MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Collierville man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for bilking more than $2 million from investors in a fake commodities scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
Donald Ray Rodgers, 55, pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Dec. 18, 2023, and was sentenced March 21, 2024, to 51 months in federal prison followed by a year of supervised release.
According to the DOJ, between January and November of 2022, Rodgers lied to more than 50 investors in several states about Three Bridges Trading, his unregistered commodities fund. They said he doctored monthly statements about performance to show the fund growing, when it was actually tanking due to bad trades.
They said investors learned of the fraud in November 2022 when they tried to call on their investments, but Three Bridges Trading did not have the funds to cover them.
The DOJ said the investors ranged all income levels, from bank executives to landscapers.
