Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Attorney Kelly Gordon Rogers Indicted for Stealing $3.0 Million from Investors



Law360, New York (May 14, 2012, 9:50 PM ET) -- A Dallas-area attorney has been indicted for allegedly stealing $2.8 million from investors in his oil and gas scheme and for failing to tell them he had been the target of suits accusing him of federal and state securities violations.

In a grand jury indictment filed May 1 in state court, Kelly Gordon Rogers, of Frisco, Texas, is charged with theft, money laundering and securities fraud in connection with the investment shares in Falcon Energy LLC he sold to investors between August 2007 and October 2011.

Kelly G Rogers used the funds — which include a $950,000 investment from Oklahoma City-based oil land leasing company Basin Management Group Inc. — for other purposes and disposed of the money “in a manner that made recovery of said property by said owners unlikely,” according to the indictment.

He never told investors that he had been sued in February 2007 in Texas for alleged violations of federal and state securities laws, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with his sales of investments in a Louisiana oil and gas venture, the indictment says.

Prosecutors say Rogers also failed to disclose that he was one of the defendants named in a July 2007 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit against Global Finance & Investments Inc. over a $9.9 million Ponzi scheme that preyed upon over 100 investors nationwide.

Kelly G Rogers was one of the alleged facilitators of Global Finance company head Charles Davis, according to the SEC. According to the suit, he created similar investment offerings and passed funds on to Davis.

Kelly G Rogers also solicited investors through Level Par Investments LLC, claiming to do trade in bank debentures, the government alleged.

Shortly after the suit was filed, Rogers settled with the SEC by agreeing to disgorgement of $100,000 and a civil penalty of $50,000. He was also enjoined from future violations of federal securities law.

Representatives for prosecutors and for Rogers could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Counsel information for Kelly G Rogers was not immediately available.

The case is Texas v. Rogers, case number 380-81033-2012, in the 219th District Court for CollinCounty, Texas.

--Editing by Elizabeth Bowen.