The Acting US Attorney General, John Horn, has found Stafford S. Maxwell guilty for scamming investors out of more than $1 million in a Ponzi scheme.
Maxwell was Chief Executive of fraudulent FX trading firm, Millennium Capital Exchange Inc. From 2008 to 2012, the firm solicited investment from clients across the US totalling more than $1 million, promising them fixed rates of returns derived from the firm's trading activities.
However, Forex trading was conspicuously absent. Instead, the firm lost almost every dollar. Maxwell used the investors’ funds, which were received in a Swiss bank account, to perpetuate the scam.
He transferred about half of the money back to earlier investors, falsely claiming that he was paying ‘dividends’ on their initial investments. The rest of the money was siphoned off to pay for Maxwell’s personal expenses.
Sentencing for Maxwell is scheduled for September 2, 2015.
The case is just the most recent example of a wider crackdown on dirty traders. Both US and UK regulators have vowed to hold individuals accountable for financial crime.
