In early 2013, Carla Peterson was a 62-year-old widow who was tired of renting but had no credit.
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For those properties with loans in question, the borrowing happened between 2011 — when Washakie
began what it said was the production of biofuel that allowed the Kingston brothers to collect a federal tax credit — and August 2018, when
the first indictments were issued.
Of the two properties with no such loans on file with the recorder’s office, one is the office of
Desert Tech, a West Valley City gun manufacturer, whose buyers include foreign militaries.
When Desert Tech owner Nick Young spoke to The Tribune in a telephone interview Monday, he said neither he nor his company has had anything to do with Washakie and never took any money from it or the defendants.
“Jacob is my cousin,” Young said. “But just because he’s my cousin means I do business the way he does? I absolutely do not.”
Asked why he thought the feds wanted to seize the building, Young replied: “The only reason, I can assume, is to discriminate against who we are.”
He said Desert Tech leases its space from the building owner. A review of those ownership records shows the building belongs to a limited liability company for which Young was once listed as the manager. The LLC was transferred in 2016 to one of Young’s family members who had offices listed in another building prosecutors say was connected to the fraud.
There’s no public record accusing Desert Tech of wrongdoing. Young said his company received a federal subpoena to supply financial records and did so, but that subpoena contained no allegations. Young said he didn’t know the government wanted to take the building until news reports coinciding with the guilty pleas.
“I showed up to work this morning,” Young said Monday, “and my employees and staff are all scared. ‘Are they going to kick us out of our building? Are we going to get raided? Will I still have a job?’ ”
Even if the government takes the building and leaves the rest of Desert Tech intact, Young said that would be a hardship on the company. Young said Desert Tech has heavy machinery and other gun-making equipment, and moving to a new production facility with an adequate power supply likely could cost about $500,000.
Young argued Desert Tech has been a law-abiding business. It won an award from the U.S. State Department for helping catch terrorists seeking to buy firearms.