Three men – one of whom received more than $7 million in commissions — have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with illegally selling shares in oil and gas companies in Texas.

The SEC on Monday filed civil injunctive actions against the three for a scheme that involved selling what they called “joint venture units” in oil and gas developments by Aegis Oil LLC and 7S Oil & Gas LLC. The SEC complaints, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charge Alexander Charles White of Evans, Ga., Paul Douglas Vandivier of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Chad Anthony Lewis of Bowling Green, Ken., with unlawfully acting as unregistered brokers and selling unregistered investments.

The entire scheme for both companies raised $42 million from 320 investors and was carried out between 2012 and 2016, the complaint said. The three are charged with violating SEC regulations by not being registered as investment sales personnel and for offering unregistered investments, according to the complaint. 

According to the SEC, White managed a marketing team that solicited investors for Aegis and 7S through cold calls. He was paid a sales commission of 35 percent for each investor his team brought on in the Aegis offering and a 28 percent to 35 percent commission for each investor in the 7S offering. In total, White received commission payments of about $6.84 million from the Aegis offerings and $229,000 from the 7S offerings, the SEC said. He paid some of the money to his sales team.

The SEC also said Vandivier managed another sales team that solicited investors for the offerings through his now defunct company, Aegis Marketing Inc. Vandivier received commissions totaling about $870,000 from the Aegis offerings, a portion of which he paid out to his sales team, and $23,000 from the 7S offerings.

The SEC also said Lewis helped train a network of sales agents to unlawfully solicit investors in Aegis and 7S and assisted agents in closing deals with investors. He was paid 2 percent commissions on all sales, plus commissions ranging from 20 percent to 31 percent on the sales he made himself. In total, Lewis received about $624,700, the SEC said.

Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Lewis consented to pay disgorgement, interest and a civil penalty to be set by the court. The SEC has also requested a jury trial for White and Vandiver, seeking disgorgement, interest and civil penalties.