Alleged oil swindler turns up on MTV show

updated 3:58 p.m. ET June 1, 2007

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Not long after entrusting millions to a Kentucky oilman, the investors started asking questions: Where was the oil? Where was their money? And where was the oilman?

They think they got at least some answers when they turned on an episode of “My Super Sweet 16,” an MTV reality show about spoiled rich kids and their outrageously opulent birthday parties.

To their astonishment, the investors saw oilman Gary Milby on television giving his daughter a private helicopter ride, a new BMW and a shopping spree.

The cameras followed Milby to his oil fields where his daughter, Ariel, exclaimed, “I love oil! Oil means shoes and cars and purses!” Pointing to one of the drills, Milby told his daughter, “This one here will make over 20 barrels a day.”

About 60 investors who say they heard similar promises from Milby are suing him in federal court, accusing Milby of defrauding them out of at least $4.5 million.

All told, Milby raised $20 million to $25 million from investors over nearly two years, the investors’ lawyer estimates — even though officials in several states had demanded Milby stop selling securities in his Tennessee oil and gas companies. It appears no criminal charges have been filed against him.

Milby, 53, has become hard to find, which is why his investors and state regulators were so shocked in February to see him on “My Super Sweet 16.”

Calls to a family farm in Campbellsville, about 65 miles south of Louisville, went unanswered this week. The Associated Press tried unsuccessfully to reach Milby through his daughter, his ex-wife and an attorney who worked for Milby on other issues.

As of the middle of this week, Milby had not been served with the four federal lawsuits that were brought against him in April. A hearing in the case is set for June 15.

One investor, the Rev. Joseph Wheat, a 68-year-old minister at the First Apostolic Church in Bastrop, La., said he gave Milby $58,500 after seeing the oil fields. He said he first heard about Milby’s Mid America Energy Inc. through radio ads.

“It was on several times a day, saying it was a golden opportunity and that these were proven fields,” Wheat said.

When Wheat visited the Kentucky oil fields about 70 miles east of Bowling Green, one well began to shoot black oil in the air. Wheat said he now suspects the gusher was staged. He said he believes the wells — and Milby’s promises — were empty.

“I believe he’s a bald-faced liar,” Wheat said. “He hasn’t done anything he said he was going to do.”

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