The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a Consent Order for permanent injunction against California resident David Bryant along with upwards of $6 million in penalty and restitution for his fraudulent solicitation actions as an unregistered Commodity Pool Operator (CPO), according to a CFTC statement.
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The recent decree was handed down by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and follows on the heels of a December 2015 complaint against Bryant. In particular, he illegally solicited clients, as well as disseminating false statements to pool participants, whilst acting as an unregistered CPO, as mandated by the CFTC.
Consequently, Bryant is now on the hook for a $3 million civil monetary penalty and approximately $3,087,343 in restitution, which comes with a permanent trading and registration bans. The CFTC Order had found that Bryant solicited at least $4,644,785 from several individuals, including his own family and friends, by claiming that their funds would be traded as a pool in commodity futures. However, Bryant in actuality had deposited these funds across various accounts that he controlled.
Furthermore, Bryant had also failed to properly disclose to pool participants that he incurred a loss of roughly $2,661,080 of their funds trading commodity futures in his personal trading accounts. Unfortunately for victims of Bryant’s embezzlement, the restitution order and the sums levied may not cover all losses and damages, given the lack of sufficient funds.
The latest CFTC order capped off a busy day from the regulator after a duality of fines against Citibank and its Affiliates for multiple counts of manipulating global benchmarks. This included a $250 million fine concerning the US dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix (USD ISDAFIX) as well as a $175 million fine for yen LIBOR manipulation.
