A New Mexico businesswoman is facing charges of defrauding the U.S. government and two Native American tribes of taxes and royalties related to oil and gas extraction from leased federal and tribal lands. Teresa McCown, the owner of M&M Production & Operation Inc. and Shoreline Oil & Gas Company, has been indicted on wire fraud charges and violations of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act.
According to federal prosecutors, McCown is accused of underreporting oil and gas production from lands leased from the federal government, the Navajo Nation, and the Jicarilla Apache Nation over a period of several years starting in 2017. The indictment, filed in late January, revealed that her companies held more than 30 leases in northwestern New Mexico's San Juan Basin.
