November 4, 2011

Court Orders Jeffery A. Lowrance and His Company to Pay More than $4.5 Million for Operating Foreign Currency Ponzi Scheme

Court’s order permanently bars Lowrance from commodity-related activity

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced it obtained a default judgment and permanent injunction against Jeffery Alan Lowrance, formerly of Houston, Texas, and his New Zealand company, First Capital Savings and Loan (First Capital). They are required to pay jointly and severally a $3.3 million civil monetary penalty and $1.2 million in restitution for a fraudulent off-exchange foreign currency (forex) scheme (see CFTC Press Release 6074-11, July 15, 2011).

The consent order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against Lowrance and First Capital and requires any person or entity providing web-hosting or domain registration hosting services for the defendants to remove from the Internet any websites that solicit customers to trade commodity futures or forex.

The order, entered by Judge Elaine E. Bucklo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, finds that since at least June 2008 through at least February 2011, Lowrance and First Capital fraudulently solicited at least 36 investors to trade forex by falsely claiming to be successful forex traders. They promised 1.1 percent to 4.15 percent monthly returns on investments and posted false customer account statements on First Capital’s website showing monthly profits.

The court also found that the defendants failed to deposit customer funds into forex trading accounts and, instead, misappropriated all of the customers’ funds. Lowrance and First Capital used customer funds to finance the creation of a religious newspaper, provide funds to Lowrance’s family members, pay Lowrance’s personal expenses, and pay purported profits or the return of principal to existing investors, in a manner typical of a Ponzi scheme, according to the order.

The CFTC coordinated its investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, which indicted Lowrance for allegedly operating a $25 million fraud scheme and obtained his extradition from Peru (see USA v. Jeffery Lowrance, 09 CR 00578 (Aug. 5, 2010, N.D. Ill.) (Norgle J.)).

The CFTC also appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed a related action against Lowrance and First Capital in the Northern District of California on July 14, 2011 (See CV-11-3451-EJD (July 14, 2011, N.D. Ca.) (Davila, J.)).

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Jennifer S. Diamond, Elizabeth M. Streit, Joy McCormack, Scott R. Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard B. Wagner.

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: November 4, 2011