SEC Charges Oil Company CEO, Board Member With Hiding Personal Loans

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former CEO of Energy XXI Ltd. with hiding more than $10 million in personal loans that he obtained from company vendors and a candidate for Energy XXI’s board. At the time of the alleged misconduct, Energy XXI was NASDAQ-listed and one of the largest oil and gas producers on the Gulf of Mexico shelf. According to the SEC’s complaint, CEO John D. Schiller Jr. maintained an extravagant lifestyle by using a highly leveraged margin account secured by his Energy XXI stock. The complaint alleges that in 2014, when faced with significant margin calls, Schiller extracted more than $7.5 million in undisclosed personal loans from company vendors in exchange for business contracts with Energy XXI.