U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs | U.S. Department of Justice
A Murphy resident has been found guilty of federal offenses in the Eastern District of Texas, as reported by U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.
Sameer Praveen Sethi, aged 42, was convicted on December 10, 2024, of seven counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The conviction came after a week-long trial presided over by U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan.
Court proceedings revealed that Sethi orchestrated a fraudulent scheme targeting investors involved in oil and gas joint ventures over several years. Evidence indicated that Sethi established joint ventures, prepared investment documents with his team, and had sales staff promote these investments. However, funds raised from investors were largely used for personal and business expenses rather than for the intended investments. It was shown that the investment documents contained significant misrepresentations and false statements. Despite raising over $4 million through these ventures, investors saw little to no returns.
"The United States Attorney's Office will continue to lead investigations into oil and gas investment schemes and other types of white collar crime that cause real harm to victims in Texas and around the nation,” stated U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs. “The investors in this case were misled into providing their hard-earned money to a scheme that collapsed as the defendant was living well off of the money brought in by his joint ventures.”
Sethi could face up to 20 years in federal prison at sentencing. While Congress prescribes this maximum statutory sentence for informational purposes, actual sentencing will be determined by the court based on advisory guidelines and other statutory factors following a presentence investigation conducted by the U.S. Probation Office.
The case was investigated by agencies including the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Texas State Securities Board, and the FBI.
