Brian Mitchell Sentenced to 33 Months in Federal Prison in Multi-Million-Dollar Commodities Trading Fraud Scheme Case

Brian Mitchell, a suspended commodities trader, was ordered to serve 33 months in federal prison for a multi-million-dollar commodities trading fraud scheme, the Justice Department said in a release Oct. 7.

Mitchell previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted that he defrauded multiple third-party investors, causing a loss of over $2.7 million, according to the release. He was also ordered to serve 2 years on supervised release after completing his prison term. United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. announced the sentence in Detroit.

According to court records cited in the release, Mitchell used entities including "Young Pros Investment Group" and "My Nest Egg" to solicit investor money and made repeated misrepresentations that investor principal was protected against loss. After significant trading losses, Mitchell falsely told investors that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had seized assets he described as "back-up money," the release says.

The release says Mitchell had settled with the CFTC over Commodity Exchange Act violations between January 2018 and January 2019, and was barred for three years from commodity futures trading activity. Despite that ban, he continued to solicit and trade investor funds, including a $150,000 investment from a local church that he falsely promised a 72% annual rate of return, according to the release.

"This defendant caused regular folks to lose millions of dollars. That was not enough for him, so he targeted a church to cover his scheme. He is shameless," Gorgon said in the release.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.