Orlando business owner pleads guilty to $57M investment fraud scheme

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando man is facing decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges stemming from a multi-million dollar investment and wire fraud scheme.

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According to the plea agreement filed in the Middle District of Florida Monday, from February 2013 to September 2020, 42-year-old Avinash Singh ran a company called Highrise Advantage, LLC that received more than $57 million from over 1,100 victims.

The funds were meant to be invested in retail foreign currency contracts, or “forex,” through Singh’s business.

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According to the plea agreement, Singh would encourage his victims to invest with him by falsely claiming he had a proven track record of success as a forex trader and that they would not lose any funds for any trading losses.

Instead of investing the victims’ funds in forex as promised, investigators say Singh used funds from one investor to pay debts to another.

Instead of investing the funds as promised, Singh misappropriated at least $45 million in the form of payments to other investors and millions of dollars worth of personal expenses.

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Singh pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count of wire fraud and up to 10 years for each count of money laundering.

Singh has also agreed to forfeit the $57 million obtained through the fraud scheme and two personal homes that were purchased with the fraudulently obtained funds.

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A sentencing date has not been set.

This case was investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, the St. Cloud IRS Federal Financial Crimes Task Force, and the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda S. Daniels.

The asset recovery is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole M. Andrejko.

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