Douglas Hoskins was sentenced Friday to two years in prison after he was convicted of fraud in a stock manipulation scheme involving a Wayzata-based oil services firm, Dakota Plains Holdings.
Hoskins, 50, was an accomplice of Ryan Gilbertson, Dakota Plains' co-founder, who was sentenced earlier this month to 12 years in prison on multiple fraud counts. Both men were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz.
Gilbertson, of Delano, was charged with manipulating Dakota Plains' stock after it went public in 2012, a complex plan that triggered fraudulent bonus payments of more than $30 million to Gilbertson and another company co-founder.
Hoskins, a friend of Gilbertson's and his polo coach, was charged with participating in a plan to pump up Dakota Plains' stock price during early days of trading. Hoskins, of Wayzata, made more than $125,000 from stock sales, much of which he used to purchase an Argentine polo pony, according to federal prosecutors.
He was convicted by a federal jury in June on two counts of wire fraud, three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Hoskins was also ordered to pay $15 million in restitution jointly with Gilbertson.
Dakota Plains owned a railcar-loading facility in North Dakota's oil fields. The company went bankrupt in 2016 after U.S. oil prices crashed.
Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003
