A FINRA-suspended dealer often called “Okay Cash” was arrested and faces fees of defrauding social media followers of greater than $800,000.
Based on the Justice Division, Kenneth Thom was charged with securities and funding advisor fraud and faces 20 years in jail. U.S. Legal professional Jay Clayton stated that Thom “used social media to steal from traders.”
“When you’re getting funding recommendation from somebody who just isn’t registered as a dealer or funding advisor, the danger of fraud is way larger,” he stated.
Thom first registered in 2006, with temporary stints at Joseph Stevens & Firm, Nationwide Securities Company and Subsequent Monetary Group. In 2011, FINRA suspended him for failing to pay an arbitration penalty.
Based on the DOJ, Thom additionally informed investigators he’d co-mingled an investor’s cash along with his personal in a brokerage account. He allegedly misplaced the funds and didn’t inform the investor (spending a few of it on a Manhattan house), ultimately ignoring the investor altogether.
When Thom was suspended, he re-invented himself as a profitable dealer on Fb, calling himself “Okay$” or “Okay Cash,” and touting his (false) bona fides as a “Wall Road Veteran,” a “luminary,” and a “beacon of information,” the DOJ claimed.
Based on the indictment, Thom provided subscriptions for buying and selling classes and day by day commerce strategies, managing a Fb group referred to as the “Okay$ Buying and selling Group.” Beginning in 2023, he started managing shopper funds, posting within the group a few subscription with a “10K buy-in,” and rapidly started accepting shopper deposits.
However from January by August 2024, Thom obtained about $786,234 from 67 purchasers, sending about $350,000 to brokerage accounts, lower than half the entire sum he promised to commerce. Of the $46,234 he didn’t commerce, he returned about $51,478 to 9 purchasers, along with his financial institution returning an extra $10,000.
Thom used the remaining funds for eating at eating places, journey, luxurious items, money withdrawals, and transfers to different accounts (the bills included $6,026 on Airbnb and $5,883 on an all-business class airline flying between New Jersey and Paris). Based on the indictment, Thom spent $6,982 on a single buy on the Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan.
Based on the DOJ, of the cash he did make investments, Thom misplaced greater than 73% in internet loss between March 2024 and 2025. Thom allegedly falsified efficiency updates for purchasers displaying positive aspects.
In January 2025, he modified the Fb group title to “AYABABTU” (an acronym for the meme “All Your Base Are Belong to Us,” which comes from a foul translation of a Japanese online game). Tons of of members had been faraway from the group. Thom allegedly informed some traders that another person had taken over his Fb account, and he then stopped responding to purchasers fully.
Thom couldn’t be instantly reached for remark previous to publication.
