Operator of FX scheme Lucrative Pips gets arraigned on fraud charges
Kevin Perry has been arraigned on charges that he ran a foreign currency investment fraud scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia has announced that Kevin Perry, the operator of investment company Lucrative Pips, has been arraigned on fraud charges.
According to U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court, Perry allegedly led investors to believe that Lucrative Pips was successfully generating high profits by investing in the Forex market. Perry solicited investors to send money by signing agreements that claimed the investors’ initial investments were secure from loss.
In reality, however, Lucrative Pips was never registered as a “commodity pool operator” with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Furthermore, Perry had never generated the historical returns represented to investors, and he was using investor money to enrich himself or to pay off other investors, with the goal of enticing others to invest with him.
The indictment further alleges that even after the CFTC filed a civil complaint against Perry, he continued to make fraudulent investment pitches to potential investors. In December 2018, Perry made a series of fraudulent investment pitches to an undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a potential investor. Perry told the undercover FBI agent that an investment of $10,000 would return a profit of $19,000 to $25,000 per month and that he minimized any risk by doing a “100% money-back guarantee.”
Kevin Perry was arraigned Monday, February 25, 2019 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas. Perry is alleged to have committed wire fraud.
“Instead of living off well-earned investments, Perry’s alleged victims now have to worry about their financial futures,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Nothing can make victims of investment fraud whole again, but the FBI will continue to make it a priority to investigate and punish anyone who preys on investors for their own personal greed.”