morgan Chase Bank in the amount of $12,294.23.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas accepted the plea and set sentencing for August. At that time, Camp faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Braddock is prosecuting the case.