Heartland Affiliates Reportedly Charged with Defrauding 700 Investors in Ponzi-like Scheme

According to an SEC Complaint filed December 1, 2021, the regulator has reportedly charged The Heartland Group Ventures, LLC, Heartland Production and Recovery LLC, six other Heartland-affiliated entities and five individuals with five allegedly fraudulent, unregistered oil and gas offerings totaling over $122 million.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas reportedly issued a temporary restraining order against all of the defendants and relief defendants and an asset freeze on December 2, 2021.

According to the SEC’s complaint, since October 2018, the Heartland Defendants have allegedly fraudulently raised approximately $122 million from more than 700 investors nationwide, purportedly for working over existing wells or drilling new wells in Texas, through five allegedly unregistered securities offerings-three debt funds and two equity funds.

The SEC alleges that the Heartland-affiliated Defendants spent only about half of the investor funds they raised on oil and gas projects. The Heartland-affiliated Defendants purportedly used investor monies to make more than $26 million in Ponzi-like payments to debt fund investors, and allegedly made material misrepresentations and omissions to investors regarding the oil and gas projects.

The Heartland-affiliated Defendants allegedly sent a total of more than $54 million of Heartland investors’ money to Other Defendants for oil and gas projects. The Other Defendants purportedly made material misrepresentations about the existing and potential production of wells, and used millions of dollars in Heartland investor funds to purchase a private jet, a helicopter, real estate in the Bahamas, and on other non-oil and gas expenditures for themselves, according to the SEC’s complaint.

The SEC’s complaint seeks injunctions against future securities law violations, disgorgement of the defendants’ ill-gotten gains, civil penalties, and officer and director bars.

The foregoing information is all set forth in the SEC complaint and at this point remain allegations only.

Potential Lawsuits to Recover Financial Losses

The White Law Group is investigating potential securities claims involving the following Heartland offerings, among others:

The Heartland Group Ventures, LLC,
Heartland Production and Recovery LLC,
Heartland Production and Recovery Fund LLC,
Heartland Production and Recovery Fund II LLC,
The Heartland Group Fund III, LLC,
Heartland Drilling Fund I, LP,
Carson Oil Field Development Fund II, LP

If you have suffered losses investing in Heartland Group Ventures offerings, the securities attorneys at The White Law Group may be able to help you. Please call the offices at (888)637-5510 for a free consultation. 
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.