A former commodities trader in Chicago arrested and was charged with fraud for lying to clients about everything from a non-existent collection of 122 luxury cars to falsified returns that exceeded 200%.
Phillip Galles, 57, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of wire fraud for allegedly stealing more than $2 million from victims since 2019, telling them he invested their money in commodities that future, according to a statement from New Jersey US Attorney Philip Sellers.
Galles made almost no investments of any kind, according to prosecutors. Instead, he runs his company as a Ponzi schemewho used the money to pay back early investors and for his own personal expenses, according to the government.
Galles appeared in court in Chicago and remains in custody, according to Sellinger’s office. An attorney for Wales could not be reached for comment.
Galles has made big claims, including that his car collection includes several Lamborghinis and Ferraris, that he lives in luxury homes in Chicago, Miami and London, and is decorated with paintings by Picasso and Chagall, according to a civil complaint filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. on Thursday in Chicago.
A “well-known owner of a professional sports team,” who was not identified in court papers, and a Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund were interested in investing, he said. Galles claimed an annual return as high as 363.29%. And he said his company, Tyche Asset Management, has 30 employees, half of them former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employees, according to the CFTC. A different time he admitted that he had more than 100 employees in several offices, the regulator said. He allegedly told people he had been valedictorian at a “prestigious US university,” according to the CFTC.
On the same day that an alleged victim, a Texas mortgage professional, paid him $100,000 to invest, Galles transferred $19,300 for a personal credit card bill, $14,800 to a jewelry store, $10,000 to a previous investor, $9,000 to a mattress store, $6,000 to a mattress store. luxury car rental company and $3,200 to his girlfriend, according to prosecutors.
When a victim tried to withdraw $190,000 of his investment, Galles told him “among other things, that he switched banks, Tyche became a victim of fraud, banks and wire payments did not work in right, and he got sick,” according to the government.
The cases are US v. Galles, 23-mj-08076, US District Court, District of New Jersey; Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Galles, 23-cv-02970, US District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).