1. Home
  2. Practices
  3. Whistleblower Representation
  4. Recent Government Enforcement
  5. CFTC Enforcement Actions
Have a Claim?

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-347-417-2192 
								
			


								
						
			


								
			

	
Whistleblower Quiz

	
Would you blow the whistle?

 Take our Quiz


									
	
						

		

			
			

				

					
CFTC Enforcement Actions

					
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the United States agency with primary responsibility for enforcing the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and regulating commodity futures and related markets. Whistleblowers with knowledge of violations of laws and regulations enforced by the CFTC can submit a claim under the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, and may be eligible to receive a monetary reward and protection against retaliation by employers.


Below are summaries of recent CFTC settlements or successful enforcement actions. If you believe you have information about fraud which could give rise to a CFTC enforcement action and claim under the CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, please contact us to speak with one of our experienced whistleblower attorneys.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
July 2, 2018

				 The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging Harris Bruce Landgarten of Old Brookville, New York, with defrauding participants in a commodity pool that he operated, the Tradeanedge Members Fund (TMF).  The CFTC Complaint also charges Landgarten with providing his pool participants false account statements and with commingling pool funds with non-pool funds. Further, Landgarten was also charged with one count of obstructing the CFTC’s investigation related to Landgarten’s communications with one of his pool participants, who was a potential witness, while the CFTC’s investigation that resulted in the filing of this enforcement action was pending. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
													  Regulatory Violations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 28, 2018

				 The CFTC announced that an Order of Summary Judgment was entered against Mirko (Mick) Schacke of Brentwood, California, and a Default Judgment against Schacke’s company, TradeMasters USA, LLC of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Order, entered on June 22, 2018, amends a previous order entered on September 13, 2017, and finds that the Defendants committed fraud in their solicitations of futures trading software customers, failed to register with the CFTC and failed to provide required disclosures to investors.  The Court’s Order also requires Schacke and TradeMasters, jointly and severally, to pay disgorgement of $168,626 to defrauded customers and a $505,878 civil monetary penalty. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 4, 2018

				 The CFTC issued an order against Société Générale S.A. settling charges of manipulation of Yen LIBOR, attempted manipulation and false reporting of Euribor and U.S. Dollar, Yen and Euro LIBORs, and aiding and abetting traders at another bank in their attempts to manipulate Euribor. The bank engaged in this misconduct to make money on its trading positions and to protect its reputation from speculation that it was having more difficulty borrowing unsecured funds than other banks. Société Générale will pay a civil monetary penalty of $475 million, cease and desist from further violations, and adhere to specific undertakings to ensure the integrity of its LIBOR, Euribor, and other benchmark interest rate submissions in the future. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial Institution Fraud, 
													  Foreign Exchange, 
													  Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 18, 2018

				 The CFTC has ordered JPMorgan Chase to pay $65M as a penalty for attempted manipulation of the USD ISDAFIX benchmark swap rate. The CFTC found that between January 2012 and January 2017, the bank made false reports in an attempt to manipulate the USD International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix (ISDAFIX), a benchmark in a range of interest rate products, to benefit its own positions. Banks are supposed to accurately report their relevant benchmark every day at 11AM. According to the CFTC, JPMorgan would make bids, offers, and execute transactions immediately before 11AM to manipulate what rate was reported. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
													  Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 13, 2018

				 Jamal Y. Vance and his company All City Investments, LLC will pay over $770,000 for fraudulently soliciting customers for forex trading and failing to register as a Commodity Trading Advisor. According to the Consent Order, Vance induced customers using false and misleading data on All City’s website, including a trading track record and purported testimonials. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
													  Regulatory Violations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 13, 2018

				 The CFTC has charged an LLC, Omega Knight 2, and two of its members, Aviv Michael Hen and Erez, with previous metals fraud. According to the agency, the defendants engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in previous metals and failed to register their trades with the CFTC. The defendants also allegedly made false statements to induce customers to enter various kinds of precious metals transactions, receiving over $5.5M from 90 different customers. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
													  Regulatory Violations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 29, 2018

				 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against X-Change Financial Access LLC (XFA) of Chicago, Illinois, for failure to diligently supervise its employees’ handling of its customer accounts and failure to preserve complete records. At the time of the conduct charged, XFA was registered with the CFTC as a Futures Commission Merchant and is now registered as an Introducing Broker. Specifically, the Order finds that, between at least January 2013 and January 2014 (the Relevant Period), a client registered as a commodity pool operator and commodity trading adviser (Client) engaged in an unlawful post-execution allocation scheme in which the Client disproportionately allocated profitable trades to the accounts in which the Client or the Client’s associates had a proprietary interest, and unprofitable or less profitable trades to customer or pool accounts. The Order finds that during the Relevant Period, XFA had no written policies or procedures concerning the post-execution allocation of bunched orders and did not train its staff on their obligations regarding the handling of such bunched orders. As a result, an XFA floor broker (Broker) processed the Client’s allocations despite various red flags indicating that the Client was not complying with CFTC regulations governing such allocations, the Order finds. CFTC				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 24, 2018

				 The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, charging Defendants Jin Choi of Los Angeles, California, and his companies, Apuro Holdings Ltd. (Apuro) d/b/a ApuroFX and JCI Holdings USA (JCI) d/b/a JCI Trading Group, LLC, with off-exchange retail foreign currency (forex) fraud and failure to register with the CFTC as a Commodity Trading Advisor and Associated Person of a Commodity Trading Advisor, as required. CFTC				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 8, 2018

				 The CFTC announced that Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has entered an Order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Alcibiades Cifuentes (Cifuentes) and Jennifer Wee Cifuentes (Wee), both of West New York, New Jersey, and their corporate entity, Cifuentes Fund Management, LLC (collectively, Defendants). The Order, entered on April 20, 2018, finds that from at least April 2013 through March 2015, the Defendants devised a sham commodity pool trading in off-exchange foreign currency (forex) contracts. To solicit pool participants to transfer funds to them, the Defendants made false statements, fabricated account documents, and established a practice, or “demo,” forex trading account that involved no actual funds and posed no risk of loss. The Defendants posted “profitable” trades from the demo account online and falsely represented them to be the Defendants’ actual trades, without disclosing that the demo account had sustained “losses” exceeding $5 million. CFTC				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
April 30, 2018

				 The CFTC announced that on April 11, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado entered Default Judgment against Defendants Randall A. Vest and his holding company, Bulletproof Vest, Inc. (Bulletproof Vest). The judgment resolves a CFTC enforcement action filed on August 6, 2014, charging Defendants Ryan Madigan of Pittsford, New York; Vest of Fort Meyers, Florida; and Ryan Tomazin of Stamford, Connecticut with commodity futures and off-exchange retail foreign currency(forex) fraud and misappropriation (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release 6981-14, August 21, 2014). CFTC				 			
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
1
…
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
…
52
								

						

					

												
		
 
	
 

 



	


	

		

			

								
							
Learn about Whistleblower Rewards Programs
			
	
		

		
	
			

									

													False Claims Act					  							State & Local False Claims Acts					  							SEC Program					  							CFTC Program					  							IRS Program					  					

								See More			
	
		

	
		

	




	


	

		

			

				

					

						
Newsletter

						
Subscribe to receive email updates from the Constantine Cannon blogs

					
	
				
	
			
	
			
	
				
Sign up for: