California Young-Gun Investor Charged in Alleged $6 Million Ponzi Scheme
Federal prosecutors have accused Mihir Deepak Sukthankar, a California resident once celebrated as a teenage trading “prodigy,” of orchestrating a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme. According to ThinkAdvisor, Sukthankar faces charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy in federal court in Kentucky.
An associate, Dylan Bryce Baker of Florida, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. According to prosecutors, Baker acted as both an investor and recruiter, helping bring new clients into the alleged scheme.
Court filings allege the pair solicited more than $6 million from investors, including $5.2 million from a Kentucky resident who was induced to deposit funds into accounts controlled by Sukthankar and Baker. ThinkAdvisor reports that prosecutors claim that Sukthankar promoted himself as the owner of a trading firm operating under various names, while Baker bolstered the operation by presenting himself as a successful entrepreneur and client.
Prosecutors contend that from June 2021 until last week, Sukthankar misrepresented his trading activity, commingled client money with personal funds, and used investor deposits to finance his own lifestyle. He allegedly provided clients with false account balances and repaid earlier investors with deposits from newer ones—conduct prosecutors describe as a Ponzi scheme.
Sukthankar had previously drawn media attention for his rapid rise in trading. ThinkAdvisor reports that a 2021 feature in L’Officiel Monaco profiled him as a 19-year-old “rising star” in the stock market, and a 2020 press release promoted him as an ambitious teenage investor.
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