Colorado Springs man faces fraud counts on oil and gas investment offerings

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers (file)

A statewide grand jury has indicted Robert Allen Zickefoose on seven counts of securities fraud and theft related to allegations of unregistered oil and gas investments, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced Monday.

Zickefoose, who turns 49 on Friday, July 19, is the sole owner and president of Zickefoose Reserves LLC, based in Colorado Springs, Suthers' office said.

?Investors lost more than $650,000 in the course of this fraud,? Suthers said in the announcement. ?Thanks to the watchful eye of the Colorado Division of Securities, we have exposed, arrested and will now prosecute the actions of Robert Allen Zickefoose.?

A Colorado Springs phone number listing for the company was not in service.

According to the indictment, Zickefoose and Zickefoose Reserves LLC would contact investors, sometimes ?cold-calling? them. Zickefoose Allegedly would then provide offering documents for investments in ?working interests? in two oil and gas wells known as the Ruby #1 and Ruby #2, located in the Wattenberg field in Adams County.

These ?working interests? would entitle an investor to profits from the wells? production, but Zickefoose never owned or obtained the interests he was offering, the indictment said.

Zickefoose used the bulk of the investors? money for his personal expenses, cash withdrawals, payments to employees and to repay other investors, the indictment said. Neither Zickefoose nor his employees were licensed to sell securities within Colorado, the indictment said.

The case will be conducted in El Paso District Court by the Colorado Attorney General?s Office in cooperation with the Colorado Division of Securities. If convicted, Zickefoose could face up to 12 years in prison for each count, according to the announcement.

Cathy Proctor covers energy, the environment, transportation and construction for the Denver Business Journal and edits the weekly "Energy Inc." newsletter. Phone: 303-803-9233. Subscribe to the Energy Inc. newsletter

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_denver/~3/5qPwVGLuyI8/grand-jury-indicts-colorado-springs.html

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