LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The owner of bankrupt Young Oil Company has pleaded guilty, in United States District Court, to charges in three separate indictments including failure to file an income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service, mail fraud in connection with the solicitation of investor funds for oil drilling partnerships, securities fraud, submitting false statements for the purchase of a firearm, and for the illegal possession of a firearm by a person addicted to controlled substances announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
Anthony L. Young, 54, of Metcalfe County, Kentucky admitted in court that from November 2007 through December 2008, he fraudulently solicited investments through his company, Young Oil Corporation. According to the plea agreement, Young falsely represented the cost to investors in three separate oil drilling partnerships. Investors believed the $750,000 solicited for each oil well represented the total drilling costs. However, Young admitted to using the majority of the money for other purposes including personal. Also, during this same period, Young, by use of the United States mail, did defraud others, make untrue statements of material fact, and engage in acts, that operated as a fraud and deceit upon investors under programs under Young Oil Corporation with the purchase and sale of a security. Young did this by misrepresenting the total costs for each of the three Prospects and by misrepresenting his actual use of investor money.
Young also admitted that he failed to file federal income tax returns as required by law for calendar years 2005 and 2006. During this time Young received taxable income of $496,000 in 2005, and his tax due was $133,943. In calendar year 2006, Young received taxable income of $1,167,000, and, was therefore legally required to file a federal income tax return. His tax due was $359,485 for 2006.
Young also pleaded guilty today in court to two charges in a third indictment. Young admitted that on June 7, 2010, in Metcalf County, Kentucky, he caused another person to knowingly make a false statement and representation on an ATF Form 4473 in purchasing a .45 caliber pistol from a licensed firearms dealer and that he possessed the Hi-Point, Model JHP, .45 caliber pistol while being a person addicted to controlled substances, including cocaine and oxycodone.
At sentencing, Young faces a combined maximum term of 57 years in prison, a combined maximum fine of $1,200,000 and a three year term of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled before Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell on July 17, 2014, Louisville, Kentucky.
Young was found guilty in 2009, in Franklin County, Kentucky Circuit Court of violating the Kentucky Securities Act and committing fraud.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bryan Calhoun and was investigated by the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Securities, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Originally released March 18, 2014
By Office of U.S. Attorney David J. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky
www.usdoj.gov/usao/kyw
