Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, speaks at a press conference on October 22, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Former New York City police officer Jason Rodriguez pleads guilty to conspiracy charges Transfer fraud Prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that the charges relate to his role as chief operating officer of a foreign exchange investment fund.
Rodriguez, 38, was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn in February on charges that he lied to investors and lost most of the $4.8 million he put into a foreign exchange investment fund called Technical Trading Team. To date, approximately $3.5 million of these funds have not been returned to investors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“The defendant deceived retail investors into investing in his company based on false promises that his money would be invested according to clear guardrails. He became a successful trader and left the NYPD,” said U.S. attorney Breon Pace. said. This was announced by the Eastern District of New York City. “In reality, there were no guardrails, and he resigned from the NYPD in disgrace, lost most of his money, and caused great harm to his victims.”
Mr. Rodriguez falsely reassured investors that if the company suffered a loss, it could be repaid through a “loss reserve account” and that he would never risk more than 1% of assets under management on a single trade.
”[Rodriguez] He also misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars for luxury car rentals, travel expenses, and other expenses,” Peace said in February after the indictment.
Rodriguez served as an NYPD officer for about seven years before pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges and resigning. Later, in 2020, he established TTT Fund with CEO Edwin Carrion.
Carrion pleaded guilty to the scheme in January, according to previous court records. He has not yet been sentenced in this case.
of Commodity Futures Trading Commission In 2023, a civil lawsuit was filed in Brooklyn federal court against TTT, Rodriguez, and Carrion, alleging that they had made “false and misleading statements regarding the investment performance and safety of the TTT Pool’s investments to participants and potential participants.” accused of doing so.
The complaint also alleges that after Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Carrion lost more than $3 million, they assured investors that they could recover their losses using artificial intelligence-based trading algorithms.
The lawsuit was blocked by District Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr. in March.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
