Fark says, "If you're going to run and hide after defrauding investors for tens of millions of dollars using fake oil fields, don't hold your daughter's sweet 16 party on MTV."
Here's the story:CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Not long after entrusting millions of dollars to a former Nashville-area oilman with wells in Kentucky, the investors started asking questions: Where was the oil? Where was their money? And where was the oilman?
The investors think they got some answers on an episode of My Super Sweet 16, an MTV reality show about spoiled rich kids and their outrageously opulent birthday parties.
They saw Gary Milby, who once lived in Gallatin and had his business headquarters in nearby Mt. Juliet, giving his daughter a private helicopter ride, a new BMW and a shopping spree.
Cameras followed Milby to his Kentucky oil fields, where his daughter, Ariel, exclaimed, "I love oil! Oil means shoes and cars and purses!" Pointing to a drill, Milby told her, "This one here will make over 20 barrels a day."
About 60 investors who say they heard similar promises from Milby are suing him in federal court in Nashville, accusing Milby of defrauding them of at least $4.5 million. None of the investors listed in court records is from Tennessee.
All told, Milby raised $20 million to $25 million from investors over nearly two years, the investors' lawyer estimates — even though officials in several states had demanded Milby stop selling securities in his Tennessee oil and gas companies. It appears no criminal charges have been filed against him.
Milby 'roams a lot'
Milby, 53, has become hard to find, which is why his investors and state regulators were so shocked in February to see him on My Super Sweet 16.
Calls to a family farm in Campbellsville, about 150 miles northeast of Nashville, went unanswered this week. The Associated Press tried unsuccessfully to reach Milby through his daughter, his ex-wife and an attorney who worked for Milby on other issues.
Milby's brother Paul said that he owns the Campbellsville farm and that Gary Milby has never lived there. Paul said his brother "roams a lot," but he thinks Gary lives in the Nashville area. As for the lawsuits, "that's Gary's business, not mine," he said.
Wynne James, a Nashville attorney for the investors, said he believes Milby is living in Kentucky again because the house where he had been living has been sold, but his whereabouts are not certain.
Hearing is set for June 15
As of Friday afternoon, Milby had not been served with the four federal lawsuits that were brought against him in April. A hearing is set for June 15.
One investor, the Rev. Joseph Wheat, a 68-year-old minister at the First Apostolic Church in Bastrop, La., said he gave Milby $58,500 after seeing the oil fields. He said he first heard about Milby's Mid America Energy Inc. through radio ads.
When Wheat visited the Kentucky oil fields about 70 miles east of Bowling Green, one well began to shoot black oil in the air. Wheat said he now suspects the gusher was staged. He said he believes the wells — and Milby's promises — were empty.
"I believe he's a baldfaced liar," Wheat said. "He hasn't done anything he said he was going to do."
The federal lawsuits allege that as far back as August 2005, Milby persuaded investors to purchase his securities at $18,000 each, promising at least a 49 percent return in the first year on some of the securities.
Wheat got a few small checks, less than $500 altogether, for the first three months. "It didn't take long to figure out what was going on," he said.
Other states took action
What Milby never told investors, the lawsuits claim, is that regulatory agencies in five states have ordered him and his companies to stop advertising and selling the securities. Also, Texas barred him from owning oil wells for seven years after safety violations were found at his wells.
Neither Milby nor his two companies based in Tennessee were registered to sell securities in the state.
In September, the Arizona Corporation Commission ordered Milby to pay a $1 million penalty for selling securities despite a cease-and-desist order. He never showed for a hearing and has yet to pay a penny, said Heather Murphy, commission spokeswoman.
The commissioners were astonished and "justifiably outraged" to see Milby on MTV buying his daughter a $35,000 BMW, Murphy said.
Crystal Hedgespeth, who lives across the street from the Milby farm, said she attended Ariel's princess-theme birthday party with her two children and saw ice sculptures, tents shaped like castles and a huge fireworks show.
"She was helicoptered in over there," Hedgespeth said, pointing to several acres of pasture.
"Then she was brought to the house in a carriage. Her carriage was like a Cinderella carriage."
Angry investors find elusive oilman on MTV
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