A former trader in foreign currencies pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court Friday to charges that he swindled $5 million out of 400 investors in a Ponzi-like trading scheme.
Jeffery Lowrance, 50, was extradited Thursday from Peru where he was arrested earlier this year and lived since 2009. He is in federal custody until his detention hearing July 25.
According to the indictment, between August 2004 and July 2009, Lowrance and others fraudulently solicited investments for two businesses claiming to buy and sell foreign currencies. He allegedly told investors that they would be paid 4 to 7 percent interest per month on their investments but used only a small portion of the money he received to trade.
Instead, Lowrance used most of the money to fund a start-up newspaper called "USA Tomorrow," according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have launched separate civil complaints against Lowrance and his businesses -- Mentor Investing Group, Inc. and First Capital Savings & Loan, Ltd…...
Read more at http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-former-trader-charged-with-swindling-5-million-to-fund-newspaper-20110715,0,3839503.story
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