Convicted Crypto Investment Scammer Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for $249 Million Fraud
A man from Long Island, New York, who confessed to defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars through his EminiFX cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange platform, has been given a nine-year prison sentence.
Valley Stream resident Eddy Alexandre was sentenced Tuesday in Manhattan by U.S. District Judge John Cronan. Alexandre pleaded guilty in February to commodities fraud and agreed to forfeit $248.8 million he illegally made from his Ponzi scheme, which primarily targeted investors in New York’s Haitian-American community.
“This was a calculated, planned and sustained fraud,” Cronan said. “And the scope of the fraud was extensive.”
The program was implemented for only eight months, from September 2021 to May 2022. Alexandre, who hails from Haiti, promised investors a minimum return of 5% weekly on their investments. The scam quickly grew to 25,000 victims, and Alexandre ran EminiFX Inc. as a multi-level marketing scam that rewarded existing investors for bringing in new investors.
Prosecutors said Alexandre held a position of trust in his church and community, which he took advantage of to take money from poor and hardworking victims.
Community support
Since his arrest, Alexandre has received support from the Haitian-American community, with many attending his court to protest the charges.
During Tuesday’s sentencing, dozens of supporters filled Cronan’s courtroom and an overcrowded courtroom. Most wore identical lime green t-shirts emblazoned with his image, the EminiFX logo and the words “Together We Rise”, “Break the Chains” and “Justice for All”.
Two victims spoke in court, saying they had lost money with Alexandre and calling for a stiff sentence.
“Do you have a heart, Mr. Alexandre?” asked Phucien Baptiste, a nurse who said she lost the $25,000 she had saved for a down payment on a house.
A few supporters praised Alexandre for giving them hope.
Alexandre lost $6 million in funds he received from investors on the deal and sent more than $14 million to his personal bank account — spending $155,000 on a BMW and another $13,000 in car payments to a Mercedes Benz, the government said.
Prosecutors had asked Cronan to sentence Alexander to 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence under his plea deal with the government. Alexandre asked for leniency without elaborating on a particular sentence.
When Cronan handed down the nine-year sentence, his supporters looked grim, with many hanging their heads. One woman wore an extra t-shirt to dab at a tear.
The case is US v. Alexandre, 22-cr-326, US District Court, Southern District of New York.
