Koch Industries, criminal actions; legal problems; cheating Indian reservation out of their oil

The U.S. Senate had opened an investigation into allegations that the company stole tens of millions of dollars' worth of oil from wells on Native Americans' tribal land. After a yearlong investigation in 1989, it released a scathing report accusing Koch Oil of "a widespread and sophisticated scheme to steal crude oil from Indians and other through fraudulent mis-measuring." 

The Senate investigation had penetrated Koch Industries' well-guarded secrecy, compelling Charles Koch to be deposed at the company headquarters in Wichita. One committee official recalled him as "quietly enraged" by the government intrusion. Under oath, Charles admitted that the company had improperly taken approximately $31 million worth of crude oil over a three-year period from Indian lands but argued that it had been accidental. He told investigators that oil measurement is "a very uncertain art." The committee, however, produced evidence showing that none of the other companies buying oil from Indian land at the time had substantial problems with measurements. In fact, the other companies, most of which were far better known, had secretly turned Koch in, because they regarded it as cheating. (159)