Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, speaks at a press conference in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on October 22, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Former New York City police officer Jason Rodriguez pleads guilty to criminal conspiracy Wire transfer fraud Prosecutors said in a news release Thursday that this was related to his role as chief operating officer of the Exchange Investment Fund.
Rodriguez, 38, sued In February, he went on trial in Brooklyn federal court on charges that he lied to investors and lost most of the $4.8 million he invested in his foreign exchange investment fund, Technical Trading Team. To date, approximately $3.5 million of that amount has not been returned to investors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“The defendant deceived retail investors into investing in his company based on false promises that he would invest their funds in accordance with clear regulatory requirements, and he left the NYPD as a successful trader,” U.S. Attorney Officer Breon Pace said. “In fact, there were no guardrails, he resigned from the NYPD in disgrace, he lost most of his money, and he caused tremendous harm to his victims.”
Rodriguez falsely assured investors that if the company lost money, he could reimburse them through a “loss reserve account” and that he would not risk more than 1% of assets under management on a single trade.
“(Rodriguez) also misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for luxury car rentals, travel and other expenses,” Pease said after being indicted in February.
Rodriguez served as an NYPD officer for about seven years before pleading guilty to misdemeanors and resigning. Subsequently, he and CEO Edwin Carrion established the TTT Fund in 2020.
Previous court records show Carrion pleaded guilty to the scheme in January. He has not yet been sentenced in the case.
this Commodity Futures Trading Commission In 2023, TTT, Rodriguez, and Carrion filed a civil lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court alleging that they “made false and misleading statements regarding their investment record and the safety of investing in TTT pools to participants and potential participants.”
The complaint also alleges that after losing more than $3 million, Rodriguez and Carrion assured investors that they could recover their losses using artificial intelligence-based trading algorithms.
District Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. put the lawsuit on hold in March.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
