Oil Hucksters Targeted Elderly, SEC Says

WICHITA (CN) - The four men who ran Delta Onshore Management targeted elderly people in a $6.8 million oil and gas leasing fraud, the SEC claims in Federal Court.

Half of the defendants' victims were 60 years old or older, the SEC says. The defendants promised 25% to 36% annual returns and said they had drilling rigs "ready to go to work," but did not even have any drilling rigs, the SEC says.

Delta Onshore is based in Ponca, Okla. The defendants paid themselves "exorbitant fees" from their cold-call scam, the SEC says.

The SEC also sued Delta president Jerry P. Jackson, 62, of Wichita; Peter J. Brooks, 64, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Daniel Cohen, 33, of Calabasas, Calif., a securities recidivist; and Jason Hertz, 35, of Tarzana, Calif. The SEC also sued Onshore Leasing and PJB Enterprises, as relief defendants.

This case is an offshoot of SEC v Michael J. McNaul II, pending in this court.

"Both cases involve nationwide securities offering frauds that raised millions of dollars through the use of purported oil-can-gas equipment-leasing joint ventures structured to evade the securities laws," according to the complaint.

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