The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed an enforcement action in the US District Court for the District of Utah, charging MXBK Group, a private Mexican financial services holding company, and its foreign currency trading division, MBFX, with issuing false customer statements and misrepresenting trading results on its website in connection with its foreign currency trading enterprise.
MBFX Group has never been registered in any capacity with the CFTC.
The CFTC’s complaint alleges that, from at least 2005 to the present, the defendants accepted at least USD28m from more than 800 US customers for the purpose of trading forex on behalf of customers in pooled accounts.
The complaint further alleges that from June 2008 through April 2009, the defendants reported trading profits when, in fact, they lost approximately USD19.4m.
The defendants allegedly reported trading profits in at least eight separate months, when they actually incurred substantial trading losses, often exceeding USD1m per month.
In its continuing litigation, the CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, an accounting of defendants’ assets and liabilities, permanent trading and registration bans and permanent injunctions against further violations of the federal commodities laws.
