An Arkansas oil and gas company, White River Energy Corp., headquartered in Fayetteville, faces a civil lawsuit as well as a federal regulatory investigation over tribal tax credits.
The lawsuit accused the firm of issuing alleged fake tribal tax credits. But the issue has also drawn the interest of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee headed by Sen. Ron Wyden as well as Bloomberg News and this week the Wall Street Journal.
The allegations actually came to light in June of 2024 when it was first reported by Bloomberg Tax which prompted a Florida couple to file a lawsuit seeking to recover $1.6 million they paid for “tribal tax credits” which the Internal Revenue Service states are not real. Sen. Wyden’s Finance Committee investigation is exploring what lawmakers labeled a “scheme that exploited Native American tribal identities to dupe investors.”
As reported by TribalBusinessNews.com, the Florida lawsuit by Justin and Robin Daniels of Jupiter, Florida was the first legal action by victims of what they labeled as a “sprawling scheme.” The lawsuit named three defendants: publicly traded oil and gas comopany White River Energy Corp.; financial consultant Financial Gems LLC; and the couple’s accounting firm, Armanino Advisory LLC.
White River Energy Corp. is involving in oil and gas exploratio primarily in Louisiana and Mississippi or the Gulf Basin. Its operations are across approximately 34,000 acres in the Basin.
Last week, the Fayetteville company responded with a press release and statement, “White River Will Vehemently Defend Itself Against any Frivolous Allegations Relating to its Tax Credits.”
“White River remains steadfast in its commitment to working with third-party taxpayers. More than 100+ taxpayers had their federal income tax returns accepted by the IRS, using these credits to successfully offset their federal tax liabilities,” stated the company.
“White River’s own corporate filing was approved by the IRS after manual examination and the issuance of an official transcript. Through their own actions, the IRS and its agents manually reviewed and approved the White River corporate tax return and third party tax filings containing these tax credits, thereby effectively conceding that the tax credits are valid.”
The White River chairman stated that any suggestion of fraid is false and the firm was fully prepared to vigorously defend itself and even coutersue anyone making “unsubstantiated” allegations against the company.
“White River was blindsided when the plaintiffs were awarded a clerk’s default while our attorneys had been in active discussions and correspondence with opposing counsel. We have already notified Susano Christina Garcia of Greenspoon Marder, LLP of our intent to file a motion for sanctions under the Florida statutes for her unethical actions“, stated Jay Puchir, Chairman and CFO of White River. “The terms that purchasers have agreed to before we transfer tax credits are straightforward in our Tax Credit Purchase Agreement.”
It was the second response by White River to the claims and allegations. Another was made in June and “addressed the false and misleading allegations recently made by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Bloomberg Industry Group reporter Erin Schilling.”