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...

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...

William Paul Hudson of Plano was indicted Oct. 13 on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, money laundering, theft, and securities fraud in connection with the proposed development of oil and gas wells in Gonzales County, east of San Antonio.

The indictment was issued by a...

John F. Langford of Amarillo was sentenced to 15 years in state prison after pleading guilty in August to 15 counts of securities fraud and related charges.

Langford was indicted in 2009 for selling fraudulent and unregistered products such as "private annuities" and promissory notes...

William Anthony "Tony" Rand and two of his sons – Gregory K. Rand and William N. Rand – were sentenced on July 27 to federal prison terms for defrauding investors in an oil and gas scheme.

In U.S. District Court in Dallas, Tony Rand was sentenced to 5 years, 5 months; Gregory Rand and...

Ramiro Lugo Amaya of Corpus Christi was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for selling unregistered securities, but received a suspended sentence.

Amaya was placed on 10 years' probation and ordered to pay $157,345 in restitution.

The Order of Deferred Adjudication was...

Five executives and salesmen who worked for A&O Resource Management Ltd. , a Houston-based life settlement company, were sentenced to federal prison terms on July 22.

A&O stole at least $100 million from approximately 800 investors, many of them elderly. Investors thought they...