Cowboys Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith sues over losses in alleged Ponzi scheme
Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith is suing a Southlake businessman and Traders Domain FX for fraud, unjust enrichment and conspiracy, according to a lawsuit filed in Dallas County.
Traders Domain FX, a foreign company that is also being sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is accused of reeling in over $500,000 from Smith and co-plaintiff Mark Page for investments based on false representations that were made about the company.
The lawsuit also names Southlake’s Johnny Wimbrey as a defendant for his role in advising Smith to invest in the company. Other defendants include Ares Global LLC (doing business as Trublue FX), Secap Holdings LLC and Katy resident Tin Quoc Tran.
Smith and Page are seeking $500,000 in return from the investments, as well as other damages, including the cost of litigation.
The lawsuit states that the Traders Domain FX website “misrepresented the historical returns investors within the platform had received, such as purported $482,000 return over two-year period.”
When sending over investment funds, the defendants allegedly requested that the “plaintiffs were not to mention investing in the memorandum line of their wire transfers to avoid regulatory compliance measures.”
Later the plaintiffs found “large withdrawals had been made from their accounts, which turned out to be commissions at the rate of 40% to 50%, which had not previously been disclosed to plaintiffs,” the filing says.
Smith and Page allege that Traders Domain “was at all times Ponzi scheme whereby some or all of the funds provided by investors were not in fact used for trading for plaintiffs’ benefits but were paid to existing investors.”
In late 2022, news began to circulate that Traders Domain FX was “insolvent,” which prompted investors to pull money. In early 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil enforcement action against the company and later enforced a restraining order, freezing all of their assets and opening their records to the U.S. government.
The lawsuit names nine counts in which Smith and Page are seeking reimbursement in a Dallas County courthouse.
