Forex trading store

A Swiss foreign exchange firm that figured prominently in the collapse of Trevor Cook’s $190 million Ponzi scheme was started by a former Jordanian limo driver and run by another Jordanian who has returned to his old job — running a grocery store near Amman.

Federal investigators and a court-appointed receiver following the money trail have turned their attention to the two of them, along with a colleague in Alexandria, Va., who owns an inert foreign exchange business and a limousine service near Washington, D.C.

Cook pumped millions of dollars through Crown Forex SA in a failed effort to save the firm, which Swiss regulators closed in May 2009, precipitating the collapse of Cook’s massive Ponzi scheme. Forensic accountants have pieced together banking and business records, but tens of millions of dollars remain unaccounted for, and federal authorities and a court-appointed receiver are trying to untangle where the money went.

Cook, 38, of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty in April to federal fraud and tax-evasion charges and has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. the criminal investigation and the receivership remain active, and Cook has met a dozen times with authorities to identify his former business associates and describe their activities.

Among those he identified from photos taken at Crown Forex are its former owner, Ibrahim a. Hasanein, 35, who is believed to be living in Amman, Jordan; its former CEO, Shadi M.K. Swais, 34, who has returned to the grocery business in Amman; and Jamal M. Sayyad, 36, owner of a defunct foreign exchange company and Royal Limousine inc., in Virginia.

Though Crown Forex was his first financial services job, Swais said in an interview last week, "I think I did a good job." at its peak, Swais said, the firm had 8,000 accounts trading about $100 million a year in currencies.

"If it was not for the markets that damaged us in a great way and for the regulation changes in Switzerland [requiring greater financial reserves], we would still be open today," Swais said.

Cook changes his tune

Cook spun a web of deception that has confounded investigators trying to find the remnants of his investors’ savings.

He told Swiss regulators in 2008 that he paid $3 million for a 51 percent stake in Crown Forex and told similar stories to some of his close associates. But Cook testified in a Minneapolis federal court hearing Thursday that he never had any equity in the Swiss firm. he said he lied to Swiss regulators in an effort to save the faltering enterprise.

Cook said the management of Crown Forex wanted to convert it into a regular bank to save it from collapse. But there was a problem, he said, because Swiss law requires that banks owned by a single shareholder must submit audited financial returns.

Hasanein, who owned dozens of companies, "didn’t want to have to submit audited financials," Cook said. so Cook said he agreed to pose as a co-owner to circumvent Swiss banking regulations.

Cook also testified that he loaned $650,000 to Swais in the spring of 2009, shortly before the bank’s liquidation. Cook said he and Pat Kiley, a radio talk-show host who promoted Cook’s currency investment program, agreed to the loan request, though no paperwork was ever drawn up.

"Shadi kept telling us things were going to be OK," Cook said. "I trusted him a lot."

Kiley, however, denies discussing such a loan. "there was never such a conversation," Kiley said. "that, I would remember."

Cook testified that he tried to contact Swais in the summer of 2009 to get the money back, but his phone line was dead and he hasn’t been able to contact him since.

Swais is sticking by the story that Cook bought into the bank.

From fares to ‘forex’

Sayyad, in a brief interview in late August, said he got wrapped into the FBI’s investigation by mistake. Although he attended the 2007 opening of Crown Forex’s offices in Bassecourt, Switzerland, he says he never worked there. he said he attended as Hasanein’s guest.

Sayyad said he spoke recently to the FBI about Crown Forex and "they found out I don’t know about it."

Sayyad, who’s married to a woman from Wisconsin, explained that he and Hasanein were once partners in Royal Limousine. But he said Hasanein left the country "six or seven years ago" and returned to Jordan, though Virginia motor vehicle records show that Hasanein registered a Cadillac Seville in January 2006 and renewed his driver license online last October.

Asked if he ever owned a company called ForexVibe, Sayyad said, "You’re asking too many questions." he said the company opened in 2005 (public records show 2007), but added that "we never ran the business here," citing the recession.

Hasanein is listed as CEO of a company called IAH Group in Amman, which owned Crown Forex and a number of similar companies. he has not responded to e-mails or phone calls from the newspaper.

Crown Forex was already running in Jordan when Swais returned home after living for several years in the Chicago area, where he has a number of relatives.

The Swais clan is huge, though the surname gets spelled a variety of ways when translated into English. Nayef Sweis, of Oak Lawn, Ill., said Swais is a distant relative who came to the United States by himself and worked in the Chicago area for about eight years at various grocery stores and restaurants. he returned to Jordan about five years ago, Sweis said.

After ignoring interview requests for the past year, Swais recently sent his phone number to a reporter via a Facebook message. in an hourlong telephone interview last week from Jordan, Swais said he didn’t want to talk about the demise of Crown Forex because he’s been warned by Swiss regulators that he no longer speaks for the firm. But he agreed to discuss what he knows about Cook.

Swais said that after leaving the United States, he went to work at Crown Forex in Jordan, where he spent nearly a year learning the ropes of currency trading. "Forex is not really a big issue to work with," he said, using the slang term for foreign exchange.

He said Hasanein wanted to move the business to Switzerland in 2006 and sent him as its CEO to oversee the firm’s regulatory compliance and marketing issues.

Switzerland and Trevor Cook

Crown Forex had serious financial problems early on in Switzerland but dug its way out, Swais said. then in late 2007, shortly after opening its office in Bassecourt, the firm again ran short of cash as investors, worried about declining markets, began demanding their money back, he said.

Swais, reiterating Cook’s first version of events, said that Hasanein wanted to convert Crown Forex into a bank but needed more capital to satisfy Swiss regulators. Swais said he began contacting large clients to offer shares in the company, but most wanted to conduct lengthy due-diligence exams and there wasn’t time for that, he said.

Cook wrote in a blog entry that he had been a client of Crown Forex since 2005. he said he had been to its offices multiple times in Switzerland and Dubai, as well as its related technology company in Amman, "where they staff about 75 people just for tech support." he praised the firm as one of the best brokers in Switzerland.

"Crown also offers bank guarantees from their prime brokers — so funds are about as safe as they can be," Cook wrote.

Swais said Cook had "brought an enormous amount of money" to Crown Forex, so he turned to him for help. "I called Trevor and Trevor immediately, they showed interest," Swais said.

He said Cook brought an entourage to Switzerland to review the company’s books and found them in order. "there was never a bad comment in an audit report, except for risk control — always saying that we have to put more procedures for risk control," Swais said.

He said Cook cut a deal with Hasanein to buy 51 percent of the company and began sending money — at first with no documentation. "when we were down, he bailed us out," Swais said of Cook. "he pumped money several times into the company, even before it was officially declared."

Swais said the money kept Crown Forex afloat. Formal terms were eventually drafted by the Crown Forex board, Swais said. "Basically, it was a guarantee he’s not going to lose the money," he said. "If you were not a journalist I probably would tell you more details."

The Star Tribune obtained a copy of a pledge agreement dated Feb. 18, 2008, between Hasanein and Oxford Global Advisors, a Minneapolis firm owned at the time by Cook and three partners. the agreement says that Oxford Global would send $4 million to Crown Forex as a "loan," which was secured by some property in Amman.

Among its terms, it gave Oxford control of Crown Forex’s activities, including disbursements, and 51 percent of the board’s voting rights. It’s signed by Hasanein and Gerald Durand of Faribault, one of Cook’s partners in Oxford Global.

Durand has told U.S. authorities what he knows about the agreement, his lawyer said. Durand declined to comment.

Asked if Hasanein has any assets left, Swais said that the collapse of Crown Forex left him in "financial crisis." he has a small information-technology company and no longer works in the forex trade, Swais said.

According to Swais, the FBI interviewed Hasanein in Jordan several months ago. Swais said he had planned to go to the meeting but Hasanein said it wasn’t necessary. no U.S. investigators have tried to call or e-mail him, Swais said, but if they do, he’s willing to speak with them.

R.J. Zayed, the court-appointed receiver gathering assets on behalf of Cook’s 1,200 or so investors, said he will take Swais up on the offer now that his whereabouts are known.

Swais said after Crown Forex shut down, he couldn’t land another job in Switzerland. he said he traveled a bit, including to the United States as recently as December. But he said he’s been in Jordan for the past six or seven months running a grocery store.

Asked about the $650,000 he had Cook wire to a relative in Jordan as Crown Forex careened toward insolvency, Swais said: "the money was given to me, actually."

Swais strongly denied Cook’s testimony that it was a loan. he said Cook gave him the money for meeting certain performance goals. "I think he was very generous, not just to me. he was to everyone around him."

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493

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