Carl Channing Spence

What the public record shows

Carl Channing Spence, 41, of Mont Belvieu, Texas, was sentenced to 120 months — ten years — in federal prison plus three years of supervised release for wire fraud, after pleading guilty on January 30, 2026. U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal imposed the sentence. This is a criminal conviction — not an allegation.

The scheme

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas:

• From January 2022 through August 2023, Spence ran “AEI Financial” out of his home, telling friends, acquaintances, and colleagues he could deliver 10–12% returns by trading “meme stocks.”
• He collected roughly $2.1 million from 19 known victims.
• Instead of trading as promised, he diverted much of the money to personal use and used new investors’ money to pay earlier investors — the definition of a Ponzi scheme.
• At sentencing, the court noted the “unusually predatory nature” of the scheme: Spence targeted friends, colleagues, and community members he knew to be vulnerable.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

A ten-year federal sentence for defrauding his own friends and colleagues. The combination of a home-run “financial firm,” hot-trend trading promises, and steady double-digit returns was a textbook fraud pattern — now adjudicated.

Verify it yourself

• DOJ press release (Southern District of Texas) — linked in Sources.
• PACER — United States v. Spence, S.D. Texas.

Bottom line

Convicted and sentenced to a decade in prison. “I’ll trade it for you, 10–12% guaranteed” from someone with no registration, no custodian, and no audited statements is not an investment — it’s a donation.

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