News Releases

Oil and gas investments are highly speculative, complex in their financial structure, and full of jargon that’s nearly impossible for a layperson to understand. For investors whose primary goal is saving for retirement, oil and gas offerings can carry significant risks. In the past four months, the...

The following are summaries of administrative actions the Texas State Securities Board took from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2019: TMTE Inc. AKA Metals.com AKA Chase Metals LLC: Rescission Offer Metals.com, a firm accused of convincing older Texans to liquidate securities held with registered...

Jason A. Gilbert, the CEO of a New York-based energy company who last year was ordered to stop an offering of unregistered investments in a multi-million-dollar oil and gas project, has made a full rescission offer to investors. Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles last week entered an...

Texas and Kentucky securities regulators entered emergency orders on Sept. 16 to stop the offering of unregistered investments in an oil-drilling program in Southern Illinois that promises to produce oil wells with a minimum return of 100% within two years and monthly income for 20 years. According...

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) on Sept. 10 released its annual enforcement report, which shows state securities regulators were responsible for more than $1 billion in monetary relief ordered as a result of state enforcement actions in 2018. In its 2019 Enforcement...

Jeremy “JB” Yowell, an unregistered investment promoter for Fort Worth-based Woodland Resources LLC, is cooperating with the Enforcement Division of the State Securities Board in its investigation of the company and its director of operations, longtime oilman Michael E. Patman. Yowell’s cooperation...

Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles on Aug. 6 entered the fourth emergency action against a cryptocurrency investment promoter since the State Securities Board started a second investigative sweep of suspect cryptocurrency offerings in late June. According to the Emergency Cease and Desist...

Lubbock investment adviser Lowell & Company Inc. paid a $40,000 fine to the State of Texas for failing to supervise a representative who nearly wiped out the assets in two client accounts by holding onto an exchange-traded fund designed for short-term trading. Besides the fine, the Aug. 2...

An Australian company that guaranteed returns of up to 200% on investments in cryptocurrency mining is refunding money to Texas investors and admitting it illegally sold unregistered securities. Under the Order entered Aug. 2 by Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles, AWS Mining PTY, based in...

Update: On July 22 the North American Securities Administrators Association issued an Investor Advisory on Opportunity Zone Investments. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have issued a summary that explains the...