Thomas San Miguel

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 26059 / July 29, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thomas San Miguel, No. 4:24-cv-02805 (S.D. Tex. filed July 29, 2024)

SEC Charges CEO of Houston Energy Company with Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed charges against Thomas San Miguel, founder and former Chief Executive Officer of SGR Energy, Inc. ("SGR Energy"), a Houston-based fuel-blending business, for engaging in an unregistered and fraudulent securities offering.

The SEC's complaint alleges that between November 2015 and December 2021, San Miguel raised approximately $21.3 million from over 300 investors nationwide through the fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of preferred stock in SGR Energy. According to the SEC's complaint, San Miguel lured investors with claims of a 12% annual dividend, escalating revenue and profits, and a $19 million accounts receivable, in addition to SGR Energy's purported acquisition of a large capacity terminal in a northern port town in Colombia. As alleged in the complaint, these claims were false and misleading. SGR Energy never acquired the Colombian terminal and sustained enormous losses while leasing it; the $19 million receivable was not legitimate; and SGR Energy generated a miniscule fraction of the claimed revenue and likely never generated a profit.

The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division), charges San Miguel with violating Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks against him a civil penalty, permanent injunctions, and an officer-and-director bar.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Jeffrey Cohen, Carol Stumbaugh, and Cristy Hart of the Fort Worth Regional Office and was supervised by Eric Werner and B. David Fraser. The litigation will be led by Jason Reinsch and supervised by Keefe Bernstein.