Archive

December 18, 2015

Virginia reached a settlement with MoneyKey, Inc., a Delaware-based online consumer lender, for alleged violations of the state’s consumer finance statutes and the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. MoneyKey has agreed to provide approximately $4 million to over 5,000 Virginia customers to resolve allegations that it imposed illegal charges on borrowers who received open-ended credit loans. VA

December 4, 2015

The CFTC has filed a civil enforcement action charging David Bryant of Los Angeles County with fraud and acting as a Commodity Pool Operator without being registered with the CFTC; the CFTC’s complaint alleges that between at June 2014 and the present, Bryant fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $3 million from pool participants, claiming he was trading their funds in an account for the Bryant Family Investment Fund LLC. According to the CFTC’s complaint, there was no Bryant Family Investment Fund LLC account, and Bryant actually lost over $2.6 million trading in his personal accounts during this period. CFTC

November 18, 2015

Sentry Asset Group, LLC d/b/a Sentry Asset Management, LLC of Boca Raton, Florida, and its owner, manager, and controlling person John Pakel of Boynton Beach, Florida have been ordered to pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty and restitution of $278,767 for engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions. CFTC

November 16, 2015

The CFTC has filed a lawsuit against IB Capital FX, LLC (a/k/a IB Capital FX [NZ] LLP) d/b/a IB Capital, Michel Geurkink, and Emad Echadi, alleging that the defendant solicited and accepted at least $50 million from 960 clients, including almost 700 in the United States, for off-exchange margined retail foreign currency (forex) trading without being registered with the CFTC.  CFTC

September 30, 2015

The CFTC filed charges against Guardian Asset Group, LLC and its owner and principal, Andrew Kurzbard, both of West Palm Beach, Florida, alleging that the defendants engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.  CFTC

September 29 ,2015

American Portfolio Asset Management, Inc. and its owner, Alan M. Kneller, both of Boca Raton, Florida, will pay over $578,000 in restitution and penalties to settle charges that they illegally offering off-exchange financed transactions in precious metals to retail customers.  CFTC

September 29, 2015

The CFTC have filed a lawsuit against Harvard Assets LLC, London Assets Inc., and Harvard International Trading, Inc., all three operating in Florida, and their controlling person, Todd Owen Marshall for engaging in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers.  CFTC

September 28, 2015

The CFTC ordered Michael E. Simmons and Global Consortiums, LLC, both of Fayetteville, Georgia, to pay a $360,000 penalty and restitution totaling $229,660 for committing fraud and misappropriation in connection with operating a commodity pool that offered leveraged or margined off-exchange foreign currency transactions.  CFTC

September 25, 2015

The CFTC has charged Safety Capital Management, Inc. and GNS Capital, Inc., both doing business as FOREXNPOWER, John Won, and Sungmi Kang with fraudulent solicitation of over $1.5 million from customers to trade off-exchange foreign currency and misappropriation of over $622,000 of customer funds.  CFTC

September 17, 2015

The CFTC filed a complaint against Mintco LLC of Delray Beach, Florida, and its principals Stuart Rubin and Richard Q. Zimmerman, charging the defendants with unlawfully targeting low net-worth retail customers with telemarketing and off-exchange transactions for the purchase and sale of gold and other precious metals.  CFTC