United States CFTC Charged Companies & Individuals in $283 Million Ponzi Scheme from 2,000 Investors with South Florida Court Issuing Restraining Order to Protect Assets & Documents, Companies & Individuals Include Traders Domain, Ares Global, Algo Capital, Algo FX Capital Advisor, Centurion Capital Group, Michael Shannon Sims & Holton Buggs Jr
18th October 2024 | Hong Kong
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged companies & individuals in $283 million Ponzi scheme from more than 2,000 investors with the South Florida court issuing restraining order to protect assets & documents. The companies & individuals charged include Traders Domain, Ares Global, Algo Capital, Algo FX Capital Advisor, Centurion Capital Group, Michael Shannon Sims & Holton Buggs Jr. United States CFTC (15/10/24): “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against: 1) Traders Domain FX LTD. d/b/a The Traders Domain, a St. Vincent and the Grenadines company with principal operations in Canada, and its two co-founders, Fredirick Teddy Joseph Safranko, a/k/a Ted Safranko, of Ontario or British Columbia, Canada, and David William Negus-Romvari of Ontario, Canada and Mexico, 2) Ares Global Ltd. d/b/a Trubluefx, a Saint Lucia company, 3) Algo Capital LLC, a Florida company, 4) Algo FX Capital Advisor LLC n/k/a Quant5 Advisor LLC., a Delaware company with principal operations in Medley, Florida, and four of their officers and agents including Robert Collazo Jr. of Miami Lakes, Florida, Juan Jose Herman a/k/a/ JJ Herman of Miami, John Fortini of North Miami, Florida, and Stephen Likos of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, 5) Michael Shannon Sims of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, 6) Holton Buggs Jr., of Houston, 7) Centurion Capital Group Inc., a Florida company, and three of its officers and agents including Alejandro Santiestaban a/k/a Alex Santi, Gabriel Beltran, both of Hialeah, Florida, and Archie Rice of Fulshear, Texas. The complaint alleges that, among other things, the defendants individually, and at times working in conjunction, made material fraudulent representations to their customers and misappropriated customer funds. In sum, more than 2,000 customers deposited no less than $283 million in connection with the alleged fraud. The CFTC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, restitution, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. On Oct. 3, Federal District Court Judge Roy K. Altman entered a statutory restraining order against the defendants, freezing their assets, and giving the CFTC immediate access to their books and records. The court scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for Oct. 29. Case Background – The complaint alleges from at least November 2019 through the present, TD, Safranko, and Negus-Romvari orchestrated a multi-layered scheme to solicit funds for trading leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions, specifically gold-to-U.S. dollar pairs (XAU/USD), as well as assorted other commodities, through pooled and individual accounts. The complaint states TD, Safranko, and Negus-Romvari made fraudulent and material oral and written misrepresentations and omissions, and misappropriated customer funds. The complaint alleges TD and Safranko falsified trading records and TD’s successor, Trubluefx, further misappropriated customer funds by failing to refund the money despite repeated attempts by thousands of customers to access and/or liquidate their accounts. According to the complaint, TD, Safranko, and Negus-Romvari also used other individuals and entities (sponsors) on TD’s behalf, with each sponsor acting like a spoke extending from the TD hub. The sponsors Algo Capital and Algo FX Capital Advisor n/k/a Quant5, and their agents Collazo, Herman, Fortini, and Likos; Sims; Buggs; and Centurion, and its agents Santi, Beltran, and Rice, also fraudulently solicited customers and misappropriated funds. The sponsors actively downplayed red flags and continued to solicit customers, helping to create the false impression customers were participating in legitimate trading even as the scheme was on the brink of collapse. In the fall of 2022, customers began to experience extreme withdrawal delays and/or were unable to withdraw their funds. According to the complaint, TD, Safranko, and Negus-Romvari, and the sponsor defendants provided numerous, conflicting excuses for the delays — falsely assuring customers their funds were safe, and withdrawals would be processed. All while the sponsor defendants continued to solicit funds from new and existing customers to be traded in the TD Pool, allowing the defendants to continue their fraudulent scheme for more than six months and bilk customers out of millions of additional dollars. The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the National Futures Association, Ontario Securities Commission, the Financial Services Authority Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority), and Vanuatu Financial Services Commission.”
“ United States CFTC Charged Companies & Individuals in $283 Million Ponzi Scheme from 2,000 Investors with South Florida Court Issuing Restraining Order to Protect Assets & Documents, Companies & Individuals Include Traders Domain, Ares Global, Algo Capital, Algo FX Capital Advisor, Centurion Capital Group, Michael Shannon Sims & Holton Buggs Jr “
CFTC’s Commodity Pool Fraud Advisory – The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories and Articles, including the Commodity Pool Fraud Advisory, which provides information about a type of fraud involving individuals and firms, often unregistered, offering investments in commodity pools. The CFTC also urges the public to verify a company’s registration at NFA BASIC before investing funds. If an entity is unregistered, a customer should be wary of providing funds to that entity. Suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, should be reported to the Division of Enforcement via a toll-free hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online or contact the CFTC Whistleblower Office. Whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected, paid from the CFTC Customer Protection Fund financed through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA.
United States CFTC Charged Companies & Individuals in $283 Million Ponzi Scheme from 2,000 Investors with South Florida Court Issuing Restraining Order to Protect Assets & Documents, Companies & Individuals Include Traders Domain, Ares Global, Algo Capital, Algo FX Capital Advisor, Centurion Capital Group, Michael Shannon Sims & Holton Buggs Jr
Sign Up / Register
Caproasia Users
- Manage $20 million to $3 billion of assets
- Invest $3 million to $300 million
- Advise institutions, billionaires, UHNWs & HNWs
Caproasia Platforms | 11,000 Investors & Advisors
- Caproasia.com
- Caproasia Access
- Caproasia Events
- The Financial Centre | Find Services
- Membership
- Family Office Circle
- Professional Investor Circle
- Investor Relations Network
Monthly Roundtable & Networking
Family Office Programs
The 2024 Investment Day
- March 2024 - Hong Kong
- March 2024 - Singapore
- July 2024 - Hong Kong
- July 2024 - Singapore
- Sept 2024 - Hong Kong
- Sept 2024 - Singapore
- Oct 2024 - Hong Kong
- Nov 2024 - Singapore
- Visit: The Investment Day | Register: Click here
Caproasia Summits
- The Institutional Investor Summit
- The Investment / Alternatives Summit
- The Private Wealth Summit
- The Family Office Summit
- The CEO & Entrepreneur Summit
- The Capital Markets Summit
- The ESG / Sustainable Investment Summit
