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Long Island resident Eddy Alexandre, age 50, of Valley Stream, the leader of a purported cryptocurrency and forex trading platform called EminiFX, has been charged with commodities fraud and wire fraud offenses, according to US Attorney Damian Williams.
It is alleged that Alexandre solicited more than $59 million in investments from hundreds of individual investors after making false representations in connection with the EminiFX trading platform.
He was arrested on Thursday, May 12, and scheduled to appear in court later in the day.
According to prosecutors, beginning in September 2021 and lasting through May 2022, Alexandre operated EminiFX, a purported investment platform he founded, and solicited funding from hundreds of investors.
It is alleged that Alexandre marketed the company as an investment platform through which investors would earn passive income through automated investments in cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading.
Williams said that Alexandre offered his investors “guaranteed” high investment returns using new technology that he claimed was secret.
Specifically, Alexandre falsely represented to investors that they would double their money within five months of investing by earning a 5 percent weekly return on their investment using a “Robo-Advisor Assisted account” to conduct trading.
Authorities said that Alexandre referred to his tech as his “trade secret,” refusing to tell investors what it was, and alter falsely representing to investigators that they had earned their percentage on the investment, which could then be withdrawn or re-invested.
In reality, Williams said that the company did not earn 5 percent weekly returns for investigators - which Alexandre was allegedly aware of - and most of the money was never even invested.
It is alleged that during his time operating the scheme, Alexandre actually lost more than $6 million in the funds he actually invested, which was not disclosed. Instead of using investor funds as was promised, Williams said that he instead misdirected at least $14.7 million dollars to his personal bank account to live a lavish lifestyle.
Specifically, Alexandre used $155,000 in investor funds to purchase a BMW car for himself and spent an additional $13,000 of investor funds on car payments, including to Mercedes Benz.
Alexandre was charged with one count each of commodities fraud and wire fraud. If convicted on the charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
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