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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.

June 29, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that it entered into non-prosecution agreements with Jeremy Lao (Lao) of New York, New York, Daniel Liao (Liao) of Minato-Ku, Japan, and Shlomo Salant (Salant) of New York, New York. In their non-prosecution agreements, Lao, Liao, and Salant each admits that he engaged in the unlawful disruptive trade practice of “spoofing” (bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution) in U.S. Treasury futures markets while trading for Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (Citigroup) in 2011 and 2012. The non-prosecution agreements emphasize Lao’s, Liao’s, and Salant’s timely and substantial cooperation, immediate willingness to accept responsibility for their misconduct, material assistance provided to the CFTC’s investigation of Citigroup, and the absence of a history of prior misconduct. CFTC

June 28, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Loretta C. Biggs of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina entered an Order of Final Judgment by Default (Order) against Defendants Tracy Lee Thomas (a/k/a Treyton L. Thomas, a/k/a Trayton L. Thomas, a/k/a Trey Thomas, a/k/a Tray Thomas, a/k/a T.L. Thomas), formerly of Naples, Florida, and Marbury Advisors Inc. (Marbury), a Cayman Islands corporation. The Court’s Order finds that the Defendants had fraudulently solicited over $ 1.1 million from customers, lost those funds trading, and provided customers with false reports or statements indicating their investments were profitable. The Court’s Order, entered on April 11, 2017 and stemming from a CFTC complaint filed March 22, 2016 (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release 7348-16), requires Thomas and Marbury, jointly and severally, to pay restitution of $1,110,413 and a civil monetary penalty of $3,331,239, which represents triple the monetary gain to Defendants. The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans and prohibits Defendants from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, as charged. CFTC

June 27, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Huafu HK Co. Ltd. (Huafu), a corporation based in Hong Kong, for failing to file CFTC Form 304 reports, reporting its call cotton purchases and sales when it held or controlled at least 100 cotton futures positions. The CFTC previously issued a market Advisory reminding cotton market participants wherever they are located of their ongoing obligation to comply in a timely manner with applicable reporting obligations (see CFTC Staff Advisory No. 13-14Obligation of Reportable Market Participants to File CFTC Form 304 Reports for Call Cotton in a Timely Manner as Required by Commission Regulation 19.02, May 8, 2013). The CFTC Order requires Huafu to pay a $225,000 civil monetary penalty and prohibits it from committing future violations of CFTC Regulation 19.02, as charged. CFTC

June 26, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an Opinion and Order (Order) against Defendants Gary Creagh and Wall Street Pirate Management, LLC (Wall Street Pirate), both of New York, New York. The Order, entered on May 10, 2017, permanently prohibits the Defendants from registering with the CFTC in any capacity and engaging in any commodity interest trading, and it requires Defendants to pay a $125,000 civil monetary penalty. Also, the court entered a supplemental Order on June 16, 2017, that permanently bans Defendants from trading for themselves or on behalf of any other person or entity. CFTC

June 22, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Defendants Michael S. Wright, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and his firm Wright Time Capital Group LLC, d/b/a Global FX Club(WTCG), a New York limited liability company, charging them with fraud, misappropriation, and issuing false account statements in connection with a pooled investment in foreign currency derivatives (forex) trading. The CFTC Complaint also charges WTCG with failing to register with the CFTC as a commodity pool operator (CPO), as required, and engaging in activities prohibited for a CPO, including commingling pool funds with Defendants’ funds. Specifically, the CFTC Complaint alleges that from approximately August 2010 through the present, Defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme to solicit more than $400,000 from at least 10 members of the public, promising to use pool participant funds for forex trading. Defendants allegedly traded only a portion of pool participants’ funds and misappropriated the majority of those funds for unauthorized personal or business expenses such as food, clothing, jewelry, and entertainment. CFTC

June 21, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today entered an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Respondents McVean Trading & Investments, LLC (MTI), a Memphis-based Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), its Chairman and CEO, Charles Dow McVean, Sr. (McVean), and President, Michael J. Wharton (Wharton), and long-time MTI consultant Samuel C. Gilmore (Gilmore).  The Order finds that, by secretly using cattle feedyards as straw purchasers for hundreds of long live cattle futures contracts — which at some points more than doubled CME spot month position limits — McVean and Wharton intentionally or recklessly used a manipulative or deceptive device to inject false information into the market, which had the potential to affect the live cattle futures market.  By using these straw purchasers, McVean and Wharton were able to control substantial portions of the market without disclosing that control, which caused other market participants, including live cattle traders with open short positions, to see wider market interest, participation, and fragmentation on the long side of the market than actually existed.  James McDonald, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, said: “For markets to have integrity, market participants must be able to trust that the markets operate free of manipulative or deceptive conduct.  The Commission will always act to address those threats to the markets it regulates.  That includes cases like this one, where market participants try to game the markets by injecting false information, which distorts the view of that market seen by other participants.” The Order requires McVean to pay a civil monetary penalty of $2,000,000, MTI to pay a civil monetary penalty of $1,500,000, Wharton to pay a civil monetary penalty of $1,000,000, and Gilmore, who was charged as an aider and abettor of McVean’s position limits violations, to pay a civil monetary penalty of $500,000. CFTC

June 13, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Jose E. Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a Consent Order against North American Asset Management, LLC (NAAM) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, its owner and president Alexi Bethel of Miami, Florida, and its owner and managing director Steven Labadie of Lake Worth, Florida. The Order finds that NAAM, Bethel, and Labadie engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis and requires them, jointly and severally, to pay restitution of $648,759.60 and a $977,430.47 civil monetary penalty. The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against NAAM, Bethel, and Labadie and prohibits them from further violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), as charged. The Order stems from a CFTC civil enforcement action filed against NAAM, Bethel, and Labadie on January 15, 2016, charging them with engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release 7331-16). CFTC

June 8, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that on June 1, 2017, Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington entered a Statutory Restraining Order (SRO) against Sung Hong a/k/a Lawrence or Laurence Hong of Bellevue, Washington (Laurence Hong), Hyun Joo Hong a/k/a Grace Hong of either Bellevue or Clyde Hill, Washington (Grace Hong), and her company Pishon Holding LLC (Pishon) of Bellevue, Washington (collectively, the Defendants). The SRO, among other things, froze the Defendants’ assets and granted the CFTC the right to immediately inspect and copy the Defendants’ business records. CFTC

June 2, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against David Liew for engaging in numerous acts of spoofing, attempted manipulation, and, at times, manipulation of the gold and silver futures markets. Liew engaged in this unlawful conduct for more than two years while he was employed as a junior trader on the precious metals desk for a large financial institution (Financial Institution 1). The CFTC Order finds that Liew acted individually and in coordination with traders at Financial Institution 1 and with a trader at another large financial institution. In the Order, Liew admits the facts of his manipulation and spoofing activity and acknowledges that his conduct violated the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission Regulations. The Order permanently bans Liew from trading commodity interests and requires him to comply with undertakings never to engage in other commodity-interest related activities, including seeking registration, acting in a capacity requiring registration, or acting as a principal, agent, officer or employee of any person registered, required to be registered or exempt from registration. CFTC

June 5, 2017

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against Tallinex a/k/a Tallinex Limited (Tallinex), of Tallinn, Estonia, and General Trader Fulfillment (GTF), a Nevada company doing business in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The CFTC’s Complaint charges Tallinex with operating as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED), without being registered as such with the CFTC, and with fraudulently soliciting U.S. resident customers to trade leveraged foreign currencies (forex). The Complaint charges GTF with acting as an unregistered Introducing Broker (IB) by soliciting U.S. customers to open forex trading accounts with Tallinex. Specifically, from at least September 2012 and continuing to at least September 2016, Tallinex fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $1.5 million from U.S. customers in connection with leveraged or margined forex transactions, to which it was or offered to be the counterparty. Moreover, according to the Complaint, in the course of soliciting retail forex customers, Tallinex made fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions of material fact and engaged in fraudulent and deceptive business practices. CFTC
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