Talk about greed.
Recently a well-known Texas wealth manager who hosted a radio show called, “Dollars & Sense” was arrested and booked into jail on charges of more than $6,000,000.00 worth of among other charges, fraud and engaging in criminal activity.
In court documents, the Texas State Securities Board allege that Bob Eugene Guess was selling investments without being a registered securities dealer.
The authorities say that Mr. Guess lured retirees and others to his firm’s investment forums with fraudulent promises of 9 percent annualized returns, was recently indicted.
Here comes the really greed part. Mr. Guess’ firm Texas First Financial widely advertised its services on local radio stations, including ESPN Dallas (103.3FM) and WBAP (820 AM).
The criminal charges stem from an investigation by the Texas State Securities Board and the U.S. Secret Service, which found that Mr. Guess’ firm was peddling investments in companies including the advertising firm Stamedia, Inc. – a company whose leaders took millions of investor’s monies to fund an “extravagant lifestyle” for themselves and relatives.
Cleary Mr. Guess thinks that an oil and gas investment scam will never to discovered. Wrong!
It was discovered that the principal expenses were “extensive travel to Cabo San Lucas, Vail, Disney World, and a Montana hunting lodge and multiple luxury vehicles, including Land Rovers, Mercedes, Ferraris and Lamborghinis.”
According to the court documents, the new investments Mr. Guess sold in one company were apparently used to pay off investors who had been sold investments in another, “the very definition of a Ponzi scheme.”
Records show that that investors bought securities from Mr. Guess in his North-Forty Development, LLC, and were promised returns by the deeds of trust for the properties the company developed. We tell those investors who contact us that, “These promised returns” should have sent “red flags” and that they should have contacted an oil and gas fraud attorney prior to investing. Sadly, with Mr. Guess a substantial amount of the investor’s funds went to satisfy a federal tax lien, which was previously levied against a North-Forty principal.
Wait there’s more. This is not the first time Mr. Guess has been involved in selling unregistered securities. In 2015 the S.E.C. sued the Georgia based Credit Nation, where Mr. Guess was an owner and vice-president, for allegedly running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme in life settlement contracts. A federal judge placed Credit Nation in receivership. That is another reason why we counsel our clients not to quickly invest …be in an oil and gas investment scam, or another scheme.
We receive numerous calls every week regarding oil and gas investment scams. We ask those callers the following:
- Prior to you calling us, how many oil and gas fraud attorneys have you contacted;
- Prior to you calling us, how many oil and gas litigation lawyers have you contacted: and
- Prior to you calling us, how many oil and gas investment scams have you been a part of?
Those questions are important as we want to know what advice the caller had received so we can comment on what they have been told, and hopefully provide them valuable information on their current situation, and help them from being another victim of an oil and gas investment scam.
Oil and Gas Investment Scam Attorney
Mark A. Alexander. P.C. is here to help. Call us today at (972) 544-6968.