A month ago I published details of the alleged Ponzi Scheme operated by Beau Diamond who appeared to have lost over $38 millions of investors money and then disappeared.
Reuters reports that yesterday he was finally arrested and charged.
A Florida man has been arrested on charges he ran a $37 million Ponzi scheme that guaranteed customers a monthly return of up to 5 percent on money invested in foreign exchange trading, authorities said on Thursday.
Beau Diamond, a 31-year-old resident of Sarasota, was arrested late Wednesday based on a complaint against him and his Diamond Ventures LLC trading firm from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida said.
Since April 2006, the complaint said, Diamond solicited about $37 million from at least 200 clients "for the purported purpose of trading off-exchange foreign currency (Forex ) contracts."
Diamond suffered sizable losses through his trades in foreign currency, the complaint said. But he delivered, at least in part, on his "guaranteed monthly returns" of 2.75 percent to 5 percent by allegedly making fraudulent use of customers' deposits.
The CFTC complaint said Diamond, who was charged with operating a Ponzi scheme, offered commissions to clients who referred new customers to Diamond Ventures. He was being held pending a court hearing in Tampa on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
