Daniel Walsh, 60, a Houston executive, was sentenced to prison for 18 years after reaching a plea deal in his fraud trial in Wichita County, TX.

Walsh, the CEO of Western Capital, based in Houston, pleaded guilty to money laundering. He was originally indicted in 2013 for stealing $492,000 from 12 investors.

Walsh told investors that the money would pay for drilling and testing of two wells to be drilled in High Island, Galveston County. Instead he used the money to pay his personal expenses, including a $6,000-a-month mortgage.

He initially raised money for the High Island wells from 2007 to 2009. However, Walsh had been in trouble before. In 2005, the Pennsylvania Securities Commission entered an Emergency Cease and Desist order against Walsh and Western Capital for selling unregistered investments in two oil wells near Victoria, TX.

Walsh apparently operated oil and gas joint ventures from 1994 up until 2005 without complaints to the Texas State Securities Board. Then the agency began investigating him in 2005.

Texas State Securities Board – press release 07-12-19