Massive Ponzi Scheme Enjoined and Fraudster Barred

Defendant Bo-Alan Beckman, through his registered investment advisory firm Oxford Private Client Group, LLC, lured at least 143 investors in a fraudulent, unregistered offering of investments in a purported foreign currency trading venture, raising at least $47.3 million (as only part of a still bigger fraud). He promised Investors that their money would be held in a segregated account, there was little or no risk to their money, they would receive guaranteed returns ranging from 10.5% to 12% per year, and they could withdraw their money at any time. These representations were uniformly false, and a significant portion of the money was never invested but used instead for Ponzi payments and for Bo-Alan Beckman and his wife to live the high life (among other things). He was sentenced to prison for 30 years and ordered to make restitution of over $150 million in a parallel criminal proceeding.