ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando man could face decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges stemming from a multimillion-dollar investment and wire fraud scheme.
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According to a plea agreement filed Monday in the Middle District of Florida, from February 2013 to September 2020, 42-year-old Avinash Singh ran a company called Highrise Advantage LLC and defrauded more than 1,100 victims. It received more than $57 million.
According to the plea agreement, Singh planned to encourage his victims to invest by falsely claiming that he had a track record as a foreign exchange trader and that they would not lose their money even if they lost money trading.
The funds were to be invested in retail foreign exchange contracts, or “foreign exchange”, through Mr Singh's business.
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Investigators say that instead of investing the victims' funds in foreign exchange as promised, Singh used funds from one investor to pay a debt to another investor.
Instead of investing the funds as promised, Mr. Singh misappropriated at least $45 million in payments to other investors and millions of dollars worth of personal expenses.
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Singh pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.
He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud charge and up to 10 years on each money laundering charge.
Mr. Singh also agreed to forfeit the $57 million he obtained through the fraudulent scheme and two personal homes he purchased with the fraudulently obtained funds.
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A sentencing date has not been set.
This case was investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, the St. Cloud IRS Federal Financial Crimes Task Force, and the Florida Department of Financial Regulation, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda S. Daniels.
Asset recovery will be handled by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole M. Andreyko.
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