Oil fraud lands Richardson businessman 30 years
The chairman of an oil and gas promotions company was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday on charges he defrauded investors out of millions of dollars.
David Lewis, chairman of Always Consulting Inc. in Richardson, was found guilty by a federal judge in September on multiple counts of securities fraud after a federal investigation into one of Lewis’s oil and gas projects in Oklahoma, including lands controlled by the Osage Nation.
The 52-year-old Lewis was accused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of making false statements to investors and using their funds to prop up the company. Investors were drawn in through cold calls and scripted pitches, according to a press release from federal prosecutors.
Sales people even were handed “do not call” lists with the numbers of persons suspected of being undercover federal agents. The company’s CEO Bruce Griffith was falsely described as getting his start in the oil business flying oil executives abroad in the 1980s.
In addition to his prison sentence, Lewis has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
More at http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/oil-fraud-lands-richardson-businessman-30-years.html/ .
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