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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
May 30, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a final Order of Default Judgment (Order) against Defendants Kelvin Burgos and his company K.B. Concepts Group, LLC d/b/a Apex Asset Advisors, LLC (K.B. Concepts) for engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions. Burgos, a resident of Florida, was the owner and principal of K.B. Concepts, which operated its metals business under the name Apex Asset Advisors, LLC. The Court’s Order stems from a CFTC civil enforcement action filed against the Defendants on September 20, 2016 (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release 7448-16). The Court’s Order requires Burgos and K.B. Concepts to pay, jointly and severally, $121,591.10 in disgorgement and a $364,773.30 civil monetary penalty. The Order also imposes permanent trading, solicitation, and registration bans against Burgos and K.B. Concepts, and prohibits them from engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions, as charged. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 23, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Kenneth A. Marra of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a Consent Order against Guardian Asset Group, LLC (Guardian) of West Palm Beach, Florida, and its owner and principal, Andrew Kurzbard, with a last-known address in Hacksneck, Virginia, finding that Guardian and Kurzbard engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis. The Order requires Guardian and Kurzbard, jointly and severally, to pay restitution of $434,413.54 and a $651,620.31 civil monetary penalty. The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against Guardian and Kurzbard and prohibits them from further violating the Commodity Exchange Act, as charged. The Order stems from a CFTC civil enforcement action filed against Guardian and Kurzbard on September 30, 2015, charging them with engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release 7257-15). CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 22, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Bruce S. Jenkins in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah entered a Consent Order against Defendants Kimball Parker of Lehi, Utah, and his Utah company, MakeYourFuture, LLC (MYF), who were charged with fraud and other violations in connection with the offering and sale of a futures trading system marketed under the names “MakeYourFuture” and "Changes Trading." The Consent Order, entered on May 19, 2017, requires Parker and MYF, jointly and severally, to pay restitution to defrauded customers totaling $853,294.98, plus a $354,000 civil monetary penalty. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Misrepresentations, 
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 22, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved amendments to the CFTC’s Whistleblower Rules that will, among other things, strengthen the CFTC’s anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers and enhance the process for reviewing whistleblower claims. Based on a reinterpretation of the CFTC’s anti-retaliation authority under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), the CFTC or the whistleblower may now bring an action against an employer for retaliation against a whistleblower. The amendments also prohibit employers from taking steps to impede a would-be whistleblower from communicating directly with CFTC staff about a possible violation of the CEA by using a confidentiality, pre-dispute arbitration or similar agreement. “The Whistleblower Program is an integral part of the Division’s efforts to identify and prosecute unlawful conduct. The Commission’s approval of these rules today will further strengthen and enhance our efforts to protect customers and promote market integrity,” said James McDonald, the Director of the Division of Enforcement. Part 165 of CFTC’s Regulations provides the basic framework of the agency’s Whistleblower Program. In addition to strengthening anti-retaliation protections, the new amendments will add efficiency and transparency to the process of deciding whistleblower award claims and will, in many respects, harmonize the CFTC’s rules with those of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program. The amended rules establish a claims review process which will utilize a Claims Review Staff, in place of the Whistleblower Award Determination Panel, to consider and issue a Preliminary Determination as to whether an award claim should be granted or denied. A whistleblower will then have an opportunity to request to view the record and may contest the Preliminary Determination before the CFTC issues a Final Determination. The amendments also make changes to other key areas, such as whistleblower eligibility requirements, and make clear that, with limited exceptions, a whistleblower may receive an award in a Covered Action, a Related Action, or both. In addition, the amendments authorize the Whistleblower Office to handle facially ineligible award claims that do not relate to a Notice of Covered Action, a final judgment in a Related Action, or a previously filed Form TCR (Tip, Complaint or Referral). The amended rules will go into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, 
													  Legislation and Regulation News, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 3, 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 Arizona against Cory Williams of Gilbert, Arizona, and his company, Williams Advisory Group (WAG) (collectively, Defendants), charging them with defrauding 40 investors out of at least $13 million in connection with a commodity pool they operated. The CFTC Complaint charges Defendants Williams and WAG with commodity futures fraud and Williams with commodity pool fraud and failure to register as a commodity pool operator. The Complaint also charges Williams with engaging in activities prohibited for a commodity pool operator, including commingling pool participant funds with Williams’ personal funds. The Complaint alleges that Williams’ victims included family members, friends, neighbors and members of his church and other related churches in and around Phoenix, Arizona. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 2, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, charging Defendant, William H. Powderly IV (Powderly) of New Hope, Pennsylvania, with fraudulently soliciting at least $825,000 from at least four customers for purposes of trading commodity futures on their behalf in an account in Powderly’s name. The Complaint also charges Powderly with making and providing false and misleading account statements to his customers. In particular, the Complaint alleges that from at least January 2016 through October 2016, Powderly solicited customers and prospective customers by claiming that he and a university professor had developed a commodity futures trading program that generated exceptional hypothetical trading results and that “beta” testing of this system generated consistent gains without a single day of loss. The Complaint further alleges that when soliciting customers and prospective customers, Powderly failed to tell them that the actual commodity trading he conducted for his commodity account during that 10-month period was consistently unprofitable, sustaining losses every month during that time. Additionally, the Complaint alleges that Powderly created false account statements for his trading account and sent them to his customers in order to conceal his trading losses. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
April 20, 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 Central District of California, Eastern Division, against Capitol Equity FX LLC (Capitol Equity), a purported hedge fund operating in California, and its principals and agents, Robert Leland Johnson IV and Marisa Elena Johnson, both of Chino, California (collectively, Defendants). The CFTC Complaint, filed on April 19, 2017, charges Defendants with commodity futures fraud; off-exchange, leveraged or margined retail foreign currency (forex) fraud; commodity pool fraud; and failure to register with the CFTC, as required. The Complaint also charges Capitol Equity with engaging in activities prohibited for a commodity pool operator, including commingling customer funds with Defendants’ personal funds. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
April 6, 2017

				 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge James I. Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered final default judgments against Relief Defendants Westward International Ltd. (Westward) and Coucarin Holdings Ltd. (Coucarin), both of Deerfield Beach, Florida. The Default Judgment Orders, both entered on March 23, 2017, require Westward and Coucarin to disgorge ill-gotten client funds in the amounts of $211,160 and $1,565,480, respectively. CFTC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 30, 2017

				 Stephen Gola and Jonathan Brims were ordered to pay $350,000 and $200,000 respectively for spoofing in U.S. Treasury Futures Markets. The CFTC Order found that between July 2011 and December 2012, Gola and Brims engaged in spoofing more than 1,000 times in various Chicago Mercantile Exchange U.S. Treasury futures markets. The spoofing was done by placing orders in a futures market after a smaller bid was placed on the opposite side of the same or correlated futures or cash market. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 27, 2017

				 Davisco Foods International, Inc. was ordered to pay a $150,000 penalty for acting as a futures commission merchant without registering with the CFTC. The CFTC Order found that between May 2011 and October 2014, Davisco accepted orders from its milk suppliers for the purchase and sale of CME Class III Milk futures contracts and executed those orders on behalf of the suppliers in its own trading accounts. CFTC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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