A former owner and president of a Mississippi biodiesel manufacturing company and an imprisoned lawyer are accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of $2.8 million by filing false claims for more than two years.

Federal prosecutors say William Tacker II and H. Max Speight allegedly conspired to file false documents in order to receive subsidy money offered to bioenergy producers of both biodiesel and ethanol.

In a 10-count indictment, they are accused of submitting false claims pertaining to the amount of soybean oil used to produce biodiesel fuel and the amount of biodiesel fuel manufactured by Nettleton-based Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc.

Each man faces at least five years in prison and at least a $250,000 fine if convicted under the nine-page indictment.