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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
August 24, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action against Defendants Thomas Lanzana (d/b/a Unique Forex) currently of Pawleys Island, South Carolina and his company Blackbox Pulse, LLC of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Nikolay Masanko and his company White Cloud Mountain, LLC, both of St. Augustine, Florida, charging them with fraud in connection with soliciting customers for their foreign currency derivatives (forex) trading pools and other investments. The CFTC Complaint, filed on August 21, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, also charges the Defendants with misappropriating customer funds and with registration violations. Lanzana resided at various times in Midland Park and New Bergen, New Jersey, until approximately 2015, according to the Complaint. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 17, 2017

				 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge William P. Dimitrouleas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a Consent Order against Defendants Jeffrey Slemmer of Acton, Massachusetts, Christian Dorrian of Boynton Beach, Florida, Adam Roth of Boca Raton, Florida, and their former respective Florida companies Slemmer Enterprises LLC, Dorrian Enterprises, LLC, and Roth Investment Group LLC, finding that the defendants fraudulently solicited customers in connection with precious metals and diamonds transactions, misappropriated customer funds, and concealed their fraud with false account statements. The defendants executed the scheme using the business names Berkley Hard Asset Group, Berkley Hard Assets, and Berkley Rare Diamonds (the Berkley Enterprise). The Order requires the Defendants to pay, jointly and severally, $2,738,040 in restitution to defrauded customers and a $2,738,040 civil monetary penalty. The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against the defendants, among other things, and prohibits them from committing further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations, as charged. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 15, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Copersucar Trading A.V.V. (Copersucar), an Aruban corporation and a subsidiary of Copersucar S.A., the world’s largest sugar and ethanol company, based in São Paolo, Brazil, for executing prearranged, noncompetitive wash trades involving Sugar No. 11 futures Trade at Settlement (TAS) contracts traded on ICE Futures U.S., Inc. (ICE), a designated contract market. The Order requires that Copersucar pay a $300,000 civil monetary penalty. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 7, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) for engaging in multiple acts of spoofing in a variety of futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, including futures contracts based on United States treasury notes and Eurodollars. The Order finds that BTMU engaged in this activity through one of its employees (Trader A), who accessed these markets through a trading platform from one of BTMU’s Tokyo offices. The Order requires BTMU to pay a $600,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act’s prohibition against spoofing. The CFTC became aware of the conduct through BTMU’s voluntary self-reporting of the wrongdoing. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 26, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Simon Posen of New York, New York for engaging in thousands of incidents of “spoofing” — bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution — in gold, silver, and copper futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange, Inc., and crude oil futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange over a period spanning more than three years. Posen traded from home for his own account and was not employed by any corporate entity, according to the Order. The CFTC Order requires Posen to pay a $635,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act’s prohibition against spoofing. The Order further permanently bans Posen from trading in any market regulated by the CFTC and from applying for registration or claiming exemption from registration with the CFTC in any capacity. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 20, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today the settling of charges against Respondents Arthur Toole IIIof Atlanta, Georgia, and his companies, Billionaire Investor Group (BIG), a Texas limited liability company, The Toole Group Inc. (Toole Group), a Texas corporation, and Catalyst Traders LLC (Catalyst), a Georgia limited liability company, for misappropriating commodity pool funds, fraudulent misrepresentations, commingling pool funds, and acting as an unregistered commodity pool operator. The CFTC Order finds that from in or about February 2011 through at least January 2016, Toole incorporated his companies in Texas and Georgia, all of which operated as separate, consecutive commodity pools and which primarily traded Chicago Mercantile Exchange Euro FX futures and E-Mini Dow futures contracts. The Order further finds that Toole solicited over $375,000 from pool participants for the three commodity pools and misappropriated over $244,000 from the pools for personal and non-trading expenses. Pool participants suffered net losses amounting to $293,141, according to the Order. The Order also finds that Toole misrepresented trading results and the pools’ assets under management and commingled funds from all three pools with non-pool property. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 18, 2017

				 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal district court has unsealed a civil CFTC Complaint with the Middle District of Florida on July 10, 2017, charging Jason B. Scharf of Valley Village, California, a worldwide web of companies he controlled, including CIT Investments LLC, a Nevada limited liability corporation; Brevspand EOOD, a Bulgarian business entity; CIT Investments Ltd., a Marshall Islands business entity; CIT Investments Ltd., an Anguillan business entity; and A & J Media Partners, Inc., a California corporation, together with affiliate marketers Michael Shah and his company Zilmil, Inc., both of Jacksonville, Florida, with unlawfully soliciting and accepting more than $16 million in connection with illegal binary options contracts. Scharf also does business as Citrades.com and AutoTrading Binary.com, according to the Complaint. In addition, the Complaint charges Scharf, Shah, and Zilmil with acting as Futures Commission Merchants (FCM) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) without being registered with the CFTC, as required. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 11, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered an Order of Final Judgment by Default against Defendants Anthony J. Klatch II, Lindsey Heim, and their company Assurance Capital Management, LLC (ACM) for defrauding pool participants in a commodity pool they operated, misappropriating pool participants’ funds, and other violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations. The Order requires that Klatch, Lindsey Heim, and ACM jointly pay $459,613 in restitution and a $1,509,552 civil monetary penalty. The Order also requires that Klatch pay an additional $96,873 in restitution and a $335,456 civil monetary penalty for two additional fraudulent schemes he carried out. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 11, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Defendants Daniel Winston LaMarco and his company, GDLogix Inc., charging them with off-exchange foreign currency derivatives (forex) fraud, commodity pool fraud, and failure to register with the CFTC, as required. LaMarco previously resided in Huntington, New York, and GDLogix’s last known principal place of business was in Huntington, New York. Neither Defendant has ever been registered with the CFTC. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 29, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing and simultaneous settlement of charges against Rosenthal Collins Capital Markets, LLC, now known as DV Trading LLC(RCCM), of Chicago, Illinois, for engaging in illegal wash sales in order to generate rebates of exchange fees based upon increased trading volumes. The CFTC Order requires RCCM to pay a $5 million civil monetary penalty and cease and desist from violating Section 4c(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission Regulation 1.38(a), as charged.  A separate CFTC Order finds that former RCCM trader, Brandon Elsasser (Elsasser), entered illegal wash sales and requires him to pay a $200,000 civil monetary penalty, and orders him to cease and desist from violating CEA Section 4c(a) and Commission Regulation 1.38(a), as charged. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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