MIDLAND – A Keller man was sentenced yesterday to 168 months in prison and ordered to pay $14,538,967.27 in restitution for operating a Ponzi scheme.
According to court documents, Marco Perez Jr., aka Sully Perez, 37, is the founder and director of Permian Basin Proppants, Inc. (PBP), a company headquartered in Midland that claims to sell proppants such as sand for fracking operations, i.e., “frac sand.” Between 2017 and 2022, Perez used PBP to perpetuate a Ponzi scheme by soliciting investor money based on misrepresentations. During this time, Perez received over $14 million from the scheme. He used most of the funds for his own personal benefit, buying property, vacations, a lavish wedding, and luxury vehicles including a Lamborghini, a Rolls-Royce, a BMW, and a Cadillac Escalade. Perez also purchased a helicopter.
Perez enticed victims to fund or invest in PBP transactions, promising substantial guaranteed returns on their investment. However, the representations Perez made were based on false and misleading promises, such as promising victims that their investments would be used to purchase frac sand at a discount and that frac sand would then be resold at a profit to fracking operations in and around the Permian Basin. Investors were promised they would receive back their entire investment plus an additional return, often within a relatively short time period. Perez rarely used the investment money to purchase frac sand or complete promised transactions….
