MONTROSE, Colo. (KREX) – A federal grand jury indicted a Montrose man and former FBI agent for a foreign currency - or forex - trading scheme, U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said.
Jeffrey Royer, 61, is charged with one count of commodities fraud and one count of wire fraud. Royer faces up to 25 years for the first count and 20 years for the second.
The FBI - assisted by the Montrose Police Department - arrested Royer Thursday
“Investment fraud is simply a sophisticated means to steal people’s money,” Ison said in a press release. “Our office has an unwavering commitment to prosecuting any and all fraudsters who take advantage of the residents of this district.”
Royer was an FBI special agent from 1996 to 2001. Royer was convicted in 2005 for federal securities fraud among other charges before being released seven years later, the release said.
From 2020 through June 2023, Royer was allegedly part of an investment fraud scheme involving his personal forex trading account, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He fraudulently solicited and reportedly took over $1 million from various investors in the Eastern District of Michigan and elsewhere before losing the money trading forex, the release said.
"It was part of the scheme that Royer told investors that he would pool investor funds with his own money in the forex account and use the funds for forex trading to generate investment returns," according to the indictment. "To induce investors, Royer told investors that his goal was to generate investment returns of 10% per month for investors and that he would only keep returns above 10% for himself."
The justice department reported Royer didn't disclose his losses instead allegedly lying to investors with fake monthly account statements showing gains rather than the losses he incurred.
In June 2023, Royer emailed investors telling them their money was gone but he did not say he stopped trading several months earlier after having a few dollars remaining in his account, according to the indictment.
“I am grateful to our FBI Michigan team, alongside members from the FBI Grand Junction Resident Agency and the Montrose Police Department in Colorado, for their investigative work and arrest in this case,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in the release.
“Today’s indictment of former FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Royer is important to ensure the public, regardless of an individual’s current or former profession, if you engage in foreign currency trading schemes, the FBI will investigate and arrest you.”
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