Ponzi Man Looking at Eight Years in Stir

DALLAS (CN) - A Texan admitted he used an $11.8 million Ponzi scheme in phony oil and gas interests to buy himself two Lamborghinis, a Ferrari, a Rolls-Royce, and then some.

Brian J. Polito, 34, of Allen, pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal information charging him with mail fraud. He owned and operated GC Resources LLC, a Dallas-based firm that cold-called potential investors.

Polito faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. If approved, his plea agreement caps his maximum sentence at 8 years.

Prosecutors have recovered more than $664,000 for investors by selling Polito's cars, including a 2014 Rolls-Royce Wraith, a 2015 McLaren 650S Coupe, a 2014 Lamborghini, a Lamborghini Aventador Anniversary Coupe, a 2015 BMW M4 Coupe, a 2014 Mercedes E63 Wagon and a 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale.

Polito pleaded guilty one month after the SEC sued him and his company in Federal Court.

Polito in 2011 began selling interests in wells that his company neither owned nor controlled, prosecutors said Friday.

"As part of the scheme, Polito researched'"Company A' on the Texas Railroad Commission's website and determined that Company A's wells were producing," prosecutors said in a statement. "Polito then identified Company A's drilling permits for wells that were going to be drilled in the future. Through GC Resources, Polito began soliciting investments into Company A's projects even though GC Resources had no control or interest in the wells."

The Railroad Commission regulates the oil and gas drilling industry in Texas.

Polito gave investors a fraudulent contract between Company A and GC Resources, created with Adobe Photoshop, to forge Company A's signatures, prosecutors said.

"Over the course of the scheme, Polito raised multiple millions from victim investors, all of which was used to fund a lavish lifestyle," prosecutors said.

Polito took his victims to actual well sites when asked, and gave them Railroad Commission production records he got from the agency's website.

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