Mark Francis McCabe, former sole director of Guevara Capital Access (GCA) and Online Trading Capital (OTC), both companies currently deregistered, has pleaded guilty in Australia to three offenses of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, with a further four offenses to be taken into account on sentencing.
The maximum penalty for an offense of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception under s192E(1)(b) of the Crimes Act is 10 years imprisonment. A sentence hearing date is expected to be fixed by 1 November 2024.
This matter is being prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Users were trading on demo accounts instead of real accounts
According to the complaint, Mark McCabe dishonestly obtained a financial advantage between October 2015 and May 2020 of $940,350 from eight victims, seven of who were former clients of Guevara Capital Access (GCA) and Online Trading Capital (OTC).
He told investors he would provide them with access to foreign exchange trading accounts with access to “capital” funds (in these accounts in specific amounts) to trade in a profit share arrangement on a trading platform provided by a third party.
Instead, McCabe only provided “test” accounts that were not capable of placing real foreign exchange trades. Investors used these “test” accounts to conduct what they believed to be genuine trading. However, no actual trading took place.
Instead of using payments made by investors to pay for funded foreign exchange trading accounts, or to engage in trading on their behalf, Mark McCabe misappropriated the investors’ funds and used them for his own benefit to pay for business and personal expenses, such as rental payments, private school fees, and various credit card purchases.
