Sentencing in Oil, Gas Fraud Case: The...

Sentencing in Oil, Gas Fraud Case: The ex-chairman of Los Angeles-based Melinworth Financial Securities Inc. has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for perpetrating what prosecutors called one of “the largest and most complex oil-and-gas frauds ever prosecuted” in Southern California. Laban D. Hock, 41, was convicted last September of 29 counts of mail fraud and one count of property obtained by fraud in connection with the scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors of about $9 million in 1983 and 1984. Hock and confederate Douglas DiLaura, 43, were ordered to pay $5.1 million each in restitution to the victims of the fraud. A third confederate, Robert W. Keller, was ordered to repay the victims $26,000. DiLaura was sentenced to nine years in prison and Keller received a two-year prison sentence.