Petro America securities fraud scam lands a
seventh guilty plea
Kansas City Business Journal by Steve
Vockrodt, Reporter
Date: Friday, June 22, 2012, 2:48pm CDT
Related: Legal Services, Crime, Investing
Steve Vockrodt
Reporter- Kansas City Business Journal
The $7.2 million Petro America Corp. securities fraud
scam has prompted another guilty plea.
This time, Brian Langenbach pleaded guilty in U.S.
District Court in Kansas City to a 2011 federal
indictment that charged him with the unlicensed sale
of securities.
The self-employed cattle rancher from Arizona said
he made $400,000 by selling unregistered Petro
America stock to nearly 200 investors.
Petro America, which operated out of downtown
Kansas City offices, held itself out as a massive oil
company with $284 billion in assets, but prosecutors
said it was a vehicle for an affinity scam and had no
products or employees.
Federal prosecutors said Langenbach was not simply
taken in by the scam but continued to sell shares and
promote Petro America despite his suspicions about
the legitimacy of the company’s business and
despite knowing that Kansas and Missouri securities
regulators had ordered Petro America’s CEO to stop
selling shares.
Langenbach is the seventh defendant to plead guilty
to Petro America-related charges.
At his Nov. 13 sentencing, he could face a maximum
sentence of five years in prison and $250,000 in
fines; he already has been ordered to forfeit $
400,000 to the U.S. Department of Justice .
Another defendant pleaded guilty on Monday.
Good luck.
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