According to the charges by the regulator, John R. Bullar, the owner of the company, has been involved in operating an $8.3 million Commodity Pool and a Ponzi scheme alleging to trade Futures and Options.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC ) issued an announcement that it has filed a federal civil enforcement suit against Defendants John R. Bullar and his company Executive Management Advisors LLC.
According to the CFTC complaint, the defendants fraudulently defrauded 40 investors of more than $8.3 million while acting as Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs).
The CFTC alleges that the company assured its victims that they were pooling their funds and trading in commodity futures and options markets, while they were actually running a Ponzi scheme. The defendants were never registered with the CFTC as CPOs or CTAs, and provided participants in the alleged pool with false account statements.
Executive Management Advisors LLC and its sole principal Mr. Bullar have been charged with fraud and embezzlement. According to the regulator, they misappropriated participants’ funds, claiming that they were pooled in a managed account to trade futures and options on the commodity markets.
The CFTC claims that only a small fraction of the funds was actually traded. The defendants allegedly operated a Ponzi scheme misappropriating and embezzling approximately $6 million. According to the complaint, Mr. Bullar used funds for his personal expenses, made cash withdrawals, issued checks to himself and transferred money to his personal accounts.
Meanwhile, pool participant funds were allegedly used to pay certain pool participants fictitious trading profits and/or balances as reported on false account statements.
In its complaint, the CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, as well as permanent injunctions from further violations of the federal commodities laws, as charged.
