anti-fraud under commodity exchange act

On March 18, 2020, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Office of Customer Education and Outreach (“OCEO”) published a Customer Advisory warning market participants away from potential fraudulent schemes that may arise to take advantage of market volatility related to COVID-19.

In a related Press Release, CFTC Chief Communications Officer and Director of Public Affairs Michael Short stated, “[d]uring this period of market volatility, we want to ensure the public has important information to help detect and stop fraud”.Continue Reading CFTC Staff Publish Customer Advisory on Fraudulent Schemes in Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic

On September 21st, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced the filing of charges against Nicholas Gelfman and Gelfman Blueprint, Inc. (the “Defendants”) for fraud, misappropriation, and issuing false account statements in connection with solicited investments in Bitcoin.  According to the allegations asserted by the CFTC, the Defendants operated a Ponzi scheme, misappropriated funds from investors, and took steps to conceal losses (including by staging a “hack” on its computer systems designed to conceal what were actually trading losses and depletion of funds due to misappropriation).

The enforcement action is notable for two reasons:
Continue Reading CFTC Files Charges in Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme