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Subject: COMMODITY TRADER AND TWO MICHIGAN COMPANIES CHARGED WITH $2.9
MILLION FRAUD
Release: #4606-02
For Release: February 11, 2002
COMMODITY TRADER AND TWO MICHIGAN COMPANIES CHARGED WITH $2.9 MILLION FRAUD;
GOVERNMENT ALLEGES FICTITIOUS TRADING
Federal Court Freezes Assets and Bars the Destruction of Books and Records.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced
today the filing of a complaint in federal court on February 8, 2002,
against Todd J. Snively of Northville, Michigan, Commodity Consultant
International, Inc. (CCI) and FutureWise Trading Group, Inc. (Futurewise).
The complaint charges defendants with fraudulently operating an
internet-based trading platform which purportedly permitted investors to
place orders for commodity futures contracts through CCI and Futurewise and
alleges that defendants misappropriated investors' funds. According to the
complaint, defendants solicited and accepted at least $2.9 million from at
least 60 people.
Also, on February 8, 2002, the Honorable Paul V. Gadola of the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a statutory restraining
order by consent against the defendants, freezing their assets, preventing
the destruction or alteration of their books and records, and granting CFTC
staff immediate access to those records.
The CFTC complaint alleges that, since at least June 2001 and continuing
through the present, Snively, CCI, and FutureWise, all of whom are CFTC
registrants, solicited and accepted at least $2.9 million from at least 60
members of the general public, for the purported purpose of trading
commodity futures. The complaint alleges that investors could either trade
for themselves on the platform or place trades through CCI and FutureWise.
According to the complaint, however, no trading occurred on behalf of
investors. Instead, the complaint alleges, the defendants misappropriated
some of the investors' funds for their own use. The complaint further
alleges that defendants induced investors to maintain and add to their
investments by providing account statements over the Internet that reflected
investors' purportedly profitable futures trading.
CFTC Chairman James Newsome said:
"Investor protection and market integrity are the Commission's primary
objectives. In this case, our Chicago enforcement staff, in coordination
with the National Futures Association, moved swiftly to protect investor
funds and halt this alleged fraudulent activity. This is a good example of
how the Commission works together with a front-line regulator to produce
positive results. I will continue to promote the use of all of our
regulatory authority to make sure that we uproot and prosecute all
fraudulent activity in the futures markets."
In its continuing litigation against the defendants, the CFTC is seeking
preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, an accounting, restitution to
customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and civil monetary penalties of
not more than the higher of $120,000 for each violation or triple the
monetary gain to Defendants, among other remedial relief. A hearing has been
scheduled for Wednesday, March 6, 2002, before Judge Paul V. Gadola on the
CFTC's motion for preliminary injunction.
The National Futures Association (NFA), a futures industry self-regulatory
organization, provided substantial assistance to the CFTC in this matter.
Public inquiries can be directed to the CFTC at fwtgcomplaints@xxxxxxxx or
to the NFA at 800-621-3570.
To obtain a copy of the complaint and order, go to the following Internet
address: http://www.cftc.gov.
Media Case Contact:
Scott R. Williamson
Acting Regional Counsel, Central Regional Office
CFTC Division of Enforcement
(312) 886-3090
http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf02/opa4606-02.htm
http://www.cftc.gov/files/enf/02orders/enffuturewise-complaint.pdf
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