Former NYPD Cop Turned Forex Investment Fund Operator Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
Former NYPD cop Jason Rodriguez pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Federal prosecutors indicted Rodriguez in his role as the COO of Technical Trading Team, LLC (Technical Trading Team).
Prosecutors say Rodriguez deceived retail investors into investing with his company based on false promises. Those false promises included he would invest their money in accordance with clear guardrails. He also claimed he had left the NYPD because of his success as a trader. In reality, there were no guardrails. He resigned from the NYPD in disgrace. He also lost most of the money in his scheme. Thus inflicting substantial harm on his victims.
The indictment indicated Rodriguez founded Technical Trading Team in April 2020. Rodriguez served as Chief Operating Officer and pitched the fund as focused on foreign exchange (forex) investment. He also represented that he was in charge of all trading. Rodriguez promised investors that Technical Trading Team would have a “loss reserve account.”
This account would be used to repay investors if the company lost money trading. He also stated Rodriguez would never risk more than 1% of assets under management on any single trade.
Rodriguez made these promises to assure investors that their investments would be safe. However, Rodriguez and Technical Trading Team broke all of these promises. Rodriguez lost more and more money in the forex markets.
He used new investor money to pay older investors the promised investment returns. Between April 2020 and September 2022, Rodriguez solicited approximately $4.8 million in investor funds. Prosecutors say $3.5 million of those funds have not been paid back to the investors.
Rodriguez served as an NYPD officer for approximately seven years before resigning from the NYPD. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor crime. He also incurred several disciplinary infractions.
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