Isaac Voss, an Oregon man, launched a company he named XFuels to purportedly produce "clean fuel, clean chemicals, [and] clean power from garbage, biomass, and plastic." Voss claimed XFuels was developing technology that could “derive electricity and petroleum-equivalent fuels from any carbon bearing material.”

To raise money for the development of this futuristic fuel technology, Voss recruited foreign investors through the EB-5 program. From 2011-2015, Voss held numerous seminars where he told foreign investors that donations of $500,000 to XFuels would make them eligible for an EB-5 visa.

Voss told investors XFuels had a refinery in Canada and another being constructed in Washington state. He also claimed that XFuel’s was 90% funded through other institutional and private lenders and produced a third-party feasibility study.

Ultimately, all of Voss representations were untrue: XFuel’s had no refineries or additional sources of funding and the feasibility study was falsified. What’s worse, all the foreign investors’ visa applications were declined.

"Voss robbed victims of investment dollars by preying on their hopes of becoming legal permanent residents in the U.S.," said Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

In March 2018, Voss pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in Oregon.