An Ann Arbor commodities trader who pitched himself as a safe bet in a risky market has admitted he was anything but. On Friday, 43-year-old Brian Mitchell pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud, acknowledging he bilked investors out of more than $2.7 million. Prosecutors say he raised money through entities called Young Pros Investment Group and My Nest Egg, repeatedly telling clients their principal was “guaranteed” while hiding mounting losses behind a polished sales pitch. He has agreed to repay roughly $2.7 million and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7.
How prosecutors say he ran the pitch
In a press release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said Mitchell used Young Pros Investment Group and My Nest Egg to solicit third-party investment funds, promising fixed returns and assuring investors their principal would be protected. Behind the scenes, prosecutors say, he was concealing significant trading losses, misrepresenting how investor money was used, and failing to disclose that he had already been barred from commodity trading under a prior settlement.
The plea agreement requires restitution to victims and details the government’s account of the scheme, including allegations that Mitchell falsely claimed regulators had seized supposed backup funds to explain why people could not get their money back.
“The FBI refuses to let scammers get away with perpetually stealing from and betraying hardworking Americans,” Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said in the same release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The office said the FBI’s Ann Arbor resident agency investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Yahkind.
Regulatory history: CFTC settlement and trading ban
Before the criminal case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had already taken aim at Mitchell’s activities. The agency sanctioned him after finding he acted as a commodity trading advisor without proper registration, ordering him to pay a civil penalty and imposing a three-year trading ban. According to the CFTC, a 2021 order concluded that Mitchell tried to sidestep registration rules by routing trades through others and helped more than 20 clients open accounts while he was subject to a National Futures Association bar.
Prosecutors say he violated that settlement by continuing to solicit and trade investor funds anyway, using the very pitch that now underpins the wire fraud case, according to the CFTC.
Victims, restitution and next steps
Local reporting in The Detroit News notes that Mitchell’s plea includes an agreement to repay about $2.7 million and that he faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing, set for October 7. Prosecutors have urged anyone who invested with Young Pros Investment Group or My Nest Egg to contact law enforcement so losses can be calculated and restitution properly allocated. The case is scheduled to return to federal court in October for formal sentencing.
Potential victims can submit information through a dedicated reporting form from the FBI. The CFTC and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan provide additional background on the earlier enforcement actions that frame the government’s allegations in the criminal case.
