Man pleads guilty in southern Kentucky oil wells scam

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Court records show a man who helped defraud investors of more than $3 million through a scam involving oil wells in southern Kentucky has pleaded guilty.

The Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/1x1GIZp) reports that Mark Cornell admitted that his role in the scheme was to act as the operator of wells in Barren, Monroe and Cumberland counties while others sold bogus investments in the wells across the country.

According to U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey, Cornell pleaded guilty to securities fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Cornell was charged with John G. Westine Jr., who was from California; Westine’s half-brother, Michael A. Hicks; and Henry Irving Ramer, also of California.

Westine and others allegedly gave false and misleading information to investors, including false geological surveys, to make it appear that the Kentucky wells were producing substantial amounts of oil or that production was imminent.

___

Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

©2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.