Lawyer Indicted for Texas Oil and Gas Fraud

DALLAS (CN) - A North Texas attorney swindled $2.8 million from investors in a pair of oil and gas investment schemes, prosecutors say.

Kelly Gordon Rogers, of Frisco, was indicted in Collin County District Court this month on two counts of money laundering, two counts of aggravated theft and one court of securities fraud.

From August 2007 to February 2009, Rogers raised the money from more than 20 individual and institutional investors, including $950,000 from Oklahoma City-based Basin Management Group, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors say Rogers failed to disclose several lawsuits from his previous oil and gas dealings, which is required by law.

In February 2007, he was sued in Dallas County District Court and accused of breaking state and federal securities laws regarding the sale of oil and gas interests in the Vinton Dome in Louisiana, prosecutors say.

Five months later, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a federal complaint federal complaint in Sherman, accusing Rogers of soliciting 35 investors by representing that his bank debenture investment through Frisco-based Level Par Investments was secure and paid weekly returns of 25 percent. The SEC said it was a sham and investor money was put to personal use by the promoters.

A subsequent settlement permanently restrained and enjoined Rogers from breaking federal securities laws, and required him to pay $100,000 in disgorgement and $50,000 in civil penalties.

Rogers also failed to disclose to investors his role in the misappropriation of investor money from his venture Falcon Energy, and failed to disclose a 2009 bankruptcy filing where he listed debts of $2 million, according to the Texas State Securities Board.

The board says Rogers will stand trial in June in Collin County District Court for misapplication of fiduciary property regarding yet another energy venture.

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