Dead NC Trader Accused Of $40M Ponzi Scheme

Dead NC Trader Accused Of $40M Ponzi Scheme - 3/18/2009

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

Dead NC Trader Accused Of $40M Ponzi Scheme
Christie Smythe

Securities Law 360. March 18, 2009
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EXCERPT: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed suit against now-deceased Bruce Kramer and his investment company Barki LLC — as well as two recipients of his allegedly ill-gotten gains, Rhonda Kramer and Forest Glen Farm LLC — over a purported foreign currency trading Ponzi scheme. The agency filed its complaint Tuesday, as well as a request for a temporary restraining order freezing the defendants’ assets, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The suit is seeking monetary penalties and injunctive relief prohibiting the defendants from dealing in the commodities futures market, as well as the return of any assets allegedly transferred to Rhonda A. Kramer, the deceased man's widow. Judge Graham Mullen immediately granted the temporary restraining order request, finding it in the best interest of alleged victims of the scheme. According to the complaint, Midland, N.C., resident Bruce Kramer solicited at least $40 million from at least 79 individual investors for a purported trading in foreign currencies on an off-exchange basis through Barki LLC, allegedly representing that there was little risk to the plan because Kramer had a proprietary trading system. He promised the investors that they would receive monthly returns of at least three to four percent, the CFTC alleged. “Kramer, who claimed to be an expert mathematician, told customers and prospective customers that his trading system was a software program that allowed him to evaluated market trends and situations, aiding him in making successful trades,” the complaint said. Between January 2003 and September 2008, Kramer opened four trading accounts in the name of Barki as corporate proprietary trading accounts, using them to trade on a leveraged basis, the CFTC said. However, the CFTC said, Kramer deposited only $17.6 million of customer funds into foreign exchange trading accounts, which sustained losses of about $10 million…

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