Vendetta Partners, a Texas Company ran by Robert A. Helms and Janniece S. Kaelin, had its assets were frozen by the SEC after being accused of running an $18 million Ponzi scheme in purported purchases of oil and gas royalties.
Robert Helms and Janniece Kaelin spent most of their investors’ money on personal expenses, their many businesses, and Ponzi payments to fraudulently assure investors that they were earning high returns in a lucrative business venture, according to the charges.
Helms and Kaelin grossly understated bank-loan payments made with the investment proceeds, concealed Vendetta Partners’ imminent bank-loan default, and represented that there were no pertinent legal proceedings pending against them or against Vendetta Partners. In fact, they were all defendants in a case where they had been accused of defrauding an investor of $1.2 million, according to the SEC.
The 16-page lawsuit also charges Deven Sellers of Arvada, Colo., and Roland Barrera of Costa Mesa, Calif., with illegally selling investments for Helms and Kaelin without being SEC registered and for lying about their sales commissions and referral fees.
Sellers and Barrera, who were paid $423,500 total combined commissions by Helms and Kaelin, sold Vendetta Partnership securities to an investor for $3.05 million while falsely representing to said investor that they would receive only ‘small’ commissions and that promotional expenses would not exceed $50,000 when, in fact, their actual commissions exceeded 13% of the purchase price.
After Vendetta Partners, Helms and Kaelin launched two more fraudulent offerings, Vesta Royalty Partners, LP (‘Vesta Partners’) in 2012 and Iron Rock Royalty Partners LP (‘Iron Rock Partners’) in 2013 where they control the general partners Vesta Royalty Management, LLC (‘Vesta Management’) and Iron Rock Royalty Management, LLC (‘Iron Rock Management’), respectively.
In the Vesta Partners offering, Helms and Kaelin advertised extraordinary yet markedly baseless potential investment returns ranging from 300% to 500% to be achieved in just five to seven years.
All those companies are made defendants and in addition to freezing assets, the SEC filed a restraining order while demanding protection of documents, accounting, expedited discovery, restitution and penalties.
The Peiffer Wolf securities attorneys often represent investors who lose money as a result of Ponzi schemes, investment fraud, or stockbroker misconduct. They are currently investigating the possibility of assisting investors the victims with the recovery of their investment losses. They take most cases of this type on a contingency fee basis and advance the case costs, and only get paid for their fees and costs out of money they recover for their clients.
Investors who believe they lost money as a result of investment fraud or misconduct may contact the securities lawyers at Peiffer Wolf, Jason Kane or Joe Peiffer, for a free, no obligation evaluation of their recovery options, at 585-310-5140.