CEO of crypto, FX platform pleads guilty to $248M fraud conspiracy

By: Mark Jessy

February 13, 2023 7:36 AM

Eddy Alexandre, the CEO of the alleged crypto trading platform EminiFX, faces up to ten years in prison for his role in the fraudulent scheme.

Eddy Alexandre, the CEO of the ostensibly crypto trading website EminiFX, has pled guilty to commodities fraud in a New York district court, promising to repay millions of dollars to investors who lost money due to his "cryptocurrency investment hoax."

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on February 10 that Alexandre pleaded guilty to one count of commodities fraud and would pay over $248 million in forfeiture and unspecified reparations.

Alexandre was arrested and accused in May 2022 for his involvement in EminiFX. He first pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea on February 10. He risks a maximum prison sentence of ten years.

Alexandre as seen in an EminiFX video from April 2022.

According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, Alexandre controlled the crypto and FX trading platform from roughly September 2021 to May 2022 and "solicited more than $248 million in investments from tens of thousands of individual investors."

Alexandre said EminiFX could provide "monthly returns of at least 5%," but in reality, the CEO did not invest a "significant amount" of the funds and "even spent some monies for personal purposes," according to Williams.

He promoted EminiFX as a platform for passive income that employed a secret new technology to automate trading in crypto and foreign currencies, "guaranteed" the stated returns on investment, and "guaranteed" the stated returns on investment.

Alexandre refused to tell investors what the technology was and promised them their money will be doubled in five months. Investors in the program were misled into believing they had obtained the claimed 5% returns.

Alexandre, in actuality, lost millions of dollars on the monies he did invest – funds he did not reveal to investors.

He also transferred $14.7 million to his personal bank account, where he spent $155,000 on a BMW and more on Mercedes-Benz payments.

Despite the fact that Alexandre committed fraud, several EminiFX investors supported him.

According to a Bloomberg report on August 10, a few people flew from abroad to attend a plea hearing in August 2022. One fan believed Alexandre's case was racist.

In addition, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is suing Alexandre for "fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation" connected to cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading.