Chemist sent to prison for embezzling millions

HOUSTON – A 66-year-old Texas man has been ordered to federal prison after he admitted to wire fraud in his connection to stealing millions from a Deer Park corporation, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

James Arthur Camp, New Braunfels, pleaded guilty June 4.

Today, U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas ordered Camp to serve a 48-month sentence to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard from the company’s chief legal officer who detailed how Camp was to obtain approval for the fraudulent invoices he submitted. In handing down the sentence, Judge Atlas noted Camp made grievous mistakes in setting up his scheme and letting it get so big for long. The court ordered he pay restitution in the amount of $11,256,712.54.

“For 19 years, Camp took advantage of his employer by embezzling more than  $10 million, separate from his paycheck,” said Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBI. “Today's sentencing demonstrates the ramifications of a man's years-long commitment to greed, deception and selfishness. This case should remind citizens that every action has a consequence, as Camp will now be held accountable for his actions.”

At the time of his plea, Camp admitted that from April 1998 through November 2017, he defrauded Lubrizol Corporation of $9,256,712.54. During the scheme, he 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.

Camp was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined later. 

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