A former executive chairman at Citadel Energy Partners was sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding investors of more than $15 million, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2023) A former executive chairman at Citadel Energy Partners was sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding investors of more than $15 million, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
"Joey Stanton Dodson was sentenced today to five years in prison for defrauding investors of more than $15 million in connection with a scheme to misappropriate investor funds for his own personal use," the press release said.
Dodson, 58, pled guilty in the Northern District of California to one count of wire fraud in June.
Between November 2012 and May 2015, Dodson allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud investors while serving as the executive chairman and managing partner of Citadel Energy, which purported to provide fluid-management services to oil and gas companies.
According to the Department of Justice, Dodson was in charge of raising money, controlling the bank accounts, and disbursing financial information to investors for three limited partnerships affiliated with Citadel.
"As part of the scheme, Dodson made materially false and misleading representations and omissions to prospective and existing investors about the intended use of investor funds, the status of a potential acquisition by a private-equity firm, and Dodson's own compensation," the department said. "After inducing victims to invest, Dodson pooled the funds from the limited partnerships and conducted multiple transfers between Citadel-related accounts in order to divert investor funds for his own benefit and to conceal his actions."
Dodson raised more than $15.6 million from more than 50 investors and siphoned off $1.3 million in that money to finance a lavish lifestyle and pay off other investors from unrelated entities known collectively as Duke Equity, according to the Department of Justice. The theft of investor funds caused the limited partnerships to plunge into bankruptcy and resulted in investors losing all their money, the release added.
