EminiFX Update: Distribution of $154 million lingers, Alexandre lawyer now represents Trump 

NEW YORK—Some defrauded EminiFX investors, already feeling the pain of the wait as millions of dollars are yet to be distributed to them are also fending off new scams related to the long claim verification and funds distribution process. Meanwhile, convicted EminiFX ex-CEO Eddy Alexandre, is representing himself after rejecting a government consent order and his lawyer went to work on Donald Trump’s hush-money case.

“It’s very hard to keep up,” said investor Margarette Dominique, a Winter Haven, Fla. retiree living with a disability. “I’m waiting for this money. I need the money to pay my bills, my mortgage.”

In the latest filings in the civil court case, the EminiFX Ponzi scheme is said to have amassed more than $260 million and spread to at least 30,000 people worldwide, mostly Haitians. The two figures are slightly higher than those cited in the now-closed criminal case. 

Attorney David Castleman, the court-appointed receiver in charge of recovering EminiFX assets and distributing them, reported that his team has recovered $154 million in total. Castleman said about $144 million is in a high yield savings account that earned $1.2 million in interest in the first quarter of 2024. Another $9.4 million — comprising money from real estate transactions, employee salaries, bank and brokerage accounts, office supply liquidation and other sources linked to Alexandre’s name — was in a separate account.

“Everyone is just waiting now for the money. It’s tough,” Phucien Baptiste, a defrauded Eminifx investor based in Georgia, said. “There’s no date. The receiver is only saying end of the year, maybe next year.

“We don’t know what’s happening with the money, if they’ll share that with us or give us our full money back,” Baptiste added. “It’s tough.”

Castleman said the earliest that money might be distributed is the third or fourth quarter of 2024, meaning end of the year. A total of 25,768 users submitted transaction claims through the EminiFX user portal. About 20,000 matched the company’s records and another 5,000 claims do not. In all, Castleman’s team is reviewing more than 120,000 the transactions, totaling about $260 million. 

As the team completes that step, they are also developing an initial distribution plan to submit to Judge Valerie Caproni, who is presiding over the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) case against Alexandre. Caproni must then approve the plan before it can be implemented.

“We said in the court papers that we’ll do it as soon as practicable. We’re going to submit [the plan] as soon as we can,” Castleman said Friday during a phone interview. “‘Soon’ isn’t super precise, but I don’t want to have them [investors] rely on a date.

“We’re very sympathetic to the fact that people are relying on funds, and that might mean that we distribute in waves,” he added.

Investors face new round of fake information 

While the process moves along, false information about it appears to be flowing through word of mouth and social media. 

Dominique said she had heard that the distribution would take place this month, which is false. Other investors have been targeted in what appears to be phishing scams, where fraudsters promise they can get their money back quicker from the receiver — for a fee. Some even point to the legitimate user portal to give the impression that they are part of the receiver’s team.

False information has become so common since the claims submission closed in February that Castleman posted a warning about it on the portal.

“Rumors are what they are,” Castleman said. “The status reports and what’s on our website are where people can get the most updates to draw information.

Alexandre breaks with lawyers, makes new claims to funds  

Attorney Emil Bove withdrew as Alexandre’s lawyer in February. He left the firm Chiesa Shahinian Giantomasi (CSG) to join Blanche Law, according to country documents. Bove was then seen actively defending Trump in the courtroom during the falsified business records hush-money case where the former president was found guilty on 34 counts. 

Meanwhile, Alexandre now represents himself while

serving a 9-year sentence for fraud at FCC Allenwood-Low, a Pennsylvania minimum security federal prison. Using what he said is “a 1980s typewriter,” Alexandre has mostly mailed letters to the judge contesting a few motions and rulings.

One is a consent order “that would have resolved the case” reached in December 2023. It entails the receiver representing EminiFX investors’ in the civil case. 

Another contested ruling is the settlement agreement the receiver made to give $160,500 to a couple from whom Alexandre was in contract to purchase a Manhasset property for $5.4 million when he was arrested in May 2022. At the time, he had placed a $535,000 deposit on the property. 

Christopher and Maureen Beil filed a claim through the receivership for damages of between $700,048.25 or $1,015,048.25. They argued that when Alexandre failed to close on the house in July 2022, they ended up selling it for $4.5 million. The Beils sued to keep the deposit, which the government had seized, arguing they deserved to keep it since Alexandre’s failure to close caused the lower sale.

Alexandre has argued the Beils do not deserve the money because they “cooked up” the closing date after  learning about his arrest and multimillion-dollar scheme.

Others who have filed claims with the receivership and received settlements include UAB Star Ventures, the parent company of CoinPayments, and office landlord E. 34th Suites for money EminiFX owed them.

People like Dominique, however, continue to wait for the recovered funds since they did not have contracts. To make ends meet, she has begun selling beauty products for some income.

“I have to do something,” Dominique said recently. “I have to try.”

The post EminiFX Update: Distribution of $154 million lingers, Alexandre lawyer now represents Trump  appeared first on The Haitian Times.

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EminiFX Update: Distribution of $154 million lingers, Alexandre lawyer now represents Trump  was first posted on June 13, 2024 at 11:57 am.