Enforcement Actions Criminal Civil

On October 29, 2021, Derrick R. Trussell (CRD No. 5197550) entered a plea of no contest to securities fraud, securing execution of a document by deception and misapplication of fiduciary property in Cause No. 2019-CR-5767B, in the 175th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, Texas. Trussell was...

The Texas State Securities Board is warning investors in Rare Earth Exploration LLC about a fake financial settlement scam involving the Gordon Black & Associates Law Firm and International Corporate Entity Inc. Scammers claiming to be employees of Gordon Black & Associates are contacting investors...

On October 15, 2021, a grand jury sitting in Lee County, Texas, indicted Larry Steve Bassett for first-degree securities fraud, theft and money laundering. The charges relate to his alleged unlawful sale of investments in a trading program to 15 victims for approximately $1.5M. Bassett is accused of...

Mejdi Mahmoud Abousaoui was sentenced to serve 25 years in state prison after pleading guilty to first-degree securities fraud. Abousaoui paid $210,454.70 in up-front restitution and was ordered to pay the remaining balance of $2,803,271.56 of outstanding restitution. Abousaoui was prosecuted in the...

Joseph Seth Foster, a former licensed agent from Lubbock, was convicted for operating a fraudulent oil and gas scheme. On July 29th, he was sentenced to serve two 11-year prison terms in state prison for each charge of securities fraud and theft. The sentences will run concurrently. The evidence...

Bradley Sherman Haycraft, 48, was indicted by a grand jury in Collin County. He was charged with illegally selling investments in the Petrified Forest Prospect, a helium well project in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. He was recently arrested on the charges. The Securities...

On June 8, 2021, Richard Gregory Tilford, from Arlington, was sentenced to serve 40 years in state prison for engaging in a fraudulent digital marketing investment scheme. He was also sentenced to serve 10 years in prison for each of six counts of selling unregistered securities and 10 years in...

A federal judge sentenced 45-year-old Christopher Matthew Meredith of Shawnee, Kansas to 14 years in federal prison today for his scheme to defraud investors of more than $6.8 million. Department of Justice Press Release

Carl William Pollock was indicted by a Travis County Grand Jury and charged with securities fraud, theft and money laundering in connection with a scheme to raise capital for Austin-based healthcare companies. The charges are first degree felony offenses, meaning Pollock faces up to 99 years or life...

On April 7, 2021, a federal grand jury sitting in the Western District of Texas handed up a now unsealed indictment against Juan Enrique Kramer, Adriana Pastor, Noel Olguin and Karina Hernandez. The indictment alleges Kramer and Pastor, his wife, promoted turnkey investments tied to Las Quesadillas...