Last year William Anthony Rand and his three sons pled guilty to scamming 330 investors out of $68 million in a scheme disguised as a Dallas oil and gas company called Aspen Exploration. The crooks perpetrated their fraud during the time of record-high oil prices in 2008. They told investors that by investing in Aspen’s Texas oil leases they’d double their money in three years and multiply it further over 20 years of flows from the wells. Instead of drilling wells, however, the Rands bought real estate, boats, vehicles, an original Picasso, wine, jewelry, jade and musical instruments. Federal prosecutors sent the Rands to the pen, but the U.S. Marshalls Service kept the loot, which is now being put up for auction to pay back victims. Next weekend Heritage Auctions will sell the Rands’ instruments. Read Forbes report here.
