A federal court at Chattanooga has issued a 19-count indictment against Luis H. Rivas, former Ooltewah currency trader who authorities say swindled some $31 million from hundreds of investors across the country.

The indictment charges wire fraud, money laundering, criminally derived monetary transactions and bankruptcy fraud.

Rivas, who was on the lam before being captured in Topeka, Kan., in late June, earlier was indicted by federal authorities in South Carolina, where he had a satellite operation.

The new indictment says Rivas' primary operation was in Chattanooga, though he had offices in Spartanburg, Knoxville, Tulsa and Panama City.

It says he maintained numerous bank accounts, including the Bank of America in Chattanooga and InterbankFx in Salt Lake City.

The indictment says beginning as early as March 2007 that Rivas devised a Ponzi scheme "to defraud hundreds of individuals and to obtain money and property in the approximate amount of $31 million by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and with reckless disregard for the truth of such pretenses, representations and promises."

It says Rivas would falsely represent to investors that he was earning high yields through currency trading and that they would get earnings as high as 96 percent.

Rivas paid some early investors with proceeds of later investors to make it look like the operation was successful.

Authorities said Rivas used the investor funds on exorbitant payments and gifts to employees in order to motivate them to recruit others.

It says he purchased houses, cars, furs, jewelry, limousine service, clothing, home improvements and furnishings, hotel suites and cash for "shopping trips" for himself and others with investors' money.

The indictment said Rivas falsely denied that he had a prior felony conviction.

It says Rivas made wire transfers to banks, including $170,000 from InterbankFX to Bank of America, $30,000 from Bank of America to Regions Bank in Birmingham, $25,000 from Bank of America to Silverton Bank in Atlanta and $670,000 from InterbankFx to Bank of America.

Other transactions allegedly using investor funds included checks of $163,000 to Land Rover of Chattanooga, $101,648 to BMW of Chattanooga on two occasions, $114,686 to Jaguar of Chattanooga and $69,972 to BMW of Chattanooga.

Rivas operated for about a year from a headquarters in Bonny Oaks, and he later set up the satellite offices for his The Forex Project.

Agents of the IRS and the FBI were among those investigating the case.