The securities litigation law firm of Chapman & Associates has been retained by investors who lost money in the Shale Royalties scheme, and is preparing to take legal action on behalf of its clients. "We will hold accountable those financial organizations who had a duty to prevent fraudulent investments from being sold to the investing public, but turned a blind eye to the irregularities surrounding the Provident Royalties offering and made hefty fees from selling that oil and gas scam to their customers," said John Chapman, a securities attorney.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has recently commenced legal action against Provident Royalties, Shale Royalties, and their organizers and promoters, Paul Melbye, Brendan Coughlin, and Henry Harrison. The Commission alleges that Provident Royalties / Shale Royalties was a Ponzi scheme that victimized over 7,700 investors nationwide. The Shale Royalties victims lost over $485 million when the scheme collapsed. The organizers of the scheme told investors their funds were going to purchase interests in oil and gas real estate and finance new exploration and development projects. In reality, the funds were to make "dividend payments" to earlier investors, the trademark of a Ponzi scheme.

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