The National Futures Association (NFA) has permanently barred Philip Mack Worley and the McElhannon Group, Inc. from membership with the US regulator, following repeated attempts to hoodwink and cheat foreign Exchange (FX) customers.
Back in March 2015, the NFA sent a formal notice to the McElhannon Group, a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and its listed principal Mr. Worley for misconduct and wrongful claims made by the group. This order followed on the heels of a Member Responsibility Action (MRA) and Associate Responsibility Action (ARA) to the protect customers of McElhannon Group after Mr. Worley had failed to cooperate with NFA during an attempted inquiry and examination of the firm.
Between 2001 and 2013, both Mr. Worley and the McElhannon Group were found to be using misleading and deceptive promotional materials that guaranteed unrealistic returns to its clients. More specifically, the McElhannon Group’s promotional material had claimed a rate of return (RoR) of 457% over a 13-year period for its FX managed account program.
The robust RoR was not labeled as hypothetical, rather it was nearly identical to previous promotional material that the NFA had reviewed during a prior 2011 examination. During this previous review, Mr. Worley claimed the results were hypothetical, however the 457% RoR was not disclosed as hypothetical and Mr. Worley had no support for it ultimately prompting additional regulatory scrutiny.
Back in February this year, the NFA had initiated a fresh examination of the firm however the regulators repeated NFA attempts to contact Mr. Worley by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.
