- The Manhattan federal court has sentenced EminiFX CEO Eddy Alexandre to nine years in prison.
- Alexandre defrauded over 25,000 investors out of $248 million through his crypto and forex platform.
- The sentence came more than four months after the crypto fraudster pled guilty to commodities fraud.
The Manhattan federal court has handed EminiFX founder and CEO Eddy Alexandre a nine-year sentence for perpetrating a crypto ponzi scheme and netting hundreds of millions of dollars from thousands of investors. The sentence came more than four months after Alexandre pled guilty to commodities fraud earlier this year.
Over 25,000 Investors Defrauded Through Crypto & Forex Platform
According to a report by Bloomberg, U.S. District Judge John Cronan sentenced Eddy Alexandre to nine years in prison for perpetrating a ponzi scheme and defrauding over 25,000 investors out of more than $248 million through his crypto and forex platform. The EminiFX CEO previously agreed to forfeit $248.8 million as part of his plea deal.
Alexandre managed to net over $248 million between September 2021 and May 2022. He lured more than 25,000 investors by offering attractive returns of 5% per week. However, the crypto and forex platform was operated as a multilevel marketing scheme, where old investors were encouraged to get new users for the platform.
Most egregiously, Alexandre recruited many of his investors by exploiting his position of trust within his church and the Haitian community, even going so far as to enlist members of the church to help recruit EminiFX investors.”
Damian Williams, the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York
As per a press release by the United States Department of Justice, Eddy Alexandre invested a fraction of the money entrusted to him. However, the limited investments blew up, leading to millions of dollars in losses. He also diverted approximately $14.7 million to his personal bank account and splurged over $155,000 of customer funds to buy a BMW for himself. His lavish spending also included a $13,000 payment to Mercedes Benz.