Once upon a time a good way to commit oil patch theft was to back a truck up to the tank battery in the middle of the night, fill ‘er up, and drive off into the darkness. In re: Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC shows...more
Antero Resources Corp. v. C & R Downhole Drilling, Inc. et al, proves again the extreme risk when one bites the hand that feeds him (shoutout to Greek poet Sappho, 600 BCE). Antero sued former employee Kawsak and his...more
Tips on litigation avoidance: Not making promises you don’t intend to keep is easy enough. Stating a fact or making a promise and things change, you could be a fraudster if you don’t come clean before closing....more
With it being Lent and all, we ask, are this year’s Ferrymen of the River Styx using these 40 days to turn from wickedness and find their way to repentence? Who knows, but we do know that as alternative energy rises, so do...more
3/7/2023
/ Bribery ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Infrastructure ,
Money Laundering ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Securities Fraud ,
Wind Power ,
Wire Fraud
In May et al v. Succession of Mayo Romero et al a Louisiana court of appeal denied the plaintiff’s efforts to suspend the running of liberative prescription in the face of peremptory exceptions. The discovery rule is one...more
To our bad guys, 2019 was a year flush with hope and opportunity; it ended with recidivism, more misery from Venezuela, a charlatan, an Okie who pulled a multi-million dollar fast-one on Chesapeake and, as in years past, a...more
1/16/2020
/ Annuities ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Bribery ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Felonies ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Forfeiture ,
Fraud ,
HSBC ,
Identity Theft ,
Investment Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Money Laundering ,
Oil & Gas ,
Plea Agreements ,
Restitution ,
Securities Act ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Theft ,
Venezuela ,
Wastewater ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
The 2019 Texas legislature enacted a new Property Code Section 5.152 to protect mineral and royalty owners from a certain species of fraudulent transactions perpetrated on trusting and/or naïve and/or out of state mineral...more
11/5/2019
/ Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Terms ,
Fraud ,
Fraudulent Conveyance ,
Future Royalties ,
Gas Royalties ,
Land Titles ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Property Owners ,
Scams ,
Transfer of Interest
In January I commented on the partnership that wasn’t and the lawyer whose actions give the rest of us a bad name. That was Stephens et al. v. Three Finger Black Shale Partnership et al. The court of appeal has substituted...more
In Barrow-Shaver Resources Company v. Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc the Supreme Court of Texas has held again, here in a consent-to-assign dispute, that a contract means what the words say, even if in negotiations a landman said...more
The ruling from the Supreme Court of Texas in JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., et al v. Orca Assets, G.P., L.L.C. was foreseeable. Experienced energy professionals who pass on the opportunity to examine title for themselves are...more
Once again we look back at the continuing cavalcade of crooks, criminals, miscreants and, to put it kindly, morons the less intellectually gifted, who met justice face-to-face in 2017. This year’s class includes a preacher,...more
1/2/2018
/ Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Energy Sector ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Fraud ,
Mail Fraud ,
Mexico ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Leases ,
Money Laundering ,
Nigeria ,
Oil & Gas ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Power Plants ,
Renewable Energy ,
Scams ,
Securities Fraud ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Fraud ,
Well Drilling ,
Wire Fraud
We recently discussed Freeman v. Harleton. The opinion shows the transaction as a bunco job. Here’s more:
Bufkin and Wayne Freeman have done business together since the 1980s. They had a co-development agreement with...more
You are selling properties. The buyer thinks you own the deep rights but you know your long-time partner owns them. You attend the closing. You don’t tell the buyer that he’s got the ownership wrong. You are protected by a...more
Let’s look back at a cavalcade of crooks, criminals and miscreants who met up with justice in 2016. We do it to be reminded of the others who will be lurking in the 2017 shadows....more
1/6/2017
/ Biofuel ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Hackers ,
Mail Fraud ,
Oil & Gas ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations ,
Tax Fraud ,
Wire Fraud
A Quiz -
You are in Louisiana and are described as having a “lesion beyond moiety”. What do you do?
A. Contact your primary care physician for an appointment...more
Vestiges of the early Haynesville Shale land rush remain.
Imagine: The lease is about to expire. Lessee (Mecom) offers lessor (Henderson) $90 per acre for an extension, telling him, “I could extend for two more years...more
The prospect generator’s worst nightmare is presented in Southwestern Energy Production Co. v. Berry-Helfand and Muncey. I will over-simplify the facts: Hefland and Muncey toil for years generating James Lime prospects in a...more