Fraudster is Sentenced to 70 Months for Scam on Girlfriend’s Family

Scams can involve big businesses or they can occur closer to home when victims don’t suspect it.

Recently in Chicago, a fraudster was sentenced to 70 months in jail for a massive scam on his girlfriend’s family.

The Sun Times reported Randall Rye won the trust and heart of his girlfriend and her family for more than two years.

The California-based family of Jacqueline Dittrich believed she had met her future husband. They had no reason to disbelieve him when he told them about a successful trading algorithm. The family and some of their friends invested $1.72 million into his firm, Faster than Light Trading LLC.

However, the enterprise proved to be a scam. Rye spent the money on trips to exotic locations and sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Masters golf tournament.

He blew $110,000 on 14 tickets to see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.

Dittrich said she only realized her boyfriend had duped her and her parents out of their life savings when she received a call from the FBI. She didn’t even get the chance to break up with him.

Rye escaped overseas but was picked up when he returned to the United States for a brief visit.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman sentenced the 26-year-old scammer to 70 months in prison. He accused him of a “mammoth betrayal of trust” in a Chicago courtroom.

Rye was ordered to pay back the $1.72 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud.

Rye’s defense attorney said he was not sure why the fraudster committed his crimes.

He was described in court as a “mini-Madoff” who moved to Illinois from California in 2013 by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunil Harjani. The statement was a reference to Bernard Madoff who was sentenced to 150 years in prison for running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

The feds said Rye read a few books on trading but had no formal knowledge. His algorithm was pure fiction.

As the Madoff case highlighted, scams and white collar frauds can attract very heavy sentences and are often prosecuted on a federal level. If you have been charged with a serious crime of this nature, call Abdallah Law at (312) 229-0008.