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On Thursday morning, a New York man was arrested and charged with fraud for his role in an alleged crypto investing scheme that the FBI claims defrauded investors of $59 million.
Eddy Alexandre, 50, is the CEO of EminiFX, a cryptocurrency and forex trading platform based in Valley Stream, New York. Alexandre founded and ran EminiFX beginning in September, authorities say, and convinced "hundreds of individual investors" to invest with him.
Alexandre is a cybersecurity engineer with nearly 30 years of experience, most recently as a senior IT professional at WarnerMedia, according to his social media profiles.
According to the criminal complaint, Alexandre promised investors that he could double their money in five months by using secretive robo-advising technology to generate 5% weekly returns.
Authorities claim Alexandre failed to invest the "vast majority of investor funds entrusted to him [and] sustained losses on the limited portion of funds that he did invest," according to authorities.
He is accused of spending $15 million of the investor funds on personal expenses, depositing money in his personal bank accounts, and spending $170,000 on luxury vehicle purchases.
According to the FBI, investors were led to believe that their accounts were growing by 5-10% per week thanks to doctored account statements posted on EminiFX's website. Alexandre allegedly told concerned investors that his firm had "experienced traders" making investments on their behalf, but never told them what they were investing in.
According to the complaint, Alexandre also used customer funds for business expenses such as renting an office, holding a gala, and hiring lawyers. He allegedly used a multi-level marketing-style recruitment model, as well as the office and other promotional events, to find new investors.
Alexandre faces one count of commodities fraud and one count of wire fraud. The charges carry maximum prison sentences of ten and twenty years, respectively.
By fLEXI tEAM