Texas Foreign Currency Trader and Developer of “Alpha One” Convicted of Securities Fraud

The owner of “Alpha One” has been convicted of Texas securities fraud for defrauding investors of millions of dollars. Robert David Watson, 50, pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday.

Watson admits that between 2003 and 2009, he employed deceptive and manipulative devices and contrivances related to the sale and purchase of investments in a series of trading enterprises that he formed. He also acknowledges that he raised tens of millions of dollars from investors and maintained custody and control of the money under the guise that he was using the funds to trade, sell, and buy foreign currencies.

Watson convinced people to put money in his ventures by making representations that he was looking to make money with the “Alpha One” model, which he developed and maintained. He claimed that the model has made high historical returns since 2000 and between June 2006 and February 2009 made an annualized return of 23.04%.

Now, however, Watson says that contrary to what he represented, he did not trade. Instead, he made minimal trades and made little-if any-profits. He also caused bogus account statements to be sent to investors through wire communication, US mail, or electronically and put together sham statements of bank accounts and trading activity to make the account statements appear legitimate. When investors took out these “returns” or their principal investments, he paid them with money from other investors rather than foreign currency trade profits. Despite not doing much trading, he paid himself hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly during the securities scam.

Alpha One: Foreign Currency Trader Convicted of Securities Fraud, LoanSafe, June 13, 2011

“Alpha One” Foreign Currency Trader Convicted of Securities Fraud, FBI, June 10, 2011

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Contact our Houston securities fraud lawyers today.