A Florida woman and her company are facing charges of defrauding customers out of more than $870,000 in a precious metals scheme, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Betty Lea Grimes, president and controlling person of Mark Olsen Mining Company (MOMC), is accused of soliciting retail customers for precious metals transactions between April 2013 and February 2014, without being registered with the CFTC.
The CFTC alleges that Grimes, who has also used the aliases Lea Grimes, Lea Lauren, Betty Nehme, and Lea Nehme, collected funds from at least three customers with the promise of investing in precious metals. However, the complaint states that customers never received the metals and that MOMC misappropriated all funds. These funds were allegedly used for Grimes’ personal expenses and transferred to an individual named Mark Olsen in South Africa.
The agency claims MOMC and Grimes used false and misleading representations on a website and in direct communications to attract customers. The CFTC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, restitution, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
This isn’t Grimes’ first run-in with the CFTC. In 2007, under the name Lea Lauren, she signed a consent order with the agency after being found to have fraudulently solicited over $4.5 million from customers in a forex options trading scheme. She was charged with making false statements and omissions as a salesperson for Madison Forex LLC.
The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa in the investigation. The case is being pursued by CFTC staff members Maura Viehmeyer, Aimée Latimer-Zayets, and Rick Glaser.
Source: CFTC.gov
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