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Another Sanction In Mineral Rights Sales Scheme

By Michael Frisch

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has accepted the license surrender of a convicted attorney

The Respondent, after a guilty plea, was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 371. The charge involved conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud related to misuse of insider information regarding Continental Resources, Inc., whereby Respondent and co-conspirators obtained mineral rights leases/purchases with the intention to re-sell or re-lease the same to Continental Resources, Inc. for profit. Respondent pled guilty and the court sentenced him to supervised release for a term of two (2) years. Respondent filed an affidavit of resignation and offered to surrender his license to practice law and to resign from the Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA) pursuant to Rule 8.1, RGDP. Complainant filed an application and agreed with Respondent’s proposed resignation.

Co-conspirators

We conclude that Respondent’s Resignation Pending Disciplinary proceedings was executed in conformity with the requirements of Rule 8.1, RGDP. The grievance alleges that on or about March 2011 through on or about March 2020, Respondent conspired with Justin Biggs, Blaine Dyer, James Dyer, and others to obtain mineral rights leases/purchases based on insider information provided by Biggs with the intention to re-sell or re-lease to Continental Resources, Inc. for profit. It is further alleged that Respondent had knowledge of the formation of multiple shell companies to purchase the leases to avoid detection of the scheme by Continental.

JD Journal reported that Respondent was the law partner of another convicted and disbarred attorney Blaine Dyer who is the subject of our prior blog post. (Mike Frisch)