US authorities have sentenced a New York man to over a year in jail for securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The convict will also have to pay $842,076.81 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. Earlier, the convict’s co-defendant had pleaded guilty to securities fraud conspiracy, resulting in a two-year prison sentence in December 2021.
During 2010-13, the convict conspired with his co-defendant and others to defraud members of New York’s Korean-American community by convincing them to invest in foreign exchange trading accounts and in their company ForexNPower. The conspirators specifically issued advertisements in Korean-language media, falsely claiming that ForexNPower used an algorithm that guaranteed 10% monthly returns at zero risk. However, ForexNPower’s customer accounts suffered huge losses.
The conspirators also convinced the victims to purchase ForexNPower stocks, by falsely claiming that their funds would be used to expand the company or to trade foreign currencies. However, the defendant and his co-conspirators misappropriated a large fraction of the victims’ funds. They spent the rest of the funds on publishing fraudulent advertisements to further their scheme.
Source: US Department of Justice
