‘Harvard of Trading’ Ruined Thousands of Young People’s Lives

When Patrice Rechards entered the Rotterdam arena, pop songs were pumping, strobe lights were blinding and she could feel God running through her. She’d grown up in a relatively poor and religious Surinamese-Dutch family in Amsterdam, and she’d always known she had a higher purpose. But it wasn’t until she discovered IM Academy that she figured out what that was. Since joining the financial education platform three months earlier, the 26-year-old had learned how to trade options, crypto, stocks and foreign currencies, all in pursuit of getting rich—and she would soon share those lessons with others. Along with 15,000 other ...