A Murphy resident, Sameer Praveen Sethi, has been found guilty of federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas. The conviction was announced by U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.
Sethi, aged 42, faced a jury trial lasting one week before U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan and was convicted on December 10, 2024. He was found guilty of seven counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Court proceedings revealed that Sethi orchestrated a fraudulent scheme over several years targeting investors in oil and gas joint ventures. Evidence presented showed that he created joint ventures and prepared investment documents with his staff's assistance. His sales team marketed these investments, but the funds raised were largely used for personal and business expenses rather than for the intended investment purposes. It was demonstrated that the investment documents contained numerous misrepresentations and false statements. Despite raising over $4 million through these ventures, investors saw minimal returns.
U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs commented on the case: "The United States Attorney's Office will continue to lead investigations into oil and gas investment schemes and other types of white collar crime that cause real harm to victims in Texas and around the nation.” He added, “The investors in this case were misled into providing their hard-earned money to a scheme that collapsed as the defendant was living well off of the money brought in by his joint ventures.”
Sethi could face up to 20 years in federal prison at sentencing. However, this maximum statutory sentence is provided for informational purposes only; actual sentencing will be determined by the court based on advisory guidelines and other factors after a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Texas State Securities Board, and the FBI.