Texas Securities Scam Allegedly Bilked Investors of $4.4M

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit accusing Mieka Energy Corporation of Texas Securities Fraud. The oil and gas company and Daro Ray Blankenship, its president and founder, allegedly defrauded at least 60 investors located in different states of about $4.4 million. The regulator is also charging Vadda Energy Corporation, the publicly traded parent company of Mieka, of fraud and reporting violations, including deceptively promoting Mieka’s investments as a successful venture.

The scam is said to have taken place between 2010 and 2011, when investors were purportedly fooled into investing funds that were supposed to purchase energy-related investments while making big returns on other investments. The SEC said that Blankenship and Mieka engaged in boiler room cold calling to market these investments related to drilling, production, and oil and gas exploration.

To get around federal securities regulations, Mieka and Blankenship called their securities offering a “joint venture” and said that the investment interests were not securities, when really, under federal securities law, they were. The regulator said that Blankenship took all of the offering proceeds and spent the money on unrelated projects and expenses. He then used deceptive updates and misleading public filings to mislead investors.

Mieka salesmen Stephen Romo and Robert Myers are accused of taking part in the scam by selling and marketing the joint venture offerings to the public and receiving about $190,000 in commissions. The SEC has charged them with acting as unregistered brokers.

The Commission wants permanent injunctions against everyone, as well as penalties, disgoregement, and prejudgment interest. It is seeking to permanently bar Blankenship from serving as a director and officer of a public company.

Our Texas securities fraud lawyers are here to help investors get their money back.

SEC Charges Texas Oil Company and Its Founder with Securities Fraud, SEC, April 10, 2015

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