Enforcement Actions Criminal Civil

Nicholas Baratoff Jr., a resident of the coastal village of Sea Cliff, N.Y., near New York City, paid $360,000 in restitution on Sept. 6 to an elderly Corpus Christi woman who invested in projects that were supposedly operated by a company with the French name of La Licorne SA. In English, it means...

Jeffrey Ray Filla of Richmond on July 6 was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication and ordered to pay $807,054 in restitution to investors in his commodities trading program. Filla pleaded guilty to misapplication of fiduciary property in Fort Bend County District Court. He was indicted in...

Arthur P. Wilson of Addison, who sold approximately $400,000 in fraudulent investments in non-existent oil and gas drilling projects, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to eight years in state prison on June 29 in Collin County State District Court. Wilson, the founder and owner of...

Timothy Eugene White of San Angelo was charged with seven counts of theft on June 29 in the 340th District Court of Tom Green County for allegedly stealing at least $517,000 through the sale of investment units in a private sports games company. White was arrested in late July in Tom Green County...

Lawrence Allen DeShetler, an investment adviser and former certified financial planner in The Woodlands, pleaded guilty to mail fraud June 8 in U.S. District Court in Beaumont. DeShetler fraudulently obtained $1.9 million from five clients of his advisory business, DeShetler & Company Inc. He faces...

Alan Derek Jernigan was sentenced May 22 to 10 years probation, a condition of which was full restitution of $340,960 to five investors in a fraudulent scheme involving the sale of medical kits overseas. Jernigan lived in the Houston area when he sold investments in deals that would purportedly...

Juan Miguel López, the owner of Mito Financial LLC in Addison and affiliated companies, was arrested May 10 and faces charges of securities fraud, theft of property, and money laundering for allegedly defrauding individuals who invested millions of dollars in his companies. López had been indicted...

Allan George Cooper of Montgomery was convicted May 5 on charges of mail and wire fraud in connection with a $50 million investment scheme involving approximately 50 victims. Cooper pleaded guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Sentencing is scheduled for...

Former entertainment promoter David Elliott Rosen of Austin was sentenced to 10 years to prison on May 4 for for a nearly $2 million fraud based on the sale of investments in his concert-promotion business. Rosen pleaded guilty to securities fraud in Travis County State District Court. He was...

Robert Allen Helms and Janniece S. Kaelin pleaded guilty April 11 to federal charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and mail fraud for swindling investors in companies that were supposedly purchasing oil and gas royalties. Helms and Kaelin pleaded guilty before U.S...