Date: Feb. 13, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Earlier today, Mina Tadrus pled guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York to committing investment adviser fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud investors in Tadrus Capital LLC, a hedge fund Tadrus founded and operated, of more than $5 million. Today’s proceeding took place before United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez. When sentenced, Tadrus faces up to five years in prison. Tadrus was charged in September 2023.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York Field Office (IRS-CI) and James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.
“The defendant preyed on the Egyptian-American Coptic Christian community by falsely promising that his purported artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund would earn guaranteed annual returns of 30% or more and taking advantage of their trust for his own personal gain,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “This Office has prioritized protecting and seeking justice for individual investors in our District and beyond.”
Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office for its assistance in this matter.
“The only thing more artificial than Tadrus’ AI-driven hedge fund was his sincerity. He sold a dream to trusting investors and instead of turning their money into profit, he swindled it for his own luxuries. Today’s plea and forfeiture agreements are just a small step forward for his victims to receive genuine justice,” said Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI New York.
According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceeding, Tadrus marketed interests in Tadrus Capital LLC to investors based on false promises that he would employ artificial intelligence-driven trading strategies that would earn them guaranteed annual returns of 30% or more.
In reality, however, Tadrus did not use investor funds to engage in artificial intelligence-based trading as promised, nor did he engage in any trading activity. Instead, he used investor funds to pay employees, to purchase luxury gifts and expensive meals for himself, and to make Ponzi scheme-like payments to new victim investors.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorney John O. Enright and Special Agent Martin Sullivan are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Sarah Burn.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.