<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Friday, 12th January 2007 06.50am</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.fxcentre.com/images/sp.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD background=images/dash_across2.gif>http://www.fxcentre.com/images/sp.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.fxcentre.com/images/sp.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">A former US currency trader convicted of defrauding hundreds of investors has been ordered to pay more than USD33 million in one of the largest fines against an individual sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
However, one of the prosecutors in the criminal case against Russell Cline said the order was "a symbolic victory, unfortunately."
Cline was sentenced last February to eight years in prison for the investment scam he ran through Orion International Inc., the company he founded in 1998 and led until late 2002.
Under a plea bargain in the criminal case, Cline admitted he solicited investors through a Web site, brochures and seminars, then falsely represented that their money would be used to trade in foreign currencies, promising returns of more than 60 percent to 200 percent annually.
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However, one of the prosecutors in the criminal case against Russell Cline said the order was "a symbolic victory, unfortunately."
Cline was sentenced last February to eight years in prison for the investment scam he ran through Orion International Inc., the company he founded in 1998 and led until late 2002.
Under a plea bargain in the criminal case, Cline admitted he solicited investors through a Web site, brochures and seminars, then falsely represented that their money would be used to trade in foreign currencies, promising returns of more than 60 percent to 200 percent annually.
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