Enforcement Actions: Criminal & Civil

Richard M. Plato , a disbarred lawyer with three prior criminal convictions, was convicted Sept. 24 in U.S. District Court in Houston on five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy related to an oil and gas scam.

Plato owned Momentum Production Corp. in Baytown, which sold...

John Arthur Mertens of Austin, who allegedly defrauded investors in a trading scheme, was indicted Aug. 9 in Bexar County district court on one count of securities fraud and one count of fiduciary misapplication.

According to the indictment, Mertens misrepresented to investors that he...

Fred Howard was sentenced to five years in federal prison on July 18 after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud in U.S. District Court in Dallas.

Howard, a Florida resident at the time of his crime, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after prison and...

Kelly Gordon Rogers was indicted June 19 on a charge of money laundering related to bank loans he received.

The indictment, issued by a Collin County grand jury, stemmed from the investigation into two other pending criminal cases against Rogers.

Rogers was indicted May 1 on...

Kelly Gordon Rogers , an attorney in Frisco, was indicted May 1 in Collin County state District Court on two counts of aggregated theft, two counts of money laundering, and one count of securities fraud.

The charges stem from Rogers' alleged theft of $2.8 million from investors in two...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Michael Wallens Jr. of Plano was sentenced Nov. 9 to five years in federal prison for the sale of fraudulent promissory notes.

Wallens in 2010 pleaded guilty to count of securities fraud in U.S. District Court in Dallas, as did his father, Michael Wallens Sr.

The Wallenses and...

Fred Howard was indicted Nov. 1 in U.S. District Court in Dallas for federal securities fraud.

Howard, a Florida resident at the time of the alleged crime, sold partnership interests in Secured Capital Trust Ltd. of Florida.

According to the indictment, Howard bought shares in...