By Carlos Javier Sanchez
San Antonio Business Journal
Texas State Sen. Carlos Uresti has been indicted in two federal cases three months after FBI agents raided his downtown San Antonio law office.![]()
A federal grand jury handed down an indictment on Tuesday afternoon connected to the Four Winds frac sand bankruptcy scandal and a separate indictment in a bribery scandal for a prison contract in Reeves County.
The first indictment charges Uresti, Four Winds Logistics CEO Stanley Bates and Four Winds consultant Gary Cain with creating a Ponzi scheme to market frac sand for oil and gas production. Federal prosecutors allege that the three lied to investors and used their money to pay earlier investors and line their own pockets. The allegations came to light after Four Winds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in San Antonio in August 2015.
In the second indictment, Uresti and 44-year-old medical services provider Vernon Farthing III of Lubbock were charged in connection to a bribery investigation at the Reeves County Correctional Center in West Texas. Federal prosecutors allege that Farthing paid Uresti $10,000 a month as a marketing consultant and that half of the money went to a Reeves County official for his support and vote to award a contract for medical services at the jail to Farthing’s company.
The indictments were handed down three months after a Feb. 16 raid led by FBI agents at Uresti's law office on McCullough Avenue in downtown San Antonio. If convicted, the state senator faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
San Antonio Business Journal
Texas State Sen. Carlos Uresti has been indicted in two federal cases three months after FBI agents raided his downtown San Antonio law office.
A federal grand jury handed down an indictment on Tuesday afternoon connected to the Four Winds frac sand bankruptcy scandal and a separate indictment in a bribery scandal for a prison contract in Reeves County.
The first indictment charges Uresti, Four Winds Logistics CEO Stanley Bates and Four Winds consultant Gary Cain with creating a Ponzi scheme to market frac sand for oil and gas production. Federal prosecutors allege that the three lied to investors and used their money to pay earlier investors and line their own pockets. The allegations came to light after Four Winds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in San Antonio in August 2015.
In the second indictment, Uresti and 44-year-old medical services provider Vernon Farthing III of Lubbock were charged in connection to a bribery investigation at the Reeves County Correctional Center in West Texas. Federal prosecutors allege that Farthing paid Uresti $10,000 a month as a marketing consultant and that half of the money went to a Reeves County official for his support and vote to award a contract for medical services at the jail to Farthing’s company.
The indictments were handed down three months after a Feb. 16 raid led by FBI agents at Uresti's law office on McCullough Avenue in downtown San Antonio. If convicted, the state senator faces up to 20 years in federal prison.