CFTC Charges Florida Man with Defrauding Investors Out of $9.8M

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a Florida resident and his investment firm with fraud for allegedly defrauding investors in their commodity pool out of $9.8 million. The regulator filed a civil enforcement action at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. As a result, on Thursday, January 20 2022, the court ordered a freeze of assets controlled by Rajiv Patel and his investment firm, Bluprint LLC.

The court’s order arises out of the CFTC’s complaint filed on Tuesday, January 18. The complaint alleges that, from June 2019 to the present, Patel and his company has defrauded more than 16 pool participants of about $9.8 million through a commodity pool that claimed to trade commodity futures and options. According to the CFTC, Patel and his investment firm misappropriated pool investors’ funds and used the funds to pay personal expenses and to trade commodity futures and options in personal trading accounts, among other things. The regulator termed the trading as unprofitable and resulted in huge losses of the pool investors’ funds.

The CFTC stated that Patel falsely informed pool investors that their investments were accruing interest. In order to conceal his fraudulent activities, Patel made false statements to an introducing broker and to futures commission merchants that held his trading accounts and the pool investors’ funds. Furthermore, the regulator mentioned that Patel and his company failed to comply with CFTC registration and reporting requirements along with disclosure.