US Legal & Regulation

Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing (GSEC), a registered futures commission merchant based in New York, NY, has agreed to pay a USD5.5 million civil monetary penalty and USD1.5 million in disgorgement to settle CFTC charges that it failed to diligently supervise accounts that it carried from about May 2007 to December 2009.  »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action against Christopher Varlesi of Chicago, Illinois, individually and doing business as Gold Coast Futures and Forex (Gold Coast). »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama charging John David Stroud and his companies, Stroud Capital Management, LLC, TS Capital Partners, LLC, and TS Capital Management, LLC, all of Auburn, Ala, with fraud and misappropriation in operating two commodity pools. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a New York-based investment adviser with defrauding investors in five offshore funds and using some of their money to buy himself a multi-million dollar beach resort property on Long Island. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and simultaneously settled charges that IAG Capital Management, LLC (IAG) and William Patrick Kelly of Weston, Connecticut, who operated a USD6 million commodity pool called the IAG Multi Strategy Fund LP, wrongfully used more than USD320,000 of pool participants’ funds for Kelly’s personal use, made false statements to the National Futures Association (NFA), and commingled pool participants’ funds with their own funds. »

A federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte has returned an indictment against Jonathan D Davey, 47, of Newark, Ohio, Jeffrey M Toft, 49, of Oviedo, Florida, Chad A Sloat, 33, of Kansas City, Mo, and Michael J Murphy, 51, of Deep Haven, Minn, on four criminal charges relating to an investment fraud conspiracy, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and simultaneously settled charges against Jeffrey J Kinseth of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and his Iowa-based company, Virtual Vision Inc, for fraudulently soliciting individuals to participate in a pooled investment vehicle, misappropriation of investor funds, and issuance of false statements to conceal trading losses and fraud. Kinseth is not registered with the CFTC. »

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Steven L Hamilton and Verde Retirement LLC, Verde FX Nevada, LLC, Covenant Capital Partners with securities fraud for defrauding at least 23 investors out of USD1.6 million in a series of Ponzi schemes. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and settled an action against Aaron Klein of Rochester, NY, finding that he acted as an undisclosed controlling person and principal of a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) registered with the CFTC. »

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed and simultaneously settled charges against commodity pool operator D E Shaw & Co of New York, for exceeding speculative position limits in soybean and corn futures contracts in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. »