As news of Bernard Madoff's $65-billion Ponzi scheme horrified investors nationwide last winter, The Gresham Co. of Peachtree City assured customers their funds were safe.
But they weren't, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The agency has charged Eldon A. Gresham with running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He specifically targeted Christians, according to the complaint, claiming he was successful because the "Lord had blessed him."
He said he was offering his program to "a limited number of Christians for a limited time."
Gresham portrayed himself as a highly successful foreign currency trader. Starting in 2004, he solicited more than $15 million from at least 75 customers by promising monthly returns of 5 percent to 10 percent.
But at most, Gresham deposited just over $2 million into his trading accounts, according to the CFTC. He paid off certain customers with money coming in from new ones. But starting in May or June of this year, none of the customers who asked for the return of their investments got their money back.
"Prospective customers were told that Gresham's trading program involved very little risk," the complaint states. "Gresham consistently communicated bogus monthly returns to Gresham customers through e-mails."
The agency also named as "relief defendants" in the civil action Gresham's longtime friend, Werner H. Beiersdoerfer of Calera, Ala., and Gresham's son, Kirk Gresham of Newnan. The complaint alleges Beiersdoerfer received $4.4 million and Kirk Gresham $413,000 in customer funds "as a result of [Eldon] Gresham's fraudulent conduct."
A federal judge has frozen the assets of all three defendants and set a hearing for July 23.
A call to Eldon Gresham's home was not immediately returned Thursday.
U.S. Attorney's office spokesman Patrick Crosby, citing Justice Department policy, said he could neither confirm or deny that his office had begun a criminal investigation.
In May, the head of an Alpharetta firm that claimed big profits from currency trading pleaded guilty to a $25 million Ponzi scheme. James G. Ossie of Atlanta is scheduled be sentenced July 30.
The CFTC took enforcement action against 13 alleged Ponzi scheme operators in 2008. Already this year, the agency has filed complaints in 26 Ponzi cases.
