Enforcement Actions Criminal Civil

William Paul Hudson of Plano was convicted of theft and sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Jan. 31 in Collin County State District Court. Hudson also received a sentence of 10 years, probated, on charges of securities fraud and money laundering and was ordered to pay restitution. Hudson stole...

Eddie Lacy Stivers III was sentenced to 85 years in state prison on Jan. 31 for engaging in the fraudulent sale of stock and promissory notes, with some sales to investors coming after Stivers was indicted by a Hood County grand jury on charges of first-degree securities fraud, first-degree theft...

David Kevin Lewis, the chairman of Richardson-based oil and gas company Always Consulting Inc. (ACI), was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Jan. 24 and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution. A U.S. District Court jury in Dallas in September 2013 convicted Lewis on one count of...

Bruce Kyle Griffith, the former CEO of Always Consulting Inc. (ACI) in Richardson, was sentenced to eight years and three months in federal on Dec. 18 in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Griffith was also ordered to pay restitution of $2.5 million to investors in purported oil and gas drilling...

In filings unsealed Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court in Austin, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Robert A. Helms and Janniece S. Kaelin, Austin-based promoters of an oil and gas entity called Vendetta Royalty Partners. The SEC’s civil lawsuit, which names other salespeople for...

Richard Hicks of Tyler pleaded guilty pleaded guilty to securities fraud Nov. 7 in Smith County State District Court and was placed on 10 years adjudication. He was also ordered to pay $243,687 in restitution to 10 victims. Smith had been indicted on a charge of securities fraud. Hicks, who operated...

A Cameron County grand jury on Nov. 7 issued new indictments against Alberto Alba Villarreal and Daniel Thomas Hernandez. The men are Brownsville residents who allegedly sold a fraudulent $1 million investment contract in Nafta Holdings LLC. The money was supposed to help fund a new insurance...

A Laredo who changed his legal name to Tonie P. (formerly Tonie Perez) was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Nov. 6 in Bexar County State District Court. Tonie P. was convicted of securing the execution of a document by deception against an elderly person – a retired U.S. Army chaplain and...

Jason Bruce Lively and Melissa Jean Lively (also known as Melissa Jean Gentolizo) of Arlington were each sentenced Oct. 25 in Bexar County State District to 10 years deferred adjudication and ordered to pay a total of $185,792 in restitution. Jason Lively was the former president of an oil and gas...

Paul Michael Harney of San Antonio pleaded guilty to two counts of theft from the elderly of between $1,500 and $20,000 was sentenced in Bexar County on Oct. 22 to concurrent five-year state prison sentences. Harney was indicted in February 2012 on four of the theft from the elderly charges...