A day trader from Golden has been barred from selling investments for the next decade after admitting he pocketed more than $1 million from the sale of unlicensed securities.
Eric Gemelli, 62, has owned several investment firms, most recently Market4Caster. He is the author of a self-published book, “The Pattern of Life: How to Make Money in Any Market.”
Gemelli and Market4Caster were sued by the Colorado Division of Securities in late 2024 and accused of selling $3 million in penny stocks and mining investments to friends, family and women Gemelli met on dating apps, then keeping more than $1 million as fees.
Barred from selling securities in California since 1999, Gemelli allegedly made overly rosy predictions to investors and failed to mention fees he would be collecting.
“Eric Gemelli had been advised incorrectly that he could engage in these securities transactions, but that was not a defense to the unlicensed sales of unregistered securities, which forced him to settle,” his attorney, Paul Vorndran at Jones & Keller, explained in a statement Friday.
“He had also invested significantly in the same investments others did, and sustained substantial losses,” the statement said. “Mr. Gemelli is pleased to get this matter behind him.”
A four-day trial was set for Feb. 23-26 in Denver District Court. But the two sides reached a settlement in early February, one that does not require Gemelli to pay money. It also saves the day trader a trip, since records show he now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“Market4Caster received over $1 million in commissions, bonuses and other compensation … then transferred these funds to my personal accounts as well as to three trusts for which I was the beneficiary,” Gemelli admits in his settlement with the Division of Securities.
“Market4Caster LLC has assets of less than $1,000. Each of the three trusts have assets of less than $1,000. Neither Market4Caster nor the trusts have sufficient assets to pay.”
Judge Chris Baumann approved the settlement Feb. 10 and canceled this month’s trial.
“Mr. Gemelli is not welcome to sell securities in Colorado for the next decade,” Tung Chan, Colorado’s securities commissioner, said in a news release Feb. 12. “Any violations of this order will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law,” she vowed.
After one of Gemelli’s other financial firms went kaput in the 2000s, he started a subcontracting business called Painting With a Purpose that hired homeless and out-of-work people.
“I don’t need money, I need God,” he told his alma mater then. “God is in charge and that is all I care about. Learning to trust Him is the most important thing. It is all about trust.”
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