FuturesFx and its Simon Jousef are to pay more than USD1.7 million in to Settle a CFTC Enforcement Action over a fraudulent forex and commodities trading scheme.
The CFTC’s complaint charged the defendants with fraudulently soliciting members and prospective members in the United States and other countries to subscribe to a trading system that included a supposedly “live” foreign exchange (forex) and commodity futures online trading room, educational videos, and online support. The CFTC also charged Jousef with making false or misleading statements to the National Futures Association (NFA).
The consent order requires the defendants to pay jointly and severally restitution of USD1.3 million to defrauded members and a USD450,000 civil monetary penalty. The order also imposes certain permanent trading and registration bans against all defendants and a permanent injunction prohibiting them from further violating provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.
The order finds that from at least 1 July, 2014, to on or about 31 January, 2016, Jousef and FuturesFX fraudulently promoted and sold access to the trading system ostensibly to provide, among other things, a methodology for determining when to enter and exit forex and commodity futures contracts. According to the order, to induce members and prospective members to purchase subscriptions to the trading system, defendants made numerous materially false and misleading statements and omissions on the company’s websites, in the online trade room, and in email advertisements. The order also finds that, as a result of the fraudulent solicitation scheme, defendants received approximately USD1.3 million in subscription fees from more than 300 members located in the United States and abroad.
In addition, the order finds that Jousef knowingly made false or misleading statements regarding material facts to the NFA when he submitted annual CTA registration updates concerning FuturesFX’s predecessor company.
