Russell Warren Brent Cline (born about 1965) founded Orion International in 1998, a foreign currency trading firm based in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. In 2003 he was charged in federal court with running a classic

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

. Cline pleaded guilty and was imprisoned at USP Lompoc.

History

Cline was a former house painter from

Baker City, Oregon Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, Edward Dickinson Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 20 ...

. In 1998 he founded Orion International, specializing in trading foreign currency through a brokerage based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. They promised returns anywhere from 60% to 200% with very little risk, because of their sophisticated trading techniques. In August, 2002 Cline notified his customers that he had lost 97% of their money, blaming poor trades and

typographical Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spac ...

errors, and asked for additional funds to make the money back. In reality the money had been spent on

luxury car A luxury car is a passenger automobile providing superior comfort levels, features, and equipment. More expensive materials and surface finishes are used, and buyers expect a correspondingly high quality (business), build quality. The term is ...

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more personal ...

s, real estate, and

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

. It is estimated that over 600 people invested $27 million in Orion. On May 8, 2003 a federal court froze all Cline's assets and prevented any document destruction at Orion. He was indicted along with other Orion employees, including April Duffy and Nancy Hoyt. In May, 2004 Cline was charged in federal court with 39 counts of money laundering and fraud. Violating his pretrial release he was arrested for possession of

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

s in December and placed in the

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

jail. Duffy, Hoyt and Vorachith were ordered to pay over $1.3 million in restitution to defrauded customers and fines on September 7, 2004. The three defendants consented to the order without admitting or denying guilt, and were additionally barred permanently from trading

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item tr ...

s. The property of the company's employees was also arrested within the framework of a criminal case and foreclosed. An example of a case of recovering a car from a company trader
Civil No. 03-1539-MA
Toschakov Igor Robertovich on the recovery of the 2001 BMW X5. In July, 2005 Cline pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of money laundering, admitting to defrauding investors out of at least $16 million. On February 6, 2006 Cline was sentenced to 8 years and 1 month in the La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution in Anthony, Texas. The sentence was the maximum agreed upon wherein Cline would not appeal his case. U.S. District Judge Garr King said he would have given a longer sentence, having felt Cline had lied to the court and was generally uncooperative, if it wasn't for his guilty plea. Cline was also ordered to pay over $33 million in restitution. He wa
released
on March 30, 2012.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Samborsky, Samantha (January 11, 2007)
"Court Ordered Oregon Mastermind of Multimillion Dollar Scam to Pay $33 Million"
ForexBonus100 * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cline, Russell 1965 births Living people People from Baker City, Oregon American people convicted of fraud American financial traders Currency traders