It was a pretty good scam. The scammer had a company that sold fractional profit shares in oil wells. Without getting too deep in the weeds, he sold the equivalent of more than 100%. He invested the proceeds of new investment in paying out old investors and buying new oil wells.

Eventually he ran out of new investor money and the scheme unraveled.

I don’t know how I would have caught it. The regulatory oversight in oil well finances is poor.

The guy was on the lam for a few months, then sentenced to 10 years in Federal prison. He then escaped and hasn’t been found.

Thank you. :)

> He then escaped

Is this...common?

Matt Cox talked his way out of imminent arrest, went on the run for 3 years, and was only discovered after his girlfriend slipped up and told something to the wrong person.

So yeah it happens

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Cox