CFTC Enforcement

January 29, 2018

The CFTC announced the filing of a federal court enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charging Jitesh Thakkar of Naperville, Illinois, and his company, Edge Financial Technologies, Inc. (Edge), with aiding and abetting spoofing and a manipulative and deceptive scheme in the E-mini S&P futures contract market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (E-mini S&P). CFTC

January 29, 2018

The CFTC announced the filing of a federal court enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Defendant Jiongsheng Zhao, of Australia, charging him with spoofing and engaging in a manipulative and deceptive scheme in the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). CFTC

January 29, 2018

The CFTC announced the filing of a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against James Vorley, a U.K. resident, and Cedric Chanu, a United Arab Emirates resident, charging them with spoofing and engaging in a manipulative and deceptive scheme in the precious metals futures markets. CFTC

January 29, 2018

The CFTC announced the filing of a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut against Andre Flotron, of Switzerland, charging him with engaging in a manipulative and deceptive scheme and spoofing in the precious metals futures markets on a registered entity. CFTC

January 24, 2018

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of a federal court enforcement action under seal on January 16, 2018, charging commodity fraud and misappropriation related to the ongoing solicitation of customers for a virtual currency known as My Big Coin (MBC). The CFTC Complaint charges Defendants Randall Crater of East Hampton, New York,Mark Gillespie of Hartland, Michigan, and My Big Coin Pay, Inc., a corporation based in Las Vegas, Nevada, with misappropriating over $6 million from customers by, among other things, transferring customer funds into personal bank accounts, and using those funds for personal expenses and the purchase of luxury goods. CFTC

January 19, 2018

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on January 18, 2018, filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Defendants Patrick K. McDonnell, of Staten Island, New York, and CabbageTech, Corp. d/b/a Coin Drop Markets (CDM), a New York corporation, charging them with fraud and misappropriation in connection with purchases and trading of Bitcoin and Litecoin. CFTC

January 19, 2018

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on January 18, 2018 filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Defendants Dillon Michael Dean of Longmont, Colorado, and his company The Entrepreneurs Headquarters Limited, a UK-registered company. The CFTC Complaint charges the Defendants with engaging in a fraudulent scheme to solicit Bitcoin from members of the public, misrepresenting that customers’ funds would be pooled and invested in products including binary options, making Ponzi-style payments to commodity pool participants from other participants’ funds, misappropriating pool participants’ funds, and failing to register with the CFTC as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) and Associated Person of a CPO, as required. CFTC

January 12, 2018

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of a civil enforcement action on January 12, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charging Defendants Richard D. Carter of Mundelein, Illinois, Mark R. Slobodnik of Libertyville, Illinois, and their company Blue Guru Trading, LLC (Blue Guru), a Delaware limited liability company, with fraudulent solicitation, issuing false statements, and misappropriation in connection with investments in their Blue Guru commodity pool. The CFTC Complaint also charges the Defendants with registration violations. CFTC

December 20, 2017

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained three related Consent Orders of Permanent Injunction against Defendants Mintco LLC of Delray Beach, Florida, and its owners Stuart Rubinof Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Richard Q. Zimmerman of Wellington Florida, finding that all Defendants engaged in illegal off-exchange precious metals transactions and further that Rubin and Mintco engaged in fraud with respect to these same precious metals transactions. CFTC

December 12, 2017

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Ronnie Abrams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Consent Order against Defendants Kevin Michael Symons of Foothill Ranch, California, and his California company, FTS Financial, Inc. (FTS), and a Consent Order against Jerry Austin Simmons of Charlotte, North Carolina. The Orders find that the Defendants fraudulently promoted Simmons’ "Real Time Trade Room" (the Room), an online futures "trading" forum marketed by the Defendants as a way to observe Simmons as he purported to trade futures contracts “live” and that Simmons solicited clients to open managed futures trading accounts without being registered as required with the CFTC as an Associated Person (AP) of a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). CFTC