Palos Verdes Estates Commodities Trader Admits to Scamming Clients Out of $3.6M

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, CA — A Palos Verdes Estates commodities trader pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago last week to pocketing a portion of his clients' money after falsely promising a 200-percent return on investment, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

David Bryant, 63, admitted in a plea agreement last Tuesday that he obtained money from investors by falsely representing that his company, the Bryant Family Investment Fund LLC, had successfully generated profits of more than 200 percent a year.

The fund, however, performed no trading in its name, and the trading that Bryant did in his personal accounts — using client funds — resulted in large losses, according to the FBI.

Bryant admitted fraudulently obtaining approximately $5.1 million from investors and a financial institution, and causing a loss to investors and others of approximately $3.6 million, the FBI said.

Bryant pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater.

Bryant was charged and tried in Chicago because some of his personal accounts were located there.

According to the plea agreement, Bryant attempted to make the scam appear legitimate by providing the victims with fraudulent documents that he created, including fictitious trading records and account statements that purported to reflect the clients' growing investment proceeds.

He further concealed the scheme by making Ponzi-type payments to other investors. Some of the money for the Ponzi payments came from a bank loan that Bryant fraudulently obtained by forging his mother's signature on a property deed and using it as collateral for the loan, according to the plea agreement.

Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18, 2017.