Earlier today in Brooklyn federal court, Mina Tadrus was sentenced to 30 months in prison for investment adviser fraud totaling more than $5.7 million. United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez also ordered Tadrus to pay restitution of $4,224,850. Tadrus had pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2025.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the sentencing along with officials from the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation. According to prosecutors, Tadrus founded and operated Tadrus Capital LLC, a hedge fund he claimed used artificial intelligence-based trading models to generate high returns.
“The defendant traded on excitement over the newest AI technology to trick investors to invest millions with his hedge fund. In the end, he perpetrated one of the oldest frauds in the book,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Today’s sentence serves as a reminder to all investment advisors that your clients place great faith in you to truthfully manage their investments, nest-eggs, and retirement savings. Our Office is committed to protecting the investing public, vindicating the rights of victims of economic crime, and prosecuting those who undermine the stability of our economy.”
Nocella also thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office for its assistance.
“Mina Tadrus shamelessly lied to investors of his hedge fund – many of whom were friends and family – preying on their trust to defraud them out of more than $5 million. Today, Tadrus learned that his scheme resulted not in wealth, but prison time. Ensuring fraudsters are held accountable in the criminal justice system is essential to the FBI’s work on behalf of the American people,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
“While Tadrus sold a dream of high-profits to his investors, the only return they saw was the negative result of being swindled by someone they trusted. Today’s sentence and imposed restitution sees that Tadrus will spend real time behind bars and pay for his crimes. This new reality is not AI generated,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
Court documents show that between September 2020 and July 2023, at least 31 individuals—mainly friends, family members, and people from the Egyptian-American Coptic Christian community—invested over $5.7 million with Tadrus Capital LLC after being told it was “the world’s first private high-yielding and fixed-income quantitative hedge fund” using artificial intelligence trading models promising up to 30% annual returns. Investigators found that no such AI-based trading occurred; less than one percent of funds went toward legitimate investments while about $1.7 million was used by Tadrus for personal expenses or paying earlier investors.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan P. Lax from the Business and Securities Fraud Section.
Mina Tadrus is 38 years old and resides in Tampa, Florida.
