HONOLULU -- A Florida man has been charged with fraud after collecting nearly $8 million from 64 Hawaii investors, law enforcement officials said.

A federal indictment said Patrick H. Rakotonanahary offered investors 6 percent to 10 percent interest per week based on trading of foreign currencies.

"This resulted in 64 Hawaii famiies liquidating their retirement savings or the equity in their homes only to find themselves defrauded in this alleged Ponzi scheme," said Charlene Thornton, FBI Agent-in-Charge for Hawaii.

The indictment followed an eight-month investigation dubbed "Operation Unhappy Returns."

Hawaii U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni said the defendant was operating a "classic Ponzi scheme," losing money on legitimate trades while paying investors with money from new investors.

Nakakuni said Rakotonanahary used most of the income from new investors, about $8.3 Million, to pay prior investors, in order to keep the scheme going. He actually lost $814,806 trading on foreign exchanges. "He diverted one milion dollars or more than half the amount he actually invested to his own personal use," Nakakuni said.

Rakotonanahary, 34, will be brought back to Hawaii for trial, officials said.

At an afternoon press conference in the U.S. Attorney's office, civil and criminal authorities reminded the public of the reliable adage: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't."

Hawaii Securities Commissioner Tung Chan issued an order to stop Rakotonanahary from doing business. She said the weakened economy is exposing more illegal schemes. "With the economy going down people are redeeming more and when you redeem Ponzi schemes tend to burst because they don’t have enough new investors covering to pay out to the early investors," Chan said.

She also said this was an "affinity" scheme. Meaning many of the investors were referred to the company by friends. "We do see in Hawaii a lot of affinity fraud through churches the military, any of these tight-knit groups," Chan said.