NATCHEZ — Despite initial skepticism from former investors of biofuel baron John Rivera, all indications are that he did, in fact, die last month.

Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys filed the official death certificate for the alleged stock manipulator late last week with the U.S. District Court in Natchez.

The death certificate indicates the 62-year-old Rivera died of natural causes, specifically heart disease, at his Texas home on Aug. 15.

Although the document does not indicate this, the Texas Justice of the Peace handling the death inquest said the body would be fingerprinted and compared to any fingerprints on file.

Rivera’s death came just days after a federal judge ruled in favor of the SEC who alleged Rivera had lied about his biofuel company, U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp., once based in Natchez, in order to profit from falsely inflated stock prices.

His death raised eyebrows among investors cheated by his schemes, some of which felt Rivera might have faked his own death to skirt punishment.

The court is expected to rule soon on possible penalties to be imposed in the civil case again Rivera and his wife.