U.S. charges New York man with fraudulently promising fast crypto riches – Reuters.com

A representations of cryptocurrencies in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged a New York man with fraud after he allegedly raised more than $59 million by promising investors he could double their money in five months, and make them millionaires, through his cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading platform.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Eddy Alexandre, 50, guaranteed 5% weekly returns to hundreds of investors who opened a “Robo-Advisor Assisted account” on his platform EminiFX, which employed nonexistent technology he called “our trade secret.”

Alexandre represented on EminiFX’s website that investors’ account balances grew 5% to 9.99% each Friday and told investors in an April 28 meeting that if they invested $1,000 “they would be a millionaire within three years,” the complaint said.

But prosecutors said Alexandre did not invest most of what he raised, lost more than two-thirds of the $9 million he invested in stocks and stock options–but not the promised cryptocurrency or foreign currencies–and diverted at least $14.7 million to his personal bank account.

Alexandre allegedly also spent $155,000 of investor money on a BMW car, and withdrew a $10,000 official check made out to “Mercedes Benz.”

The alleged fraud began last September.

A federal public defender representing Alexandre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alexandre was arrested on Thursday. He is charged with wire fraud and commodities fraud, which carry maximum respective prison terms of 20 years and 10 years.

“Investors should beware of the downside risks of false claims and get-rich-quick schemes that oftentimes are too good to be true,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan said in a statement announcing the charges.

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio

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