Foreign Exchange

August 3, 2015

The CFTC has charged Husam Tayeh of Oak Lawn, Illinois, as well as Nevada corporations Dinar Corp., Inc. and My Monex, Inc., with operating a fraudulent scheme involving foreign currency (forex) and failing to register with the CFTC.  CFTC

July 31, 2015

Keith F. Simmons and his company, Black Diamond Capital Solutions, LLC, and Deanna Salazar and her companies, Life Plus Group, LLC and Black Diamond Holdings, LLC, have been hit with a $76 million penalty for running a foreign currency exchange (forex) Ponzi scheme.  CFTC

May 20, 2015

The CFTC fined Barclays $400 million for attempting to manipulate the foreign exchange benchmark rates and another $115 million for attempting to manipulate the U.S. Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix.  CFTC and CFTC

April 30, 2015

The CFTC charged Barry C. Taylor of Franklin, North Carolina, with operating a multi-million dollar fraudulent forex scheme through his firms, OTC Investments LLC and Forex Currency Trade Advisors, LLC.  CFTC

March 19, 2015

Bank of New York Mellon agreed to pay $714 million to settle charges the bank engaged in fraud and other misconduct when providing foreign exchange (“FX”) services to its customers. As part of the settlements with the US and New York, BNYM admitted that contrary to representations to clients that it provided “best rates” and “best execution” for FX transactions, the Bank actually gave clients the worst reported interbank rates of the trading day. The charges originated in a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower under the New York False Claims Act.

March 3, 2015

The CFTC announced that a complaint it filed under seal on February 25, 2015, charges Jerry Stauffer of Traverse City, Michigan, with fraudulently soliciting close to $1 million from the public to trade foreign exchange in a commodity pool by guaranteeing pool participants a monthly return on their investment based on profits purportedly earned from forex trading.  CFTC

January 21, 2015

A New York federal court has ordered Michael Kardonick, Gary Shapoff, and Atwood & James to pay a penalty of over $2 million and has imposed a permanent trading ban over allegations of Forex options fraud and misappropriation.  CFTC

December 10, 2014

The CFTC has settled charges against IBFX, Inc. f/k/a Tradestation Forex, Inc., a Florida-based Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer, for violating CFTC Regulations by failing to meet the minimum net capital requirements on three separate occasions, failing to timely report one of the minimum net capital deficits, and failing to supervise its employees and agents diligently by establishing, implementing, and executing an adequate supervisory structure and compliance programs.  CFTC

December 3, 2014

The CFTC ordered Christopher A. Engel and Pinnacle Forex Group LLC, both of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, jointly to pay a $414,000 civil monetary penalty and restitution totaling $405,378 to defrauded customers for committing fraud and misappropriation in connection with operating a commodity pool that traded leveraged or margined off-exchange foreign currency contracts.  CFTC