A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority hearing officer has expelled a broker-dealer based in San Antonio, TX and barred its president from the industry over fraudulent sales of securities.

The hearing officer found that between August 2008 and March 2011 Pinnacle Partners Financial Corporation and its president, Brian Alfaro, operated a boiler room scam, placing thousands of cold calls to raise funds for oil and gas drilling ventures owned by Alfaro.

Overall, the scam raised some $10 million from over 100 investors, some of which were diverted to cover unrelated business costs and Alfaro’s personal expenses. For example, on one occasion Alfaro allegedly collected $500,000 in subscription costs for a well that was never drilled and used these funds for personal or unrelated expenses.

The officer also found that Pinnacle and Alfaro made false claims and omissions in the investment summaries of 11 private placement offerings, including “grossly inflated natural gas prices, projected natural gas reserves, estimated gross returns and estimated monthly cash flows,” according to a statement from FINRA.

Alfaro did not attend the FINRA hearing panel and a default decision was issued.