Forex trader charged with $1.7m fraud

Currency trader Christopher John Collecutt (57) has been charged by the Serious Fraud Office for fraud totalling $1.7 million. 

Mr Collecutt operated under the name CFX Trading.

He is charged under the Crimes Act for theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining or causing loss by deception and making a false statement as a promoter. 

The SFO says Mr Collecutt has been trading on behalf of 73 investors since 2007. 

It alleges weekly investment reports emailed to investors from late-2008 were false, that commission income was calculated on false profits, and that he used investor funds for his personal use. 

SFO chief executive Adam Feeley says many of Mr Collecutt's investors were family and friends. 

"This highlights the fact that a personal connection with the promotor of an investment opportunity is no substitute for careful research into the risks associated with any type of investment."

Mr Collecutt was linked to other associated entities, including CFX Trade Safe and CFX Trade Trust.

The SFO began an investigation into Mr Collecutt last September after concerns were raised about allegedly false documents being used to hide losses from investors. 

CFX Trade Safe directors were Mr Collecutt, Joy Eleanor Collecutt, and Maynard Michael Nathanial Williams. 

Mr Williams told NBR ONLINE CFX Trade Safe, which was liquidated on December 13, was "not implicated in any criminal or fraudulent activity."

Liquidators Vivian Fatupaito and Glen Gernhoefer released their final report into CFX Trade Safe on March 12. 

The report says a number of investors contacted them regarding the investment they had made in the company, but it was discovered their funds had not been held in trust. 

"A relation of one of the directors provided correspondence showing he had requested his funds be transferred to the trust.

"There was no evidence to support that this transfer took place." 

Another investor, according to the report, believed her funds were being held in the trust, but the appropriate paperwork had never been completed. 

The liquidators' report says enquiries from investors required further investigations to clarify whether their funds had been held in trust.

"The evidence sighted supports the directors position that all funds were distributed to those investors whose funds had been transferred to the Trust," the report states.