ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico businesswoman is accused of defrauding the U.S. government and two Native American tribes of taxes and royalties owed for oil and gas her companies extracted from leased federal and tribal lands.
Federal prosecutors announced this week that Teresa McCown was recently indicted by a grand jury on several charges of fraud and violations of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act. She was released earlier this month. A trial date has yet to be scheduled.
A phone number for McCown went unanswered Saturday. It was not immediately clear from court records whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Federal authorities say McCown consistently underreported oil and gas production from affected countries for a period of years beginning in 2017.
Data indicates its companies: M&M production & Operation Inc. and Shoreline Oil & Gas Company – has been operating in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico since the early 1990s. According to the indictment, filed in late January and only recently made public, the companies had more than 30 leases on land owned by the federal government, the Navajo Nation and the Jicarilla Apache Nation.
The indictment against McCown came just days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced the outcome of another case in which Hilcorp San Juan LP — an oil and gas company with offices in New Mexico and Texas — agreed to pay more than $34 million to resolve allegations to resolve the knowingly underpayment of royalties owed on oil and gas produced from federal lands.
In that case, authorities said Hilcorp San Juan made payments to the federal government based on estimated volumes and prices, without indicating that these payments were based on estimates and without subsequently making payments in the following month to reflect actual volumes and prices. display values.
Energy and mineral resource development funnels an average of more than $10 billion in revenue annually to the federal Office of Natural Resources Revenue. It is one of the U.S. government’s largest sources of non-tax revenue.
Like all producers, M&M and Shoreline are required to report the quantity and quality of oil and gas extracted from the leases, and the revenues from the sale of those materials, to the federal government so that royalty payments can be determined. An investigation by federal officials found that more than 400 false reports were filed between January 2017 and July 2021.
The Office of Natural Resources Revenue had sent the companies notices of non-compliance. Civil penalties totaling more than $1.7 million were ultimately imposed after McCown failed to address the erroneous reports, authorities said.
The complaint states that McCown acknowledged that her companies had failed to accurately report the data during conference calls with regulators following the non-compliance reports.
If convicted, McCown could face up to 20 years in prison and an additional $300,000 fine, prosecutors said.
As part of her conditions of release, she is prohibited from working as a registrar or reporter in any industry subject to state or federal reporting or regulatory requirements, including oil and gas companies.