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

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. 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 profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

. 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, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Pl ...

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

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. 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 (leading), and ...

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 car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, 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, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

. 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 Samantha Vorachith, 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 and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

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–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

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 a 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 asset ...

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 Anthony is an incorporated town in El Paso County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,011 at the 2010 census. As of July 1, 2018, the population estimate for the town from the U.S. Census was 5,655. It is the first town encountered in Te ...

. 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 currency traders