The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has obtained more than USD4m in restitution and civil monetary penalties in an order entered by the US District Court for the Northern Division of Georgia against defendants Lake Dow Capital and Ty Edwards, both of McDonough, Georgia.
The CFTC’s complaint charged Lake Dow and Edwards with committing fraud in operating the Aurora Investment Fund, a commodity pool and hedge fund.
Specifically, the CFTC charged that the defendants fraudulently solicited more than USD26m from customers and misappropriated customer funds.
At the same time the complaint was filed, the court entered an order freezing more than USD19m of the defendants’ assets. The receiver appointed in this matter, S. Gregory Hays, was able to return more than USD19m to the pool participants.
On 23 March 2010, Judge Clarence Cooper entered a supplemental consent order requiring Lake Dow and Edwards to pay, jointly and severally, USD2,282,258 in restitution and USD1,879,156 in civil monetary penalties.
A prior consent order of permanent injunction, entered by the court on 31 January 2007, permanently bars Lake Dow and Edwards from engaging in any commodity-related activity, seeking registration or claiming exemption from registration with the CFTC and/or engaging in any activity requiring such registration or exemption from registration with the CFTC.
