Chicago Scam Artist Spent Investors' $1.72M On World Series, Lollapalooza Tickets

CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago trader who admitted to pocketing more than $1.7 million of investors' money was sentenced to five and half years in prison Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors. Randall Rye, 26, pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year after he was accused of spending his clients' money on personal travel and entertainment expenses instead of using a computer algorithm to invest in options and futures contracts like he claimed he would, the US Attorney's Office said in a statement Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, Rye lured clients into investing with his Faster Than Light Trading LLC by promising big profits thanks to a proprietary trading program. That computer program, however, didn't exist, and Rye instead used the $1.72 million from 20 investors to line his own pockets. In order to conceal the fraud, he would send clients false account statements, but he was, in fact, spending the money as soon as he was receiving it, prosecutors said. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Rye used the rerouted investments to make cash withdrawals or to pay for high-end expenses, such as vacations to Bali and St. Lucia. In 2016, prosecutors claim he spent clients' money to buy pricey tickets to events, including:

• $110,000 for 14 World Series tickets
• $47,000 for five tickets to Lollapalooza
• $75,000 for a premium package ticket to the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia

“Randall Rye is a con man,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunil Harjani wrote in the government's memorandum before the 70-month sentence was handed down. "His brazen scheme, executed with little regard for his victims, is truly appalling. His victims, many of whom gave him part of their retirement savings, are suffering the consequences of his fraud.”

Photo via Shutterstock

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