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

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