The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has obtained a federal court consent order requiring defendants Perry Jay Griggs, his wife, Rachelle Griggs, and their company, Aloha Trading Company, Inc. (Aloha), all of Las Vegas, Nev., to jointly and severally pay a USD2.1 million civil monetary penalty to settle CFTC charges that they operated a multi-million dollar commodity futures Ponzi scheme.
The order, entered on September 30, 2011, by Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway of the US District Court for the District of Hawaii, also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against the defendants.
Specifically, the order finds that, from at least 2005 through 2009, the Griggs and Aloha fraudulently solicited over USD3 million from commodity pool participants, many from Hawaii, and misappropriated approximately USD1 million of those funds for personal use, including payments for luxury car leases, the rental of a home in Hawaii, the purchase of jewelry, and the chartering of a private jet.
In a related criminal proceeding in August 2011, Perry Griggs was sentenced to 87 months imprisonment, and Rachelle Griggs was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment. Each was also ordered to pay nearly USD2 million in restitution to pool participants (US v. Griggs et al., 10-cr-00790 DAE, D. Haw.).
