Ponzi Schemes

June 19, 2014

The CFTC obtained a court Order requiring Texas resident Robert J. Andres and his company Winsome Investment Trust and California resident Robert L. Holloway and his company US Ventures LC to pay a civil penalty of $32M and restitution for defrauded customers totaling $12M for their fraud in the operation of a commodity futures pool.  Specifically, the Order found that the defendants fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $50M from at least 243 individuals to invest in a commodity futures pool by falsely claiming successful track record and guaranteeing the return of participants’ principal and profits.  In reality, however, their futures trading was not successful, sustaining overall net losses of approximately $10.7 million and they operated it like a Ponzi scheme and used participants' funds to pay personal and unrelated business expenses, and to pay for houses, cars, home furnishings, jewelry, lawn and maid services, and credit card bills.  In parallel criminal actions, Andres and Holloway were indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud.  CFTC