It wasn’t “fat finger” trading, it was just poor trading, that led to losses of more than $2 million for investors who entrusted their money to a Chicago-based financial advisor.
Vishal Savla is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud after he sent clients phony account statements showing large profits, not the heavy losses he was incurring as a result of bad trades. He misled clients, telling them he committed a “fat finger trade” that resulted in declines of approximately 90 percent in a single day.
Savla ended up borrowing money from family and friends to repay investors of VCAP LLC, the investment fund he operated. One family member loaned Savla half a million dollars, even while Savla spent over a quarter million dollars of investors’ money for his own benefit, without having any cumulative trading profits, according to his plea agreement.
Salva’s company operated from 2014 to early 2018 and raised approximately $2.3 million from investors.