Description: Midland, Texas criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aiding and abetting wire fraud.

William Logsdon, 55, used the trust he had built with community members during his time as a lacrosse coach and teacher in the Midland area, and even the trust he had established with members of his own family, to convince them to “invest” in a Ponzi scheme. Logsdon conducted the scheme in concert with his mother-in-law, Jamie Thompson, a former geologist in the oil and gas industry who had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Together, Thompson and Logsdon told their victims that the money they were “investing” was being used to purchase royalty interests for various oil, gas and mineral projects located in Texas and New Mexico. The royalty interests were allegedly being purchased through various entities, including an entity called the National Royalty Group, or NRG. In actuality, the National Royalty Group did not exist, and rather than purchasing royalty interests, Thompson and Logsdon used the money to primarily pay for personal expenses, as well as to advance the Ponzi scheme by providing some “distributions” back to earlier “investors.”

Between them, Logsdon and Thompson defrauded more than 20 victims out of more than $2.1 million, with Logsdon being responsible for a subset of those victims and losses. Both Logsdon and Thompson have been ordered to jointly-and-severally pay restitution to their victims according to their responsibility.

“The individuals that perpetrated this scheme demonstrated extreme greed and disregard for their victims, many of whom were friends, colleagues and even family members,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas. “In doing so, they harmed the lives and livelihoods of those they claimed to care about. I want to thank the Midland Police Department for tirelessly working to secure these convictions and helping the victims to secure a measure of justice.”

The Midland Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Fedock prosecuted the case.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 109 months in prison.

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