Currency Trader Told to Sell Assets to Repay Investors

A Huntington Beach man has been ordered to sell off numerous assets--including property, a boat and two life insurance policies--to help reimburse investors who pumped nearly $11.1 million into his defunct currency trading business from 1990 through 1992.

Only about $3 million has been recovered so far, authorities said.

In a final judgment issued April 25, a federal judge in Los Angeles noted that Roger C. Briggs and a Northern California associate, William L. Telander, former operators of Southwest International Exchange in Huntington Beach, diverted much of the company money to personal use.

They had promised investors returns of 25% to 48% a year from their foreign currency trading activities, but actually used funds from their newer investors to make alleged interest payments to the earliest investors, said Sandra J. Harris, assistant regional director of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The final judgment orders Briggs to pay $1.4 million, but acknowledges that he is unlikely to be able to raise that amount in the sale of his assets and says he will not be responsible for the balance.

Telander was not ordered to make a repayment, Harris said, because he is expected to be ordered to make restitution when sentenced in a related criminal case in which he has pleaded guilty to felony fraud charges. No criminal charges were filed against Briggs.