FORT LAUDERDALE – The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida claiming two men helped raise millions of dollars by selling unregistered securities to hundreds of investors in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.
In its lawsuit filed Aug. 13, the SEC claimed the men, Alexander Charles White and Paul Douglas Vandivier, “solicited investors and managed other sales agents who solicited and raised money from investors in unregistered, fraudulent securities offerings conducted by Aegis Oil LLC and 7S Oil & Gas LLC.”
The SEC also claimed neither man had security licenses during the time of the transactions, October 2012 to January 2016. It also added they weren’t registered members with the SEC, and they weren’t connected to brokers who were registered and weren't entitled to an exemption. Nneither White and Vandivier were legally allowed to sell the securities, the SEC claimed.
The suit alleges Aegis and 7S provided and sold unregistered securities via joint venture units in oil and gas projects in Texas. By using agents that included White and Vandivier, Aegis brought in $35 million from 250 investors, and 7S brought in $7 million from 70 investors. As a result, White made more than $7 million in commissions, sharing some of the funds with his sales agents and keeping the rest, the SEC said in the suit. As for Vandivier, the SEC said he got $900,000 in commissions, sharing some of it with his sales agent.
The SEC said this type of illegal activity violates Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933.
The suit asks the district court to enjoin the men, their agents, employees, attorneys and representatives from continuing the same behavior through a permanent injunction. The suit also seeks disgorgement of all of the “ill-gotten gains.”
The SEC also asked the court to order the defendants to pay a civil penalty for allegedly violating the regulations.