Omega Trust & Trading Ltd. was an American company that engaged in prime bank fraud from 1994 to 2000. The organization was created by retired electrician Clyde Hood, who presented it as an offshore investment program offering complex financial instruments with a payout of 50-to-1 or more.

Background

Clyde Hood was a lifelong resident of Mattoon, Illinois, where he worked as an electrician. In December 1990 he was indicted in Pike County, Indiana in connection with a fraudulent scheme to sell overseas oil futures. The case was dismissed when Hood refused to appear before the court. A typical prime bank pitch involves discounted debentures, "prime bank notes", or other financial instruments that are purportedly too complex for investors to understand. Some of them pleaded guilty or were convicted of multiple counts of fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and filing a false tax return (see ).

Engel later cooperated with the police and let them tape a phone conversation with Hood. Hood lawyer Steve Ryan was also later removed from the case when he was subpoenaed as a witness and for possible collusion.

On April 10, 2001, Hood pleaded guilty to mail or wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and filing a false tax return. On January 18, 2002, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, to be followed with three years of supervised release, and a fine of $5000. Hood died on July 24, 2012.

Five of his associates were convicted of active participation of the scheme and were ordered to make restitution. Thirteen associates were convicted of money laundering. Three hundred fifty-five victims received restitution from forfeited Omega Trust funds to the total of $1,697,310.00.

Omega Trust inspired similar schemes, either to offer similar phony debentures or to propose a new path to securing the payout promised in the original scam. Clyde Hood testified that he was aware of imitators who copied his methods without sending him any money.

Programs known as "Alpha" and "Destiny" were circulating as early as 1998. The anti-fraud website Quatloos.com speculated that Alpha and Destiny were "probably run by the same people" as Omega. Although Barnard's bill had never been sponsored by a member of Congress, Goodwin claimed it had been secretly passed in March 2000, but a gag order prevented anyone from enforcing or acknowledging it.

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