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Tag: Enrique F. Villalba

  • Report By Small-Town Newspaper In Colorado Leads To Forex Ponzi Scheme Arrest In Chicago; FBI Nabs Mark Akins After Durango Herald Readers Provide Tips

    A fugitive suspected of helping organize a Forex Ponzi scheme that traded on a claim that a special “algorithm” led to hefty profits has been arrested in Chicago after a small-town Colorado newspaper 1,350 miles away reported he was wanted.

    The Durango Herald, which has a circulation of 9,400 and has received awards from the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Colorado Press Association over the years, reported earlier this month that Mark Akins was wanted for a scheme that allegedly had operated in Durango.

    Akins was accused of being the “gatekeeper” for the scheme, which netted at least $1.2 million and affected 70 investors.

    Also charged in the case was Frederick H.K. Baker of Utah. Baker already has made an initial court appearance in Utah. Akins is scheduled to make an appearance in Illinois next week, the Herald reported.

    After reading the Herald report that Akins was wanted, a woman contacted the newspaper to say she believed Akins was living in Chicago. The newspaper referred her to law enforcement.

    A reader in Chicago, meanwhile, said he contacted the FBI after reading the story, the Herald reported.

    The reader then emailed the paper to report that Akins had been arrested in the Windy City.

    “We saw your article and notified the FBI and he was arrested on Thursday night,” the reader told the newspaper.

    Read the Herald’s first story.

    Read the Herald’s follow-up story about the arrest of Akins.

    Claims of miraculous trading algorithms and fool-proof software are common in the universe of Forex hucksters.

    Robert Mihailovich Sr., a convicted felon, was charged by the CFTC last year with presiding over a Forex fraud that purportedly used a “mass sub-algorithm.” Mihailovich allegedly started the new scam after his release from prison in 2007.

    Enrique F. Villalba was charged last year with presiding over a futures fraud that allegedly used a unique “momentum filter.”

    Earlier this month, Jacob Juma Omukwe was charged in a Forex caper in which it was alleged he used software to trick customers into believing their money was segregated for safety.

    Anthony Eugene Linton was charged in January in a case that alleged he told customers that his miraculous software system let them “profit every time.”

  • FEDS: Former Police Officer Recruited Active-Duty and Retired Cops, Firefighters Into Ponzi Scheme, Defrauding Them Of Nearly $900,000

    In yet-another action brought through the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), a former police officer in a Cleveland suburb has been charged with operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded law-enforcement colleagues and firefighters out of $889,000, federal prosecutors said.

    Raymond Thomas, 49, who formerly lived in Mentor, Ohio, and served on the Warrensville Heights Police Department, also was charged with filing a false tax return that understated his income in 2006 by more than $186,000.

    “It is particularly troubling to discover that a former law enforcement officer has committed a crime, especially given that law enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the law,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio. “These charges allege that Thomas did more than just violate the laws he had sworn to uphold, they charge that he actually targeted the law enforcement community to sustain his Ponzi scheme.”

    Prosectutors alleged that Thomas told about 25 investors — many of whom included Cleveland-area active and retired police officers and firefighters — that money they invested with him would earn “above average fixed returns with below average risk.”

    Thomas purported that he owned three legitimate companies — Strictly Stocks Investment Co. Inc., JR Ventures and Adams Title Agency — and that “Strictly Stocks would make quarterly payments to investors from income derived from ‘trading only in stocks and options,’” prosecutors said.

    JR Ventures was described as a trucking business that included a car and limousine service, and Adams Title Agency was described as a real-estate management company, prosecutors said.

    Thomas told investors that there money could be entrusted to any or all of the three companies and would be used for no other purpose than to create legitimate investment income.

    But Thomas “did not invest the money as he represented,” prosecutors said. “Instead, [he] unlawfully commingled investor funds; used investor funds for unauthorized purposes, including to make Ponzi payments to previous investors; and misappropriated investor funds for his own purposes and personal use.”

    Using words that have been associated with various so-called “mini-Madoffs” accused of operating smaller Ponzi schemes in the aftermath of Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion scheme, prosecutors said that “Thomas sent numerous interest checks, quarterly dividend checks, and financial statements to investors.”

    President Obama formed the FFETF in November 2009.

    Dettelbach’s office has brought a number of Ponzi cases recently. Last month, David Harriett, 60, of Warren, Ohio, was charged with bilking investors by telling them he built franchise restaurants for McDonald’s and Pioneer Chicken.

    In March, Enrique F. Villalba, 47, of Cuyahoga Falls, was charged in a bizarre Ponzi scheme that allegedly combined the science of physics with a unique “momentum filter” that purportedly enabled him to predict how the futures market would behave with “an uncanny degree of certainty.”

    The Villalba scheme was conducted from Beachwood Ohio, prosecutors said.

    Villalba is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the University of Puget Sound School of Law.

    NOTE: This story has been republished at a URL that is different than its original URL. Although this post reflects a date of June 13, it is not the original publication date. Click here to read why.

  • Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Credited With Bust In Bizarre Ohio Ponzi Involving ‘Unique Momentum Filter’; Enrique F. Villalba Charged With Wire Fraud

    An Ohio man who graduated from West Point and earned a law degree in Washington state has been charged in a bizarre Ponzi and investment-fraud scheme that allegedly combined the science of physics with a unique “momentum filter” that purportedly enabled him to predict how the futures market would behave with “an uncanny degree of certainty.”

    Enrique F. Villalba, 47, of Cuyahoga Falls, was charged in the scheme, which was conducted from Beachwood Ohio, prosecutors said.

    Villalba is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and  the University of Puget Sound School of Law, prosecutors said. Separately, he was sued by the SEC and the CFTC.

    Prosecutors said investors losts millions of dollars in the scheme, and that Villalba used some of the money to fund coffee shops he owns in Hudson and Stow, Ohio. The coffee shops are known as “Rico Latte,” and the investment business was known as “Money Market Alternative LP.”

    Villalba called his investment methodology “Money Market Plus,” saying clients could realize long-term gains averaging between 8 percent and 12 percent, prosecutors said. The scheme collapsed last year, after perhaps operating for more than a decade.

    “Villalba represented that his knowledge of physics, when combined with his application of a unique ‘momentum filter,’ allowed him to predict with ‘an uncanny degree of certainty’ how the futures market would trend at various times during a given month, thereby allowing him to purchase and sell futures contracts to maximize gains,” prosecutors said.

    Investors were told Villalba would place stop orders as a hedge against losses, but he did not place the orders, causing investors to lose “millions of dollars,” prosecutors said.

    Money from investors was “converted” by Villalba to fund the coffee shops, buy property in Vermillion, Ohio, and also to make Ponzi payments to clients, prosecutors said.

    The scheme netted about $29.7 million, prosecutors said.

    “This case serves as an example to the public that the Department of Justice and the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force will fight fraud in order to protect the integrity of the financial markets,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach.

    “If you lie to investors, there will be a steep price to pay,” Dettelbach said. “This case resulted from tremendous coordination between the Department of Justice and civil enforcement agencies to protect the rights of investors all over the country.”

    President Obama started the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November.