Page 25 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2024年6月刊）
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期货和衍生品行业监管动态
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a civil enforcement
action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee against Three
Bridges Trading Fund, LLC, a Tennessee corporation, and its owner, president, and
manager, Donald Wray Rodgers of Collierville, Tennessee. The complaint alleges the
defendants operated a fraudulent scheme in which they solicited and accepted at least
$2 million from pool participants to invest in a commodity pool.
The defendants, however, misappropriated much of the funds, attempted to
conceal their fraudulent scheme by issuing false account and trading statements to
pool participants, and misappropriated funds by paying some pool participants using
funds from other pool participants, in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.
In its continuing litigation against the defendants, 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
(CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged.
Case Background
As alleged in the complaint, from approximately January 2022 to November
2022, Rodgers fraudulently solicited customers by representing Three Bridges was a
successful commodity pool and by making misrepresentations about his past trading
history. According to the defendants’ records, they solicited and received at least $2
million from approximately 50 pool participants to trade futures contracts on their
behalf.
As further alleged in the complaint, the defendants also commingled pool funds
with non-pool assets and directed pool participants to send money to Rodgers’
personal account. Bank account records show Rodgers transferred money, including
pool funds, from Three Bridges’ bank account to his personal trading account, where
he placed trades in his own name. Additionally, Rodgers failed to receive all pool
participants' funds in the name of Three Bridges and failed to operate Three Bridges
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