"Prop Firm" Operators Busted for $1.4 Million Dollar Fraud

[Baron]

A Thai man was arrested and charged with allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud hundreds of traders worldwide of at least $1.4 million through his operations of a purported online day trading firm, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced today.

Naris Chamroonrat, 33, of Bangkok, Thailand, is charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. Chamroonrat was arrested by special agents of the FBI on Dec. 20, 2016, at the Los Angeles International Airport in California.

From December 2013 to June 2015, it is alleged that Chamroonrat and his conspirators, including Adam L. Plumer of Las Vegas, solicited individual traders to open day-trading accounts with his company, Nonko Trading, and to wire thousands of dollars to the company to fund those accounts. Instead of using the money to fund the accounts, he and his conspirators allegedly stole $1.4 million from more than 260 investors in more than 30 countries. To cover up the theft, Chamroonrat provided the victims with “demo” accounts, but told the investors they were live accounts used to trade securities. The majority of the traders' funds were transferred to foreign bank accounts controlled by Chamroonrat and used for personal expenses or other unauthorized transactions. The victims of the scheme included at least 180 traders from the United States.

 

[vanzandt]

Jumble the letters in his name around... "A chatroom'. Which is probably where he met his marks.

 

[dealmaker]

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2016/comp-pr2016-273.pdf

 

[zdreg]

Jumble the letters in his name around... "A chatroom'. Which is probably where he met his marks.

iacocca chairman of chrysler
I am chairman chrysler corporation america.
(1979-1992)

 

[lawrence-lugar]

Jumble the letters in his name around... "A chatroom'. Which is probably where he met his marks.

Chamroonrat

All foreign and 'new' names you've never heard before naturally sound sketchy. -- much more so...if the word Rat is part of his last name

Having a good name is kind of important in life -- that's why actors and actresses usually change their birth names to something that sounds more sexy/exciting/better sounding.

 

[propwarrior]

I dont understand how this can happen. Surely if you are provided with a demo account you will notice your trades are not showing on the tape.

 

[comagnum]

Ran into this article today along the same lines.

CFTC Charges Brett G. Hartshorn of Sarasota, Florida with Soliciting at Least $906,000 in an Off-Exchange Foreign Currency Fraud Scheme
Hartshorn Allegedly Misappropriated Client Funds, Failed to Register with the CFTC, and Failed to Produce Books and Records
Hartshorn Typically Met his Victims at Church or Socially in His Local Community
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charging Brett G. Hartshorn of Sarasota, Florida, with fraudulently soliciting and/or managing at least $906,000 from retail clients to invest in off-exchange foreign currency (forex), misappropriating at least $57,414 of client funds for his own personal benefit, failing to register with the CFTC as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), and failing to produce books and records to the CFTC.

The CFTC Complaint alleges that, from at least June 18, 2008 to in or around 2014, Hartshorn fraudulently solicited at least 13 retail clients to invest in off-exchange forex on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis and to give Hartshorn discretionary authority to trade forex on their behalf. Hartshorn typically met his victims at church or socially in his local community, according to the Complaint. As alleged, Hartshorn told most clients that 1) he had profitably traded forex on behalf of himself and others, 2) clients could expect substantial profits if they permitted him to trade forex on their behalf, and 3) he would limit the risk of loss to client funds.

Statements to Clients Were Allegedly False

However, according to the Complaint, these statements to clients were false because Hartshorn employed risky trading strategies and failed to disclose his pattern and history of losses – often large single-day losses – trading on behalf of clients. Furthermore, as alleged, Hartshorn did not disclose to clients that under his so-called "profit" sharing arrangement, he could be (and often was) compensated, even as client trading losses accumulated.

In addition, Hartshorn allegedly misappropriated client funds for his own personal benefit, while failing to disclose his misappropriation to clients. Hartshorn also acted as a CTA without registering as such with the CFTC, in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations, and he failed to produce books and records in response to CFTC subpoenas that he was required to maintain as a CTA, according to the Complaint.

In its continuing litigation against Hartshorn, the CFTC seeks, among other relief, restitution to defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, a civil monetary penalty, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of federal commodities laws, as charged.

The CFTC thanks and acknowledges the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Sarasota, Florida) and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.

 

[Sig]

I dont understand how this can happen. Surely if you are provided with a demo account you will notice your trades are not showing on the tape.

I think if you're the type of person to fall for this you're the type of person who wouldn't think to check. I read an interesting article where a Nigerian scammer claimed they purposely used poor grammer and obviously fake info to screen out everyone with an ounce of credulity who might back out after the scammer invested time in them. That left him with a smaller pool of people, but they were much more likely to actually fall for the scam.