On December 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Ronnie Lee Moss, Jr. of Flower Mound, Texas, and Genesis E&P, Inc., Royal Oil, LLC, and Catalyst Operating, LCC, three companies Moss controlled, alleging they raised approximately $5.7 million by selling fraudulent oil-and-gas investments.

According to the SEC's complaint, from January 2014 to March 2018, Moss and his companies sold investments in multiple oil-and-gas limited partnerships to 95 investors nationwide. The complaint alleges that Moss oversaw a cold-calling campaign to solicit investors and prepared and distributed offering documents that misstated or omitted material information about his control over Genesis, his poor performance in prior oil-and-gas ventures, and his 2004 criminal conviction for securities fraud in a previous oil and gas offering. The complaint further alleges that Moss misled investors with baseless revenue and production projections and misused offering proceeds.

The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas, charges Moss, Genesis, Royal Oil, and Catalyst Operating with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Moss with the broker-registration provisions of Section 15(a)(1) of the Exchange Act. The complaint seeks an injunction preventing Moss, Genesis, Royal Oil, and Catalyst Operating from violating the antifraud sections of the securities acts, civil penalties from each party, and an injunction preventing Moss from engaging in securities offerings. Without admitting or denying the charges, Genesis has agreed to the entry of a judgment enjoining it from violating the antifraud provisions of the securities laws and ordering it to pay a $192,768 civil penalty. The settlement is subject to court approval. The litigation is ongoing with respect to the other defendants.

The investigation was conducted by Melanie Good, Jody Moore, Carol Stumbaugh, and Joseph Dugan, with litigation assistance by Matthew Gulde, and supervised by Eric Werner, Barbara Gunn, and Timothy McCole.