Enforcement Actions: Criminal & Civil

Three defendants in the wide-ranging AmeriFirst companies' fraud were sentenced to federal prison on July 20 in U.S. District Court in Dallas.

Dennis Woods Bowden of Farmers Branch, the chief operations officer of AmeriFirst, was sentenced to 16 years in prison and ordered to pay $23...

Robert Joseph Mangiafico Jr. of Dallas was indicted June 19 on a charge of tampering with a government record.

The indictment is related to the March 2011 indictment of Mangiafico on charges of theft, money laundering, and engaging in organized criminal activity. Mangiafico and a...

A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 5 indicted three North Texas men on securities fraud and other charges related to an oil and gas scheme.

Bruce Kyle Griffith of Dallas, David Kevin Lewis (a/k/a David Shane Lewis) of Rockwall, and...

Mary Alice Monteza and Alan Keith Nelsen of San Antonio were sentenced to state prison terms on April 24 and April 2, respectively, after being convicted on charges related to a fraudulent overseas trading investment.

Monteza and Nelsen created a company called Castro International,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Brothers sued brothers Rodney Wagner and Roger Wagner of Grand Prairie for operating a fraudulent foreign exchange (forex) Ponzi scheme.

The civil suit, filed Nov. 1 in U.S. District Court in Dallas, alleges the brothers raised $5.5...

Richard M. Plato of Baytown was indicted Oct. 26 in U.S. District Court in Houston on charges of mail and wire fraud and securities fraud.

Also charged were a business partner, Michael Derek Walker , and Tammy Renee Norris , described in the indictment as Plato's mistress.

Plato...

Carl Tinsley Ratner of Trophy Club, northwest of Dallas, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Sept. 28 after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his sale of fraudulent oil and gas interests.

Ratner was one of five men indicted for their participation in Mack Diamond...