The assets of Jason Bo-Alan Beckman of Plymouth, MN, and his RIA Oxford Private Client Group, LLC, were frozen for their roles in an alleged massive forex scheme that raised at least $194 million from nearly 1,000 investors.  Beckman’s wife, Hollie Beckman, also had her assets frozen.

    SEC Allegations.    Over a 3-year period, Beckman and the Oxford Group raised at least $47mn from at least 143 investors through a fraudulent, unregistered offering of investments in a purported foreign currency trading venture.  Investors were told that their money would be invested in the Currency Program, would be held in a segregated account - with little or no risk, they'd receive guaranteed returns ranging from 10.5%-12% per year, and that they could withdraw their money at any time.

Instead, a significant portion of the investors’ funds were never invested in the Currency Program but used to make purported interest and return of principal payments to other investors and also diverted to Beckman and others’ personal accounts.  All told, Beckman and wife Hollie received $7.7mn.  Also, none of the funds were ever segregated and any funds sent to trading firms sustained significant losses.

The CFTC, FINRA, NFA ans the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority assisted in the investigation.   [SEC Litigation Rel. 21879, 3/9/11]