Georgia trader allegedly defrauded over 120 investors in just 9 months
A Georgia-based currency trader has been accused of losing $23m of investors money.
James Ossie of Atlanta, the founder of CRE Capital, was charged with 10 counts of fraud.
According to prosecutors, in the firm’s nine month lifespan, Ossie raised over $25m from over 120 investors with promises of 10% returns. The firm lost over $12m before it was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, claimed the prosecutors.
According to the allegations there was no reserve set aside to repay investors and by the end of 2008, CRE owed over $23m but only had just over $2m in all its bank and trading accounts.
The indictment also claimed that although CRE hired accountants it did not give them access to the trading accounts that would have revealed the massive losses.
United States Attorney David Nahmias said: ‘This indictment alleges yet another disturbing Ponzi scheme with a similar result: many victims lose a lot of their hard-earned money in a short amount of time.’
Nahmias and noted that the investigation remained ongoing.
