Former energy firm exec sentenced to federal prison for $15 million investment fraud
SAN JOSE -- A former energy company executive was sentenced to five years in federal prison for defrauding investors of more than $15 million, according to an announcement Tuesday from the Department of Justice.
Joey Stanton Dodson, the former executive chairman and managing partner of Citadel Energy Partners, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in June 2022.
The sentencing in a San Jose courtroom also included an order to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $15,636,392.
According to the announcement, Dodson engaged in a scheme between November 2012 and May 2015 to defraud investors.
After he made materially false and misleading representations to induce victims to invest, prosecutors said Dodson pooled the funds from the limited partnerships and conducted multiple transfers between Citadel-related accounts to divert investor funds for his own benefit and conceal his actions.
In total, prosecutors said Dodson fraudulently raised over $15.6 million from more than 50 investors and misappropriated $1.3 million in investor funds, which he used to pay for his personal expenses and to repay earlier investors in an unrelated entity known as Duke Equity.
The FBI San Francisco Field Office investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Griswold and Marissa Harris for the Northern District of California, along with Trial Attorney Theodore M. Kneller of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.