BULLETIN: Church Pastor Was Running Forex Ponzi Scheme, CFTC Says; Agency Gets Emergency Asset Freeze Against Jeremiah C. Yancy

A church pastor targeted congregants in a Forex Ponzi scheme in which he misappropriated at least $462,000, the CFTC said.

The pastor, Jeremiah C. Yancy, previously had been implicated by Idaho regulators in a real-estate swindle and scheme to sell unregistered securities that resulted in ruinous losses for investors, according to records.

Yancy also is known as Jeremiah Christian Yancy, Jeremiah C. Yancey, Jeremiah C. Glaub, Jeremy Christian Glaub and Jeremiah Christian Glaub, regulators said. The Idaho real-estate scheme was centered around the city of Nampa in the Boise and Meridian region, according to records.

When the real-estate fraud scheme was collapsing, Yancy turned to a Forex fraud scheme, according to the Idaho Securities Bureau.

In the CFTC case, Yancy and a company known as Longbranch Group International LLC were charged with operating a Forex Ponzi scheme that targeted at least 64 people, including church members.

“Yancy and Longbranch told prospective customers that they managed forex trading for non-profit organizations, including churches and orphanages,” CFTC said.

Clients were recruited through “fund-raising entities,” telephone conference calls set up by the entities and email pitches, the CFTC said.

Customers were promised “monthly returns of 20 to 40 percent from forex trading” and given false account statements, the CFTC said. Some customers allegedly were told their principal would be guaranteed.

“Yancy and Longbranch allegedly sent prospective customers account statements from demonstration forex trading accounts showing high returns from accounts purportedly containing up to $10 million traded by the defendants,” the CFTC said. “Defendants, however, did not inform customers that these forex accounts were demonstration and/or test accounts and did not represent actual customer account trading.”

The CFTC case was filed in federal court in Houston. Yancy’s last-known address was in Atoka, Okla., the CFTC said.

Read the CFTC complaint, which also alleges that Yancy was unlicensed and that his clients were not qualified investors.

Read the Idaho complaint from 2009, which was decided against Yancy earlier this year by default. Idaho regulators alleged that Yancy often spoke to church-connected groups and told attendees that he had risen above a difficult childhood to become a successful family man and businessman.

Yancy was ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution and more than $450,000 in penalties in the Idaho case.

“When the real estate investments failed, Yancy solicited friends, fellow church members and previous investors to invest with him in a foreign currency program,” Idaho investigators said in February. “Yancy was not properly registered to engage in foreign currency trading as required by the Idaho Commodity Code. Idaho investors who participated in Yancy’s foreign currency trading program have not received a return of their investment or any profit.