Arizona Executive Arrested in Foreign Currency Trading Scam

BOSTON – An Arizona man was charged in an indictment unsealed today with defrauding numerous victims who invested in his foreign currency trading company. 

David Prescott, 44, formerly of Boston, was charged with 16 counts of wire fraud.  Prescott, who previously went by the name of David Weeks, was arrested today in Arizona.

According to the indictment, David Prescott was the owner and President of Cambridge Currency Partners, LLC (CCP), which was purportedly engaged in the business of buying and selling foreign currency.  Prescott falsely represented to investors that their funds would be invested in CCP and used for business purposes, and that the investors would receive a monthly return.  In fact, Prescott used the majority of the funds on personal expenses and repayments to other investors.

As part of the scheme, Prescott allegedly solicited investors by promising monthly returns ranging from one to six percent with little to no risk to the underlying principal.  The indictment alleges that Prescott made false representations to the investors regarding the balances in their accounts and made payments to them that purported to be interest, but that, in fact, simply consisted of money from other investors.  As a result, Prescott was allegedly able to secure multiple investments from the same investors.  On one occasion, Prescott allegedly emailed an investor and promised to increase the interest paid on her previous investments if she were willing to invest additional funds, even though Prescott had already spent the majority of her previous investments on personal expenses and repayments to other investors.

The charging statute provides a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, and restitution.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander H. Berlin of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.