The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a final judgment on September 9, 2021 against Paul Gilman and three of his companies, ordering them to collectively pay civil penalties, disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling more than $30 million.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 4, 2018, Gilman, a self-dubbed "Whale Whisperer," used his companies - Oil Migration Group LLC and WaveTech29 LLC - to fraudulently solicit retail investors, including a nurse, a minister, and a businessman. As alleged, Gilman told investors that he would use their funds to test, validate, further develop, and license purportedly groundbreaking "soundwave" technology for use in oil and gas industry applications, and he promised substantial profits. Instead, Gilman allegedly used substantially all of the investor funds for his personal benefit. Gilman also allegedly defrauded investors in GilmanSound LLC, a company he claimed would revolutionize sound systems in sport stadiums. While GilmanSound provided some services to major-league baseball stadiums, the SEC's complaint alleges that Gilman misused a substantial amount of the GilmanSound investor funds for Gilman's personal expenses.

The final judgment orders Gilman to pay a civil penalty of $5,760,000 and disgorgement with prejudgment interest totaling $480,706.12. Gilman's companies were ordered to pay civil penalties totaling $21,700,000 and disgorgement with prejudgment interest totaling $2,483,650.58.

The Court previously entered permanent injunctions against the defendants for violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

Keith Hunter and Eric R. Werner of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office conducted the SEC's investigation, while the litigation was led by Keefe Bernstein and supervised by B. David Fraser.

The SEC encourages investors to check the background of anyone selling or offering them an investment using the free and simple search tool on Investor.gov.