A Not So Sweet 16 Party
Clues to how the elusive Kentucky oil-and-gas man Gary M. Milby may have spent some of the $19 million that federal regulators contend he ripped off from investors may have turned up in an unlikely place. Mr. Milby, who runs Mid-America Energy Inc., appeared on MTV in February, celebrating his daughter’s 16th birthday on “My Super Sweet 16,” one of the network’s reality shows, with lavish presents after she alighted from a helicopter and was transported by carriage to an over-the-top party. On Sept. 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Mr. Milby and Mid-America contending that he sold interests in some 30 oil-and-gas investments after falsely telling investors they were properly registered and very profitable.
Some $7 million was spent on purchasing vehicles and “spending lavishly on himself and his family,” the S.E.C. complaint contended. Disgruntled investors could have been tipped off to where some of their money was being spent if they had happened to catch the MTV reality show, which chronicles parties that rich parents have for their children. His daughter, the program shows, had already been given a $1,235 necklace during a pre-birthday shopping spree. But as the party wound down with a fireworks display, Mr. Milby had another present for his daughter: a new BMW.
