US Legal & Regulation

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and simultaneously settled charges against Timothy Michael Murphy of Redding, Connecticut, and his New York-based company, Centurion Global Capital Management LLC (CGCM), for fraudulently soliciting at least 40 customers to participate in a commodity pool. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of St Louis-based private investment funds and management firms after suing them and their principal for a scheme to defraud investors. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Texas-based financial services firm Life Partners Holdings Inc and three of its senior executives over their involvement in a fraudulent disclosure and accounting scheme involving life settlements. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission has amended its rules to exclude the value of a person’s home from net worth calculations used to determine whether an individual may invest in certain unregistered securities offerings. The changes were made to conform the SEC’s definition of an “accredited investor” to the requirements of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has obtained a federal consent order for permanent injunction against CFTC defendant Jeffrey L Groendyke (doing business as JG Forex Fund) of Middleville, Michigan, requiring him to pay USD963,141 in restitution and a USD420,000 civil monetary penalty. The order also permanently bars Groendyke from engaging in any commodity-related activity, including trading and registering with the CFTC. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a longtime Bernie Madoff employee with falsifying books and records in order to hide Madoff’s fraudulent investment advisory operations from regulators. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action charging Gary Futch and his son, Bradley A Futch and their firm Tradewind Investments, LLC (Tradewind), with commodity options fraud. Tradewind was registered as a Commodity Trading Advisor from February 2008 through June 2009. »

A federal court has entered a default judgment order requiring defendants Willie L Cloud, Jr and his company, C & R Financial, Inc, both of Houston, Texas, to pay restitution of USD280,170.66 and a USD5,070,000 million civil monetary penalty for operating an off-exchange foreign currency (forex) Ponzi scheme. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a complaint in federal court in Santa Ana, California, charging defendants Robert J Cannone of Laguna Niguel, Thomas B Breen of San Juan Capistrano, Francis Franco of Anaheim, and their company National Equity Holdings, Inc. of Laguna Niguel, with fraudulently operating a USD1.4 million commodity futures pool and with registration violations. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an emergency enforcement action to stop a fraudulent scheme targeting investors seeking coveted stock in Internet and technology companies like Facebook and Groupon in advance of a public offering. »