$13 Million Oil Scam Alleged in Texas

DALLAS (CN) - Giant Operating LLC, a purported oil company, defrauded 150 people of more than $13 million, the SEC says in Federal Court. The agency says George Wesley Harris, 37, of Mansfield, Texas, ran the scam in unregistered "oil-and-gas securities offerings."

Harris hired a sales team "to make unsolicited telephone calls to prospective investors," and send out glossy brochures showing an "investment calculator" showing that investors "would receive a 100% return on the investment 'within 12 months,'" the SEC says.

Harris failed to tell investors that Giant Operating "has never operated a profitable oil-and-gas program," according to the complaint.

Harris spent millions of dollars on other companies he owned, paid his salesmen 10 percent commissions on sales, and spent a lot on himself, the SEC says.

The agency also sued Stephen Christopher Plunkett, 33, of Grand Prairie, Texas; Giant Petroleum, of Irving; and DSSC Operating, also of Irving, as relief defendants.

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