Over 300 investors nationwide handed Thomas “Tommy” San Miguel approximately $21.3 million between November 2015 and December 2021 for SGR Energy, a Houston-based fuel-blending company promising guaranteed 12% annual dividends. Tommy San Miguel sold investors on escalating revenues, consistent profits, a $19 million accounts receivable, and the acquisition of a Colombian shipping terminal. He portrayed himself as a self-made expert with three decades in fuel blending—a blue-collar success story who started as a truck driver.
Virtually every material claim was false. The Securities and Exchange Commission found that SGR Energy generated only a fraction of claimed revenues, likely never turned a profit, and never acquired the Colombian terminal. The $19 million accounts receivable didn’t exist. The promised commission-free investment structure was a lie. San Miguel admitted he didn’t understand EBITDA despite using the metric in investor materials. He kept the company’s books in spiral notebooks that he claimed to have discarded.
On November 30, 2025, U.S. District Court entered final judgment against San Miguel for securities fraud. He now faces a permanent bar from serving as an officer or director of any public company, a $700,000 civil penalty, and prohibition from securities activities. For the 300-plus investors who watched 85% of their dividends automatically reinvest in worthless stock, the judgment arrived too late—SGR Energy entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2022.
Spiral Notebook Accounting and Fabricated Financials
San Miguel’s marketing materials, private placement memoranda, and quarterly investor updates consistently portrayed explosive growth. Documents he authored showed SGR Energy’s revenue climbing from modest beginnings to tens of millions annually with EBITDA margins that would make established energy companies envious.
San Miguel recorded accounts receivable that grew from $463,413 in 2017 to over $19 million by 2019. This receivable supposedly represented money owed by an unidentified entity in the Dominican Republic—funds San Miguel claimed were held in a Brazilian bank account and tracked in one of his spiral notebooks. No SGR Energy employees ever interacted with this Dominican Republic entity. The SEC investigation found the accounts receivable was a complete fabrication.
Bank records told a different story: SGR Energy generated approximately $11 million in total revenue from 2015 through 2021, and likely never generated any profit. Yet San Miguel repeatedly assured investors of profitability. In January 2017, he announced “record revenue and profit numbers for year-end 2016.” A July 2018 update claimed “consistent” profits in “five out of the six full years we have been in business.” By March 2021, he noted investors had been “enjoy[ing] profit dividends”—dividends funded by new investor money in classic Ponzi fashion.
Despite having no accounting experience, San Miguel personally handled all bookkeeping. He claimed to maintain financial records in spiral notebooks—which he later discarded—because he couldn’t use Excel or QuickBooks. He never reconciled bank statements and failed to pay federal taxes for six years. When questioned, San Miguel admitted he didn’t understand EBITDA, the metric featured prominently in SGR Energy’s marketing materials and the basis for his stock price increases.
The Colombian Terminal That Never Was
In July 2018, San Miguel announced a transformative acquisition. A press release dated July 10 declared the company had acquired Swiss Terminal Barranquilla, a shipping terminal in Colombia’s northern port town. San Miguel described the deal in celebratory terms: “We are delighted to acquire from this premier marine transportation and terminal in Colombia,” emphasizing how “Swiss Terminal Barranquilla gives SGR Energy a strategic artery to pull supply from Colombia.”
The day before the press release, San Miguel told investors: “I am so proud to announce to our shareholders that we have closed on our first terminal acquisition…. SGR made its first outside terminal acquisition on July 6th.” Six months later, he cited “the acquisition of our terminal in Barranquilla” among 2018’s highlights.
SGR Energy never acquired Swiss Terminal Barranquilla. Between May and December 2018, the company entered three agreements with the terminal’s owner, each with contingencies that were never satisfied. The first term sheet, executed two months before San Miguel’s press release, set a $13 million purchase price with conditional closing for November 15, 2018. On July 9, 2018, the day before the acquisition announcement, the parties deferred closing to December 31, 2018. When that date arrived, they pushed it to June 30, 2019. The transaction never closed.
SGR Energy leased the terminal from July 2018 until summer 2021, when the owner evicted the company for non-payment. In total, SGR Energy paid $1.74 million in lease payments and advanced $1.1 million toward the purchase price—nearly $3 million in losses.
Concealed Commissions and Investor Pressure
Every version of SGR Energy’s private placement memorandum stated: “[N]o commissions are being paid by SGR Energy to conduct the offering.” This was false.
SGR Energy paid 8% gross commissions on new investments—6% to the sales team member who closed the deal and a 2% override to the sales manager. Bank records documented at least $800,000 in commission payments between November 2015 and December 2021. San Miguel personally offered commission structures during hiring interviews, authorized every payment, and received all bank statements reflecting the commissions.
Salespeople cold-called potential investors from purchased lists and emphasized SGR Energy’s increasing revenue and unfailing 12% annual dividends. The team took no meaningful steps to verify investor accreditation status. Prospects received marketing materials including documents titled “12% Annual Dividends Plus a 10X Multiple in Four Years (or Less) Is It Possible?”
San Miguel deliberately siloed employees and withheld operational details. The sales manager couldn’t explain how SGR Energy generated customers or revenue, or how San Miguel derived the quarterly financial numbers. When potential investors asked detailed questions, salespeople referred them to San Miguel, who handled these conversations alone.
Conclusion
The scheme collapsed in late 2021 when SGR Energy ceased operations. On July 22, 2022, a creditor initiated involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. The SEC filed charges on July 29, 2024. Without admitting or denying the allegations, San Miguel consented to judgment imposing permanent injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, and a $700,000 civil penalty.
Keefe Bernstein of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office supervised the litigation. For investors who contributed $21.3 million, the regulatory action came years after their capital disappeared into a company whose founder kept financial records in discarded notebooks, couldn’t explain accounting terms he used in marketing materials, and spent six years paying no federal taxes while assuring shareholders of consistent profitability.
