Enforcement Actions: Criminal & Civil

Sami A. London , also known as Sami Asifali Mahomed, pleaded guilty Sept. 11 to one count of securities fraud in Tom Green County state District Court. London was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication and ordered to pay a total of $202,000 in restitution to five victims.

London...

A U.S. District Court jury in Dallas on Sept. 4 convicted David Kevin Lewis , also known as “David Shane Lewis” and “DW,” on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 23 counts of securities fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20.

Lewis, who in 2000 was convicted of...

Kenneth Paul Lawrence of Allen was convicted July 19 on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity related to his role in raising money for a purported biodiesel plant in Hunt County. Lawrence was sentenced the week of July 22 to five years on the money laundering...

Robbie Dale Walker of Dripping Springs was sentenced to 25 years in state prison on April 9 for stealing money from two elderly women in Hays County. Walker told the women they could earn annual returns of at least 15% from oil and gas projects in North Dakota. The projects did not exist, and...

Daniel Christopher Walsh of Houston was indicted April 3 in Wichita County on charges of theft, money laundering, and securing execution of a document by deception for allegedly stealing from investors who thought their funds would be used to pay for oil well drilling projects in Galveston...

Robert Roland Langguth was sentenced to four years in federal prison on March 21 for operating a real estate fraud in Central Texas.

Langguth had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in perpetrating a fraud that cost investors at least $7 million....

Howard Glen Judah and Gregory F. Jablonski were each sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Feb. 20 for operating a nearly $30 million fraud based on the death benefits from life insurance policies.

Judah and Jablonski were sentenced in Harris County state District Court. Judah and...

Tony Anthony Cruz Jr ., who sold fraudulent promissory notes issued by his company, The Wealth Building Club of San Antonio, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and was sentenced Jan. 31 to five years' probation on each count and ordered to pay restitution of $1.1 million.

Cruz...

Arturo Gonzalez Salinas of McAllen was indicted Dec. 19 in Hidalgo County on charges of theft, securities fraud, and securing the execution of a document by deception.

Salinas was indicted in connection with his sale of interests in a company that said it would build a hospital in...

Norma Eltringham , a bookkeeper and tax preparer in Abilene, pleaded no contest Nov.29 to a charge of aggregate theft and was ordered to pay $67,792 in restitution to investors in an oil-related startup.

The sentence, issued in the 104th state District Court in Taylor County, includes...

Eddie Lacy Stivers III was arrested Nov. 9 in Hood County, five days after being indicted for allegedly selling fraudulent stock and promissory notes.

The securities promised ownership and a share of future profits in companies called Patriot Insurance Co., Patriot Holding Co., and...

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...