Federal Court Freezes Assets of Minnesota Residents Trevor Cook and Patrick Kiley and their Oxford and Universal Companies, Charged by the CFTC with Defrauding Investors of Tens of Millions of Dollars in Foreign Currency Scheme
Customer funds misappropriated to develop a hotel and casino in Panama and purchase seven luxury cars.
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today obtained an emergency court order freezing assets held by Minnesota residents Trevor G. Cook, Patrick Kiley, and their companies, Oxford Global Advisors, LLC (OGA), Oxford Global Partners, LLC (OGP), Universal Brokerage FX (UBFX) and Universal Brokerage FX Diversified (UBFXD), all charged by the CFTC with fraud and misappropriation in connection with off-exchange leveraged foreign currency (Forex ) trading.
The court’s order, entered by Chief Judge Michael Davis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, also prohibits the destruction of books and records and provides the CFTC access to such documents. Cook resides in Apple Valley, Minn., and Kiley resides in Burnside, Minn. UBFX and UBFXD are based in Burnside; OGA and OGP are based in Minneapolis. Minn.
CFTC charges defendants with running a massive forex scheme that defrauded hundreds of customers of more than $190 million.
The court’s order stems from a CFTC complaint filed under seal on November 23, 2009, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, charging the defendants with running a massive forex scheme since 2006 that defrauded hundreds of U.S. customers of more than $190 million.
The complaint also charges that the defendants misappropriated customer funds to purchase property, develop a hotel and casino in Panama, buy seven luxury cars, a house boat and a submarine and fund their frequent gambling.
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Oklahoma City Chinese Community Targeted In Multi-Million Dollar Commodity Futures Ponzi Scheme Operated by South Carolina Resident Kenneth Lee and Oklahoma Resident Simon Yang and their Companies
CFTC and Oklahoma Department of Securities charge Prestige Ventures Corp., Federated Management Group Inc. and Lee with fraud and misappropriating funds.
Defendant Yang also charged with fraud and providing false information to the CFTC.
Washington, DC –The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court in Oklahoma City entered a restraining order against defendants Kenneth W. Lee, Simon Yang, Prestige Ventures Corp. (Prestige) and Federated Management Group Inc. (FMG). The court’s order, entered on November 20, 2009, freezes assets controlled by the defendants, protects records and appoints a temporary receiver to locate and marshal assets for return to defrauded customers.
The order stems from a joint enforcement action filed the same day by the CFTC and the Oklahoma Department of Securities, charging that, since at least July, 2003, the defendants fraudulently operated a commodity futures pool that had at least $8.7 million in assets and 140 participants. The CFTC complaint alleges that in their solicitations the defendants targeted members of Oklahoma City’s ethnic Chinese community. Yang allegedly solicited members of his church.
The CFTC complaint charges defendants with fraudulently soliciting and issuing false statements to pool participants. These statements consistently showed monthly profits generated by Lee’s purportedly successful trading of commodity futures, foreign currency (forex) and other instruments. However, Lee sustained net losses of approximately $4.3 million trading primarily commodity futures and forex. Lee, Prestige and FMG also allegedly misused pool participant funds to pay off other pool participants and for personal use, such as paying for cars and yacht fees and funneling money to family members.
Yang is further charged with submitting a false declaration to the CFTC in response to a CFTC subpoena requiring the production of documents and information relating to Yang, Lee, FMG and others. In his declaration, Yang falsely claimed that he solicited only through email based on information on the FMG website, that the persons he solicited did not open accounts and that he no longer solicited for FMG. Yang failed to disclose that he was soliciting on behalf of Prestige and Lee. Yang actively solicited FMG and Prestige pool participants through his church and other personal solicitations, according to the complaint.
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