Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets

December 7, 2015

The CFTC settled charges against Total Gas & Power North America, Inc. and Therese Tran, accusing them of manipulation of natural gas monthly index settlement prices at four major trading hubs in Texas and elsewhere in the southwest during monthly settlement periods known as “bid-week;" the defendants will pay a $3.6 million penalty. CFTC

December 7, 2015

- Garen Ovsepyan of Glendale, California, and his companies Sharpe Signa, LLC and Haeres Capital, LLC have agreed to pay a $70,000 penalty to settle charges that they made false statements to the CFTC in their notices of exemption from registration and for engaging in foreign currency solicitation fraud.  CFTC

December 4, 2015

The CFTC has filed a civil enforcement action charging David Bryant of Los Angeles County with fraud and acting as a Commodity Pool Operator without being registered with the CFTC; the CFTC’s complaint alleges that between at June 2014 and the present, Bryant fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $3 million from pool participants, claiming he was trading their funds in an account for the Bryant Family Investment Fund LLC. According to the CFTC’s complaint, there was no Bryant Family Investment Fund LLC account, and Bryant actually lost over $2.6 million trading in his personal accounts during this period. CFTC

December 2, 2015

The CFTC settled charges against Arya Motazedi of Miami, Florida, for engaging in fraudulent transactions in the New York Mercantile Exchange’s RBOB Gasoline Physical futures contract and CL Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contract; Motazedi will pay a civil monetary penalty of $100,000 and restitution in the amount of $216,955.  CFTC

November 30, 2015

Eric A. Bloom, formerly of Northbrook, Illinois, has been banned from trading commodity interests on charges that he violated Section 4d(b) of the Commodity Exchange Act in the handling of $562 million in commodity customer segregated funds that had been managed by Sentinel Management Group, Inc.; in a parallel criminal action, Bloom was sentenced to 14 years in prison. CFTC

November 18, 2015

Sentry Asset Group, LLC d/b/a Sentry Asset Management, LLC of Boca Raton, Florida, and its owner, manager, and controlling person John Pakel of Boynton Beach, Florida have been ordered to pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty and restitution of $278,767 for engaging in illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions. CFTC

October 21, 2015

The CFTC sued Gregory L. Gramalegui of Vail, Colorado, for fraud, making false statements to the CFTC, failing to make required advertising disclosures, and violating a prior CFTC administrative order.  CFTC

October 20, 2015

Alan James Watson, Cash Flow Financial LLC, and Michael S. Potts have been ordered to pay over $91 million in fines and restitution for operating a commodity pool Ponzi scheme.  CFTC

October 20, 2015

A federal judge has ordered John R. Bullar and his company, Executive Management Advisors LLC, to pay over $31 million in penalties and restitution for fraud, misappropriation, embezzlement, and operating a Ponzi scheme.  CFTC

October 20, 2015

The CFTC ordered BNP Paribas Securities Corp. to pay a $140,000 penalty on charges that the company improperly invested customer segregated funds.  CFTC