Securities Broker Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Investment Fraud

ORLANDO—U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell today sentenced Gurudeo "Buddy" Persaud (47, Orlando) to three years in federal prison for mail fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also ordered Persaud to pay $948,340 in restitution to the victims of his scheme.

According to the plea agreement, Persaud, a licensed securities broker, formed White Elephant Trading Company LLC in 2007. White Elephant was a private equity fund that purportedly invested in securities on the national markets. Persaud solicited investors by telling them that he would generate profits using his trading skills and that he would make all trading decisions. Persaud guaranteed investors rates of return of between six and 18 percent that were payable in a short period of time. However, Persaud used a trading strategy that was based on lunar cycles and the gravitational pull between the moon and the Earth. Furthermore, Persaud did not invest all the money that he received from investors but instead used money from later investors to pay earlier investors and used significant portions of the money for his own personal use. Persaud defrauded investors out of more than $1million.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Haas.