A Leander man has been sentenced to a Federal prison term for a scheme that federal prosecutors said bilked over $1 million from his victims. Nicholas Keith Bonneville, 25, will serve 37 months after being convicted of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said last Friday. According to court filings, Bonneville feigned success as a foreign exchange trader, falsely promising to match investments up to $100,000 to quickly grow his clients' portfolios.
As it turned out, Bonneville did not, in fact, balance to accurately engage in the trading he promised. Instead, bank records showed he used the swindled funds for personal expenses and to repay other victims in what resembled a Ponzi scheme. The U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas, announced an instance where Bonneville claimed to have morphed a $50,000 investment into $1 million in under one year, boasting an unreal 2,000% return, which never materialized.
Bonneville's arrest came in February following an FBI investigation that eventually identified more than 100 victims. He pleaded guilty to the charge on May 15. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman handed down the sentence, which also includes a restitution order for $575,450.30 to the victims. Bonneville's claims of foreign exchange acumen proved hollow when scrutinized by authorities who uncovered the truth behind his grandiose claims.
The case was thoroughly investigated by the FBI, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Harding prosecuting the case.
