US Court Hits FX and Binary Options Pool Fraud with $29M in Penalty

Mar 30, 2023

The scheme operated for five years.

The operators misappropriated funds and made Ponzi payments.

A US court has granted the CFTC’s motion of default judgment against forex and binary options pool fraud and the operators, slapping them with more than $29 million in restitution and penalties.

Announced recently, John D. Black, based in California, operated the fraudulent scheme with his three affiliated entities, Financial Tree, Financial Solution Group and New Money Advisors. Other scheme associates were Christopher Mancuso and Joseph Tufo, along with John P. Glenn from Colorado and his law firm, The Law Firm of John Glenn, P.C.

According to the court order, the scheme was operating from 15 June 2015 to 15 June 2020. The defendants solicited the pool participants to invest in the forex and binary options pool trading scheme but mostly misappropriated the proceeds for personal use. Further, the scheme and its operators made Ponzi-styled payments and even published false statements to justify the inability to return the funds or the promised profits.

They did not even register themselves as commodity pool operators (CPOs) or associated persons (APs) of CPOs, which is mandatory to operate such businesses.

The court order found the defendants liable for solicitation fraud, along with violation of CFTC regulations and failure to comply with CPO rules.

Heavy Fines

Now, the court order requires all the entities and individuals, except Tufo, to pay nearly $10.5 million in restitution jointly and severally. Tufo has been ordered to over $4.5 million of that restitution jointly and severally with the other defendants. They further need to disgorge over $2.6 million, which was received from the scheme.

Moreover, the order imposes heavy civil monetary penalties on all of them: around $5.4 million on Black and his three affiliates, $12.1 million on Mancuso, $680,000 on Tufo, and $850,000 on Glenn and his law firm.

Last week, the CFTC flagged 34 forex and binary options investment platforms that are offering services in the US illegally without any authorizations. Furthermore, these platforms are purported to be frauds.