A federal grand jury has indicted Jeffrey A. Royer, 61, of Montrose, Colorado, for defrauding investors in a foreign currency (forex) trading scheme.
United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison was joined in the announcement by Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
The indictment, unsealed on Thursday (Oct. 17), charged Royer with one count of commodities fraud and one count of wire fraud.
According to the indictment and other court records, Royer was a Special Agent with the FBI from approximately 1996 to 2001.
In 2005, Royer was convicted of federal securities fraud, among other charges, and was released from federal prison in 2012 after serving his sentence.
From early 2020 through June 2023, Royer executed an investment fraud scheme involving his personal forex trading account.
Royer fraudulently solicited and accepted over $1 million from various investors in the Eastern District of Michigan and elsewhere as part of the scheme.
He then misappropriated the money or lost it trading forex.
Royer did not disclose the misappropriation or the extent of his trading losses. Instead, Royer concealed the truth from investors, including by providing investors with false monthly account statements that showed investment gains rather than the trading losses that Royer incurred.
Law enforcement has identified many investors from southeast Michigan. Potential victims must contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).
Royer faces up to 25 years in prison on the commodities fraud charge and up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge.
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