SEC v. Marco "Sully" Perez and Permian Basin Proppants, Inc. (ponzi schemes, 2021)

Settled

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In December 2021 the SEC filed an emergency action against Marco Perez and Permian Basin Proppants over an alleged frac-sand Ponzi scheme aimed at veterans' retirement funds. On June 22, 2023 the Western District of Texas entered a final consent judgment against Perez ordering $6,832,000.66 in disgorgement and $1,211,818.89 in interest, deemed satisfied by a criminal restitution order.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$6.8m

Prejudgment interest

$1.2m

Total relief

$8m

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on December 22, 2021 as release LR-25293. The respondents named are Marco "Sully" Perez and Permian Basin Proppants, Inc. (1 individual, 1 entity). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Outcome. The final judgment against Perez, signed June 22, 2023, builds on an agreed partial judgment entered June 8, 2022 and a consent he signed, and fixes the money: disgorgement of $6,832,000.66 and prejudgment interest of $1,211,818.89, $8,043,819.55 in total, which the court deems satisfied by the restitution order in United States v. Perez (No. MO:22-CR-00029, W.D. Tex.). The judgment is by consent, so it is not a trial finding. It names Perez only; Permian Basin Proppants, Inc. was not checked, and the document gives no prison term. The SEC's whistleblower notice lists June 23, 2023 as the qualifying judgment date, one day later, which we did not read as a separate order. The record previously marked no parallel criminal case; the judgment shows one.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2021-12-22 Litigation release published
2. 2023-06-22 Final judgment as to Marco Perez (consent)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• Final judgment as to Marco Perez (W.D. Tex., Doc. 34)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.