James Blackman Roberts, 71, was sentenced Friday to wire fraud charges. He entered a guilty plea in May 2008 on one count of wire fraud.
During his plea, Roberts acknowledged that when he began obtaining heavy losses in foreign currency exchange trading, he began a PONZI scheme telling investors that he was getting high returns on investments by paying earlier investors with tlater investor’s money.
Roberts admitted that he posted gains on a website used by investors to see the current status of their investment when I fact there were substantial losses.
There were more than 400 investors throughout the United States and Central America that fell victim to this scheme.
Roberts admitted that the loss attributed to his fraudulent conduct was $43,456,674.
Along with 180 months, or 15 years, in prison, he is sentenced to repay the $43 million plus as well as adding three years probation after he gets out of prison.
Press Release: U.S. Department of Justice