CFTC Charges Texas A&M Finance Professor Robert Watson, and Texas Attorney Daniel Petroski and their Companies with Fraud in Multi-Million Dollar Forex Scheme

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today charged Robert D. Watson (Wastson), an executive professor in the Department of Finance at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, Daniel J. Petroski (Petroski), a Texas lawyer and certified public accountant, with orchestrating a multi-million dollar fraudulent off-exchange foreign currency (forex) scheme. Watson and Petroski managed two companies, PrivateFX Global One Ltd., SA (Global One) and 36 Holdings Ltd. They are charged with defrauding U.S. investors by using forged bank records to make it appear they were earning spectacular returns in foreign exchange trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed a related emergency action against the Defendants.


In the two related actions brought actions the Defendants, the CFTC and SEC allege that the Defendants:

§  violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

§  grossly exaggerated their extremely successful historical performance of forex trading in order to entice investors to purchase shares of Global One

§   made false representations to Global One investors regarding Global One’s extraordinary forex trading profits and the concomitant returns these investors supposedly enjoyed

§  provided governing agencies with falsified account statements showing supposed profitable forex trades at an international brokerage house in order to conceal their fraud

§  produced to governing agencies false Swiss bank statements for 36 Holdings Ltd. in an attempt to conceal Defendants’ fraud and discourage further investigation

At the request of the plaintiffs, on the same day the complaint was filed, U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake froze Defendants’ assets and permitted the governing agencies to seize all relevant records in their possession. 

Court has set a Status Conference for May 29, 2009, although no date has been set for a preliminary injunction hearing.

To view related press release, please visit:

http://cftc.gov/newsroom/enforcementpressreleases/2009/pr5661-09.html

Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to start a forex hedge fund.

May 28, 2009 | Filed Under Forex Fraud

 

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