Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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