SEC Charges Texas Entities Over Oil and Gas Fraud

Posted on January 19th, 2022 at 12:50 PM
SEC Charges Texas Entities Over Oil and Gas Fraud

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged The Heartland Group Ventures, Heartland Production and Recovery, six other Heartland-affiliated entities, four Heartland-affiliated individuals as well as several oil and gas operators. 

The SEC’s charges pertain to five fraudulent and unregistered oil and gas offerings. According to the complaint, the Heartland-affiliated entities fraudulently generated at least $122 million since October 2019 from nearly 700 investors through the five unregistered securities. The funds purportedly were raised to drill new oil wells in Texas. However, the Heartland-affiliates spent only around half of the investor funds on the oil and gas projects, which raised less than $500,000 in revenue, according to the SEC. 

By late 2019, the Heartland-affiliates utilized $26 million of investor funds to make Ponzi-style payments to earlier investors while the affiliates regularly misrepresented the status of the oil and gas projects. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has already issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and asset freeze against the defendants and their entities. 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, oil fraud, gas fraud, fraud

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next

That is just fantastic! Thank you very much!

Julie N.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

December 4, 2025
Webull Faces Scrutiny After Alleged Account Breach and Penny Stock Manipulation

An emerging investigation into Webull Financial centers on allegations that an unauthorized third party infiltrated the firm’s security systems, accessed customer brokerage accounts, liquidated existing holdings, and used the proceeds to purchase shares of Ten-League International Holdings Ltd.

December 3, 2025
FINRA Sanctions Former Morgan Stanley Broker Over Unauthorized Transfers

A longtime Morgan Stanley financial advisor agreed to a $5,000 fine and a two-month suspension after FINRA found that he executed multiple transfers from his former spouse’s retirement account without proper authorization, as reported by AdvisorHub.

December 2, 2025
Crypto's Leverage Shakeout Exposes Structural Risks

The crypto market’s recent downturn erased nearly $20 billion in leveraged positions within hours and half a trillion dollars in market value over a single weekend.