A former ConocoPhillips employee and a K9 officer with the Anchorage Police Department were criminally charged with federal wire fraud Wednesday for allegedly defrauding the oil company out of millions.
According to documents filed Wednesday in Alaska District Court, Forrest Wright, a former senior drilling and wells planner with ConocoPhillips, and Nathan Keays, the APD officer, together stole more than $3 million from the oil company through fraudulent invoices.
Wright resigned from ConocoPhillips on Dec. 5. On Dec. 12, the company sued both men, their wives and Wright’s father-in-law for allegedly stealing the money.
Keays was placed on paid administrative leave with APD on Dec. 12, pending an internal investigation. According to department spokesman MJ Thim, Keays remained on paid leave until Thursday, when he was placed on unpaid leave. Thim said the department has no update on the status of the internal investigation.
“Officer misconduct will not be tolerated, and this allegation is in no way a reflection on the dedication and professionalism of the men and women who continue to serve Anchorage residents,” APD Chief Justin Doll said in a statement.
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If convicted, the men face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, the two childhood friends from Fairbanks cooked up a scheme to turn Keays’ spray foam insulation business into a mock oil and gas business to be approved as a vendor by ConocoPhillips.
According to court documents, Keays had no familiarity with the oil and gas business, so to make it look as if he were an expert in emails with ConocoPhillips, Wright would first draft the emails using his personal Hotmail email account, then send them to Keays’ Hotmail account.
Following Wright’s instructions, Keays would add his own personal sign-off to the emails, then send them from his Eco Edge Armoring LLC account to Wright’s ConocoPhillips email account.
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According to the complaint, when the FBI searched the personal email accounts of both men, they found they had deleted several of the emails, though the federal agents were able to find some of the emails — drafted by Wright and then ultimately sent from Keays to Wright’s ConocoPhillips email account — on Wright’s Hotmail account.
Keays, the FBI found, “wholesale” deleted emails during the period of time when the scheme was taking place, court documents state.
In all, investigators found Keays submitted 27 fraudulent invoices for labor and materials, resulting in more than $3 million in payment, court documents show. Two more attempts at invoices for another $160,680 were not paid out.
The scheme was executed from February 2019 to December 2019, court documents state. Wright was interviewed by investigators on Feb. 21 of this year and gave a wide admission to spearheading the scheme, court documents state. Investigators found that Keays kicked back $1.65 million to Wright, about 53% of what the two men allegedly took.
Wright used the money for travel expenses, at restaurants and casinos, cash withdrawals, general living expenses and to purchase 17 houses in Las Vegas, according to court documents.
Wright was authorized to propose that suppliers become “approved vendors” for the company, according to civil court documents. He could request materials and services for purchase. According to the lawsuit filed by ConocoPhillips, his theft extended beyond the alleged scheme with Keays.
That lawsuit claims Wright conned the company out of more than $7 million.
Part of that was through a company called DB Oilfield Support Services, owned by his father-in-law, David Benefield. According to the criminal complaint, Benefield was interviewed on Dec. 12. Federal court records show no criminal charges against Benefield.
Through her attorney, Keays’ wife has said she had no involvement in Eco Edge, and no knowledge of the alleged scheme. In court documents she states she does not have access to the Eco Edge bank account.
In a Aug. 21 document filed in that case, Keays agrees that funds from ConocoPhillips were improperly deposited into his Eco Edge Armoring account, and that he does not oppose those funds being released back to ConocoPhillips.