A former Tulsan was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $7 million in restitution for defrauding investors in oil and gas ventures.
U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory Frizzell said Jimmy E. Morrisett, 54, lived a lavish lifestyle without regard to the hardships suffered by his victims, many of whom were elderly.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Leitch told the court that 238 people were victims of the fraud.
“Two hundred and thirty-eight households have been devastated by this man,” Leitch said.
Morrisett was charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering in a 182-count indictment that was filed under seal in December 2011.
A grand jury alleged in the indictment that while Morrisett’s oil and gas ventures earned some income, he operated them as a Ponzi-type scheme, where the majority of the money came from new investors.
Ongoing operations — including payments to investors — were sustained only through the recruitment of new investment dollars, the indictment says.
Morrisett was accused of luring potential investors and lulling actual investors through financial reports that contained false representations. Payments were made to investors from March 2005 until January 2007 under the false pretense that the money came from oil and gas ventures.
Morrisett pleaded guilty March 27 to only one charge that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tulsa had filed the previous day involving an unlawful transaction that Morrisett made in December 2006.
However, Frizzell was able to consider all relevant conduct in determining a sentence and ordered Morrisett to pay $6,874,135.44 in restitution to the victims, who hail from 38 states — including Oklahoma — as well as the District of Columbia and Canada.
Morrisett, who is free on bond and living in Burnet, Texas, must report to prison by Oct. 23.
He apologized to the victims Thursday, but Leitch told the judge that while Morrisett was engaging in criminal conduct he showed only “greed and indifference” to those around him.
Leitch said it became apparent during the investigation that Morrisett could “sell refrigerators to Eskimos.”
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