Danville, California, is a posh neighborhood, featuring many private-gated communities dotted with multi-million dollar homes. When one drives through one of these affluent developments, the thought of ill-gotten gains is difficult to ignore, especially since many high profile cases have centered on a few of its citizens. Peter Son is one of these criminal sideshows, responsible for bilking 500 investors out of $85 million to trade foreign exchange.
Following the standard Ponzi scheme playbook to the letter, Son solicited investor deposits by claiming he had an extremely profitable forex trading operation and would guarantee enormous monthly returns as proof of his success. In actuality, very little trading was ever consummated, but profits would pile up monthly on fraudulently prepared client account statements.
Son and his companies, SNC Asset Management, Inc. and SNC Investments, Inc., misappropriated customer deposits to pay purported profits and principal to clients, to pay money to Son’s wife, and for personal expenses such as mortgage payments, country club dues, and homeowner dues for his $2.6 million Blackhawk community home.
After disappearing for a year during an NFA investigation into lost funds, Son was arrested and pleaded guilty in 2010 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to 180 months in jail, but in October of 2011, the court ordered Son to pay $60 million in restitution, additional civil penalties, and to be permanently barred “from engaging in certain commodity-related activities and from future registration with the CFTC, among other things.”
Investors are counseled once again to beware of fund managers that make outrageous claims, refuse to produce creditable financial information, and lack regulatory approvals or licenses from the appropriate authorities. You are only asking for trouble if you ignore these basics of due diligence when choosing a business partner, especially one that purports to be an expert in foreign currency trading.
We recommend you to choose one of our approved and recommended brokers on this page.
Other spectacular frauds:
Bernard Madoff, one of the biggest forex frauds ever!
Capital Blu Management, millions of investor money spent on strip clubs, luxury cars and a private jet.
Read our extensive article on how to avoid forex frauds.
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