Trader gets prison in $1.5M investment fraud

Collazo-Godineaux had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering charges after being indicted for using his ACJ Capital Inc. to cheat 17 clients out of roughly $1.5 million.

Federal authorities alleged that Collazo-Godineaux solicited investors to open currency trading accounts (Forex accounts) and allow him to trade on their behalf pursuant to a power of attorney. The indictment said he misled potential investors by making “materially false and misleading” representations about his trading strategy.

Specifically, Collazo-Godineaux would show investors a printout of figures containing positive trading results he purportedly obtained using his trading strategy when, in fact, he had never obtained such results.

The indictment also stated that Collazo-Godineaux e-mailed false account statements to victims to cover up trading losses.

The money laundering charge stemmed from his purchase of a boat with the bilked investors’ money.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to preventing financial crimes and protecting Puerto Ricans,” U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia González said. “Joint efforts by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the FBI led to the arrest of this individual, who will no longer be able to defraud investors.