Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Hendersonville Commodities Trader Indicted on Fraud Charges

May 25, 2010 - NASHVILLE, TN—A federal grand jury has indicted Christian Leon Kis, 39, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, charging him with two counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering, announced Jerry E. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Kis, through his businesses, Raptor Group and Raptor Capitol, Inc., operated as a commodity pool for investments in commodity futures contracts.

According to the indictment, beginning in December 2003 until about December 31, 2005, Kis devised a scheme to defraud clients with existing investments, as well as new clients, by representing that investments in commodity futures contracts had resulted in a profit for 2003 and 2004, which he knew to be false.

Kis’s false statements caused one investor to mail a $100,000 additional investment check from Burlington, Vermont and another investor to mail a $10,000 additional investment check from New York to Kis in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Kis then conducted a monetary transaction with the proceeds of his mail fraud investment scheme by transferring $100,000 between financial institutions.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Harold B. McDonough represents the government.

An indictment is merely an accusation and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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