Enforcement Actions Criminal Civil

Robbie Dale Walker of Dripping Springs was indicted on additional charges for an alleged oil and gas fraud targeting elderly investors. A Hays County grand jury on April 12 indicted Walker for securities fraud, money laundering, selling unregistered securities and acting as an unregistered...

Terrence Riely , who pleaded no contest to misapplication of fiduciary property in Bexar County state District Court, on April 12 was ordered to pay restitution of $218,990, serve 10 years community supervision and perform 240 hours of community service. Riely was an officer of the Paramco Financial...

Corpus Christi adviser William Erik Byrne on March 21 was ordered to pay $719,000 in restitution and sentenced to 10 years community supervision and 30 days in jail. Byrne was sentenced in Nueces County state District Court. At the time of his sentencing, Byrne had already paid $100,000 in...

Michael K. Wallens Sr. of Spring was sentenced to four years and five months in federal prison for his role in raising $17 million from investors who thought they were putting their money into safe and secure promissory notes. The sentence, issued Feb. 24 in U.S. District Court in Dallas, also...

Tony Anthony Cruz Jr. , the owner and operator of the Wealth Building Club Inc. (WBC) in San Antonio, was indicted Feb. 15 in U.S. District Court in San Antonio on eight counts of mail fraud. The indictment was unsealed March 6. The indictment alleges Cruz sold fraudulent notes to investors in San...

David Boyer Prince , a former California attorney who ran two fraudulent investment funds, on Feb. 8 was sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He had been convicted on five counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The government's sentencing memorandum details how Prince...

A Bexar County grand jury on Feb. 2 issued four indictments of Michael Paul Harney on theft charges stemming from the sale of allegedly fraudulent promissory notes to four investors, three of whom are elderly. Harney sold the securities through his company, Texas Senior Association of San Antonio...

Alan Nelson and Mary Alice Monteza of San Antonio on Jan. 9 pleaded no contest to first-degree aggravated theft in Bexar County state District Court. The pair raised about $850,000 from investors who thought their money was going into foreign high-yield investments. No investments were made. Bexar...

Dennis Woods Bowden was convicted Dec. 21 on four counts of securities fraud and five counts of mail fraud for his role in the AmeriFirst companies of Dallas, which sold $50 million worth of fraudulent debt obligations to more than 500 investors. Bowden faces sentencing in U.S. District Court in...

William Erik Byrne of Corpus Christi on Nov. 14 signed a Judicial Confession and Stipulation in the 117th state District Court in Nueces County, admitting he sold $389,000 in investment contracts and promissory notes without being registered to do so. Byrne acted as an unregistered adviser when he...