Alpharetta Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Fraud Case

An Alpharetta man has been sentenced to prison for stealing investor funds in a currency trading fraud scheme.

Robert A. Christy, 58, received four years and nine months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia said on Friday.

“This defendant defrauded victims from across the country and, like many investment fraudsters, he preyed on seniors, retirees and others simply looking for safe and secure returns,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. “In the end, his fraud was revealed and he has been held accountable for his actions.”

From 2008 until approximately April 2012, Christy portrayed his firm, Crabapple Capital Group LLC, as a “reputable and well-established investment firm,” claiming it profitably traded currency since 2006 and was affiliated with a larger investment firm, which purportedly had over $50 million in assets under management, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Christy advertised a conservative currency trading investment strategy that targeted annual returns of approximately eight percent with a low risk of loss.

Christy gave prospective customers marketing literature, including a formal disclosure document and monthly bulletins, which showed from 2006 to 2011: average annual returns ranging from 15 percent to 20 percent; 55 profitable months compared to only 10 unprofitable ones; and the highest monthly losses reaching only negative 0.74 percent.

Prosecutors argued the performance history was fraudulent, as Christy’s actual trading records show consistent and significant losses from 2006 to 2011. The defendant’s claim that Crabapple was affiliated with a larger investment firm with $50 million in assets was also false.

Christy also recruited the majority of his investors during trade shows in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida, and through his affiliation with Grove City College, a Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

Christy, who is an alumnus of Grove City College, also marketed himself as a Christian investor and solicited funds from Grove City College students, students’ families and a faculty member.

To perpetuate his plan, Christy prepared and distributed false monthly account statements that fraudulently showed investors earning monthly profits on their investments, even in months when he was losing money in all his firm’s trading accounts.

Christy defrauded at least 20 investors who invested over $1.4 million dollars. Instead of using investors’ money to trade currency, Christy used it to pay for, among other things, travel, jewelry, restaurant meals, and other personal expenses, and made payments to members of his own family. In total, Christy stole over $1 million dollars.

“While it is easy to dismiss such financial fraud cases as being almost benign because of their lack of violence, there is, however, a very real victimization felt and lives are changed forever,” said J. Britt Johnson, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office. “At the end of the day, the sentencing of Mr. Christy to federal prison is really a small token of justice to those many victims who have suffered so much from his criminal activities.”

Christy‘s prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,148,234.81. Christy was convicted of wire fraud on July 24 after he pleaded guilty.

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