Dallas Man Pleads Guilty in $27M Oil & Gas, Water Rights Fraud

A Dallas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding investors out of more than $27 million in various oil and gas and water rights scams, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Dennis James Rogers, II, 35, originally of Las Cruces, NM, was charged via felony information. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud.

“This defendant lined his own pockets at the expense of would-be investors, lying and cheating his way to a life of luxury,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “Today’s plea is a step towards justice for his victims.”

“Investment and securities scams result in high volumes of complaints and high loss amounts to victims, and also undermine the integrity of our financial markets at-large,” said Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough. “The FBI is committed to investigating criminal activity that is designed to defraud unsuspecting individuals and will continue to dedicate substantial resources to investigating ever-evolving fraud schemes like those perpetrated by the defendant.”

According to plea papers, in August 2019, Mr. Rogers successfully solicited $10 million from an investor, purportedly so that his company, Oregon Mountain Trading Company, could purchase fuel. The investor, identified in court documents by the initials J.I., handed over the funds after the pair agreed he would receive a fifty percent return on investment. Instead of purchasing fuel as promised, Mr. Rogers diverted the funds to a private jet service, a custom home builder, a law firm, an investment account, business entities, credit card companies, and other personal expenditures.

Ten months later,  Mr. Rogers solicited $4.1 million and $2.1 million from investors S.W. and D.W., respectively. He told the investors that a large international fuel company was exiting its stock position in Brownsville, Texas and planned to dispose of its fuel via an exclusive, invitation-only auction. (In reality, the company never held an auction and had no relationship with Mr. Rogers.) Instead of purchasing fuel at auction, Mr. Rogers diverted the money to fund an unrelated investment account, purchase real estate, and pay personal expenses.

Mr. Rogers also successfully collected $11 million in investments for a purported water rights deal associated with a dairy farm in New Mexico. In furtherance of the scheme, he held a call with an investor and an alleged member of the dairy farmer family. He also told investors he had an account worth $5 million that could be used as collateral. In reality, Rogers never had a relationship with the dairy farmer, the account had no collateral value, and there was never a contract for water rights.

Mr. Rogers now faces up to ten years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 18, 2024 before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcus Busch is prosecuting the case.