Enforcement Actions: Criminal & Civil

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...

William June Fletcher Jr. of Plano was sentenced to 25 years in state prison on June 20 for stealing money from investors in his oil and gas scheme.

The sentence in Collin County state district court resulted from Fletcher's convictions on charges of theft and securities fraud.

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Kevin Dennis Hays of Euless on June 8 pleaded guilty to selling unregistered securities in connection with an investment scheme perpetrated by Mack Diamond Energy LLC of Hunt County.

The 196th state District Court in Hunt County placed Hays on community supervision for one year and...

Ray M. White was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on May 24 and ordered to pay $9.4 million in restitution.

White, a North Texas resident, had pleaded guilty to one count of commodities fraud in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

According to the...

Patricia Ann Noble on April 7 pleaded guilty to securities fraud for lying about the purchase of stock and stock options for investors in her firm, Noble Funds Asset Management of Denton.

The 362nd state District Court in Denton County deferred adjudication of Noble's guilt and ordered...

A Collin County grand jury on March 31 indicted Thomas Earl Grimshaw and Robert Joseph Mangiafico on charges of theft, money laundering, and engaging in organized criminal activity.

Grimshaw, of Frisco, and Mangiafico, who is currently detained in the Collin County jail, did business as...

Jack Russell Gilvin of Amarillo pleaded guilty March 30 to one charge of selling unregistered securities in connection with interests in oil and gas projects in Ohio.

The case was brought by the Potter County District Attorney's Office, based on an investigation by the State Securities...