A West Virginia executive has been charged with lying about his company spilling chemicals into the water supply that 300,000 drink from in order to protect his own wealth.

A criminal complaint alleges that Freedom Industries President Gary Southern committed bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, and lying under oath in order to protect a $7.7 million fortune — charges which could place him behind bars for up to 30 years, according to the Associated Press.

FBI Special Agency James F. Lafferty II testified in a sworn affadavit that was filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, W.V., that Southern downplayed his role with the company while on the stand in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston on several occasions.

Freedom Industries faces a number of lawsuits, both currently and possibly in the future, over claims that it spilled chemicals irresponsibly, which caused a wide-ranging tap-water ban to shutter the doors of numerous businesses for days.

The leak happened on Jan. 9, when Freedom Industries dumped the coal-cleaning chemical into the Elk River about a mile and a half upstream from a water treatment plant that serves nine counties — the company declared bankruptcy just eight days later.

Southern has been trying to deflect blame for discharging the chemical MCHM into the Elk River, despite the fact that Southern began serving as chief operating officer of the company in May 2009 before joining the board of directors from March 2010 to October 2013, according to Lafferty. Southern didn’t want to be linked to Freedom before Chemstream Holdings Inc. was scheduled to purchase the company In December 2013, the agent alleged.

Instead, Southern said his role was more of a part-time consultant to help owners of the business get the finances of the company back on track rather than someone who was heavily involved in day-to-day affairs, the complaint states, which notes that Southern also claimed to be involved only “superficially” in Chemstream’s purchase of Freedom. He swore under oath that he was not part of the company’s organization before the purchase, the affadavit states.