CARROLLTON (WBAP/KLIF) – A Carrollton business owner who was once sent to prison for investments fraud is again under investigation.
The Texas Securities Board and the Carrollton Police Department raided the Carrollton-based investment business of Robert Joseph Mangiafico Jr. on Thursday. Mangiafico is on parole from a 40-year prison sentence for stealing $655,000 from elderly widows in the Dallas area.
According to the Texas Securities Board, in 2013, Mangiafico pleaded guilty to charges of theft and money laundering in connection with stealing money from at least four elderly women. He served just over four years of the 40-year sentence before his release on parole. He was arrested in September of this year on a parole violation.
The search warrant was executed the night before, Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles entered an Emergency Cease and Desist Order to stop Premier Resources and Mangiafico from fraudulently offering oil and gas investments. According to the emergency order, Mangiafico, a Carrollton resident, is the managing member of Premier Resources, which is reportedly cold-calling Texas residents to solicit investments in oil wells in McClain County, Oklahoma.
Premier Resources claims to have purchased 61 wells, including 26 producing wells in three different wellfields in southern Oklahoma. Premier Resources and Mangiafico are accused of telling investors that units purchased in the project may produce an annual return of 29% provided the benchmark price of oil is at least $50 per barrel. According to the Texas Securities Board, Mangiafico is paying sales agents based on the number of units they sell in the project, called Oklahoma Premier Trinity. According to the order, Mangiafico oversaw company operations during a recent, seven-week stay in the Denton County jail.
Mangiafico and Premier Resources are directing investors to misrepresent their status as accredited investors, according to the order.
The Texas Securities Board said Friday that None of Mangiafico’s sales agents are registered to sell securities in Texas, a violation of the Texas Securities Act.
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