A federal court has ordered Eddy Alexandre and his company, EminiFX, to pay more than $288 million for running a Ponzi scheme. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brought the case.
How the $288 million adds up
In August 2025, the court granted the CFTC summary judgment. That ruling awarded $228.58 million in restitution and $15.05 million in disgorgement.
On October 8, 2026, a final judgment added a $45.15 million civil monetary penalty.
US District Judge Valerie Caproni also imposed permanent bans on Alexandre and EminiFX. Neither can engage in commodities fraud or related activities going forward.
Inside the EminiFX operation
EminiFX ran from September 2021 to May 2022. In that window, it drew in more than 25,000 investors.
Most of them came from the Haitian-American community in New York.
EminiFX falsely promised weekly returns of 5% to 9.99%, supposedly powered by trading technology that did not actually exist.
The scheme raised more than $262 million. Meanwhile, the actual trading it did conduct produced net losses exceeding $49 million.
Alexandre used money from newer investors to pay earlier ones. Investigators also found that Alexandre diverted at least $15 million for personal spending, including luxury purchases such as expensive vehicles.
The criminal case came first
The CFTC filed its civil action on May 12, 2022. In July 2023, Alexandre pleaded guilty to commodities fraud. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay over $213 million in restitution in that case.
Where the money stands for victims
A court-appointed receiver has been working to recover funds. By mid-2026, the receiver had returned about $98.2 million to victims. Another distribution is anticipated in 2027.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.