He graduated from Beyer High School, and attended a local community college, then worked in a series of jobs, including his father's construction firm.
Joel Ward, who is president of Learn:Forex, an online currency trading institute, says it is disappointing that so many brokers have promoted foreign exchange as a get-rich-quick scheme and describes the leverage offered by some – as high as 400:1 – as "insane and not necessary".
"The fact that you see a lot of brokers registered as National Futures Association members doesn't make this a regulated market, it's not," Ward notes.
He says the lack of regulation requires investors to do their own due diligence, making sure they deal with a highly capitalised broker offering a lot of transparency as to how it works.
In that context, he wrote that he "felt like a financial serial killer"[10] and "just another scumbag con artist bilking old people out of their retirement money.
[13] Several victims spoke during the sentencing hearing, telling the judge about the financial devastation caused by Ward's conduct, and their hopes for restitution.
Ward was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $11,275,501.53 and to serve three years of supervised release after the completion of his prison sentence.
The defendant had proposed that he be allowed to remain out of prison while he attempted to generate funds by more trading in foreign exchange, in order to repay investors.