Automated trading bots scheme results in millions of dollars, Teslas, Rolexes, and federal wire fraud convictions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Great Falls man pled guilty on July 23 to wire fraud and a Florida man was sentenced yesterday for his role in the wire fraud conspiracy.

According to court documents, Rick Tariq Rahim, 56, defrauded customers who wanted to invest using Rahim's automated trading bots, some of which traded forex, and by "copying" Rahim's supposed trading activities that he posted to Discord. He marketed his products under BotsforWealth, TradeAutomation.com, ProChartSignals.com, OptionCopier.com, CopyAndWin.com, SnipeAlgo.com, and QQQtrade.com. Rahim charged customers a subscription fee for access to Rahim's bots, software, and copying his supposed trades. Rahim also offered a "lifetime membership" to which customers received access to Rahim's private Discord channel, some of his products, as well as his "in-office" trading days. Additionally, Rahim personally traded stocks for at least two individuals, claiming that "We'll hit home runs and make $500k+ per day very very often." Instead, Rahim lost over $300,000 of his clients' funds in eight months.

Rahim induced customers to subscribe to his products by using video-centric, internet-based social media tools, including TikTok, YouTube, and Discord. He posted false information to his websites and to his social media accounts claiming to "beat the stock market every day" and promising extreme profit margins.

Rahim also sought to induce customers by claiming he was extremely wealthy, boasting about trading millions of dollars and posting about his large home, pool, and luxury cars, including his Lamborghini. Despite claiming to regularly beat the market, however, he exaggerated his personal trading success, in part by not posting trades in which he lost money. In fact, Rahim realized over $500,000 in losses from February 2021 through December 2022. He did not invest millions in the market during this time period as he had claimed. As part of his fraud scheme, Rahim also created at least 20 Discord user profiles to post emojis, likes, and symbols showing agreement and excitement regarding Rahim's posts. Rahim earned at least $1,397,000 in subscription fees during the course of his schemes. After accepting the guilty plea, the court ordered that Rahim not give any financial investment advice to anyone for a fee.

Ian Taylor Higgins, 33, conspired with Rahim on one of Rahim's bot offerings, TradeAutomation. Higgins owned and ran FXPrimary, an online trading platform that purportedly acted as a brokerage house and would manage investors' cryptocurrency deposits for TradeAutomation. Higgins admitted that investors had little chance of making any profit despite being told they could. He also admitted that the investments were much higher risk than advertised by Rahim. Higgins profited by over $4 million, with which he purchased a Florida home for over $2 million, two Teslas for $70,000, Rolexes for $44,500, as well as other luxury goods. Higgins was sentenced to three years in prison and will be ordered to pay restitution.

On March 15, Rahim pled guilty to failing to pay over to the IRS the taxes withheld from his employees' paychecks. Rahim has not filed a personal income tax return since 2012 despite earning more than $34 million in gross income, resulting in a loss to the IRS of at least $1,844,489.

Rahim is scheduled to be sentenced for both the wire fraud scheme and his tax fraud on Dec. 20. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud scheme and five years in prison for his tax fraud conviction. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and David E. Geist, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division, made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton accepted the plea for Rahim and after the sentencing of Higgins by U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly M. Shartar and Kenneth R. Simon Jr. are prosecuting Rahim for his wire fraud conduct and, with assistance from the Tax Division, his tax fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shartar is prosecuting Higgins for his role in the investment fraud scheme.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 1:24-cr-179 (Rahim's Investment Fraud Case), 1:23-cr-173 (Rahim's Tax Fraud Case), and 1:24-cr-26 (Higgins's Investment Fraud Case).