The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is suing a Lawrenceville man, claiming he defrauded investors for nearly five years. Most recently, the man lured victims in by claiming they could “profit off the coronavirus,” the government agency said in the lawsuit.
Kenzley Ramos, known by multiple aliases including Anthony Green and Kenzley Jacobs, was sued in federal court Monday over an investment scheme the agency said is still ongoing. The suit was filed in the Dallas division of the Northern District of Texas U.S. District Court, and Ramos was listed as a Lawrenceville resident in orders from the Texas State Securities Board.
The agency claims Ramos has been misrepresenting himself as someone authorized to pool funds from multiple investors and use that money to trade foreign currency and stock options. The suit also claims Ramos illegally guaranteed returns, telling investors that each week they would earn returns equal to three times the amount of their investment.
Instead, Ramos kept the investor funds for his personal use, usually withdrawing cash from the false investment fund, which was held at a regular bank, the suit says.
Ramos could not be reached Tuesday. A phone number associated with his name was disconnected.
Ads targeting investors for this scheme were posted mainly on Craigslist, including the site’s boards for the Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas areas. Titles of these posts include “Stock market is crumbling, profit off the coronavirus with Forex,” according to the suit. Forex is an abbreviation for the foreign exchange market, the trading market for foreign currency, which can change in value relative to the U.S. dollar.
The ads included misleading images purporting to show Ramos' trading account holding almost $750,000 — he does not have a registered trading account, according to the agency — and profits of more than $450,000. Victims were pressured to send Ramos money quickly and only through online platforms like PayPal and Zelle, the suit says.
The Texas State Securities Board documented Ramos making these claims in an undercover investigation. Ramos identified himself as Anthony Green and said that Kenzley Ramos was the “finance guy” an investor should send their money to. Multiple investors told the Texas State Securities Board that they never received returns on their investment and Ramos refused to return their initial investments.
The state board in April filed a cease and desist order against Ramos, ordering him to stop the scheme. The federal lawusit seeks the same, as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims Ramos has not stopped.
The commission has charged Ramos with six violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and federal trading regulations. In the suit, it asks a judge to permanently ban him from trading commodities. The suit also demands Ramos pay back the money he took from investors and pay a fine to the federal government.
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