James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

CATTLEMAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN SIX YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR RUNNING INVESTMENT SCHEME

Oscar Black Also Ordered to Pay Nearly $10 Million in Restitution

DALLAS — Oscar Black, 58, of Weatherford, Texas, who owned and operated OB Cattle, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 75 months in prison and ordered to pay $9,669,697.49 in restitution, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Black pled guilty in May 2008 to an Information charging one count of mail fraud. Judge Lindsay ordered that Black surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 19, 2009.

According to documents filed in Court, Black offered investment opportunities to his acquaintances and guaranteed investors a 12% annual rate of return. Initially, Black deposited investors’ money into a bank account, but he eventually discovered that he couldn’t deliver the guaranteed rate of return without placing investors’ money in riskier ventures.

Black began using investors’ money to pay expenses and provide capital for OB Cattle. Initially, he was able to meet his obligations to investors with profits from OB Cattle, but eventually OB Cattle began losing money and he wasn’t able to satisfy his financial obligations to investors. He knew if he advised his investors that they were losing money, they wouldn’t invest any more money with him and would withdraw their funds. So, to discourage them, Black falsely represented to them that their investments had appreciated, when in fact, he had used their money to pay expenses for his depreciating cattle business, OB Cattle. To further his scheme, Black even fraudulently mailed investors fictitious monthly account statements that falsely represented that their investments were appreciating. All of Black’s false promises, representations and omissions were intended to deceive investors so that he could keep their money and to use it to pay his business expenses.

Mr. Jacks praised the investigative efforts of the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay S. Weimer prosecuted the case.

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