Elizabeth Taylor. James Dean. Rock Hudson.
Giant is an epic Hollywood Western (1956). The movie follows a Texas family over a quarter century from the 1920s until after World War II, and addresses many sub-plots, one of which is oil and gas investments in Texas. In the film, James Dean has a small parcel of land. He has nothing else in his name, and wants to keep it. Rock Hudson, who is married to Elizabeth Taylor, knowing there is a “wind-fall” of oil production on James’ land, wants to buy it. Rock and his cohorts use many unscrupulous sales tactics and representations to convince Dean that it is in his best interest to sell the parcel to Rock. James smells a rat and does not sell.
James drills for oil and hits the “big time.” Rock is beside himself.
That’s Hollywood.
That’s not the real world.
In the real world there are many unscrupulous oil and gas companies which exist simply to scam their investors to feed their high-living life style. Unfortunately, most of their investors don’t smell a rat.
Many of these fraudulent oil and gas companies are located in Texas and despite the low price of oil they continue to operate. In fact, their fraud is so prevalent that previously the Securities and Exchange Commission released an alert warning individual investors of possible frauds involving private securities offerings for oil and gas ventures. In our experience, federal agencies – such as the S.E.C. or the F.B.I. – only get involved in private investments when the oil and gas scams involve several millions of dollars. The following is a one example:
As recently as May of 2015, Brian J. Polito of Allen, Texas, plead guilty to a charge of mail fraud stemming from his operation of an oil and gas investment fraud scheme. As part of the plea, Mr. Polito faced a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and $250,000 fine, or twice any pecuniary gain to the defendant or loss to the victims.
The Court records show that Mr. Polito was the sole owner/operator of GC Resources, LLC, an oil and gas investment firm that was located on Preston Road in Dallas. Beginning in December 2011, M. Polito defrauded investors by selling interests in oil and gas projects in which GC Resources had no ownership or interest. Mr. Polito paid investors of his company’s projects with other fraudulently obtained funds in the manner of a Ponzi scheme. He raised multiple millions from victim investors, all of which was used to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The government has engaged in significant efforts to secure assets for potential restitution to victims. Among other things, the government has recovered $664,000 from the liquidation of the net equity in the following vehicles: a 2014 Roll Royce Wraith, a 2015 McLaren 650S Coupe, a 2014 Lamborghini, a Aventador Anniversary Coupe, a 2015 BMW M4 Coupe, a 2014 Mercedes E63 Wagon, a 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale, a 2014 Jeep Cherokee SRT8, and one bank account subject to the entry of restitution and/or forfeiture orders.
We urge people to engage in due diligence prior to sending a penny to any oil and gas company. We have discovered that investors in private oil and gas deals are particularly vulnerable since most of them do not understand the complexities of the industry, and fall victim to the fraudulent statement of the oil and gas company.
Oil and Gas Scam Attorney
None of our attorneys look like James Dean. But because of our extensive experience suing fraudulent oil and gas companies, all of us can smell a rat.
Mark A. Alexander. P.C. is here to help. Call us today at (972) 544-6968.
