Page 30 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2024年7月刊）

期货和衍生品行业监管动态

disgorgement jointly and severally against Sam Ikkurty of Oregon and Jafia, LLC,

Ikkurty Capital, LLC d/b/a Rose City Income Fund I, Rose City Income Fund II, and

Seneca Ventures, LLC (defendants). In addition, the summary judgment order also

found the defendants misappropriated funds through a carbon offset program.

The order finds Ikkurty and the defendants committed all alleged violations of

the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, including fraud and

failure to register. Judge Rowland also found the defendants operated as “a classic

Ponzi scheme,” including in connection with the defendants’ carbon offset program.

The CFTC will seek injunctive relief and a civil monetary penalty.

Case Background

The summary judgment order finds Ikkurty recruited participants to his funds

through webinars and trade shows by promising participants they would earn a steady

distribution of 15% income per year of supposed “net profits” through investments in

digital asset commodities such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and commodity interests.

Ikkurty touted the purported success of his prior fund to lure new participants to

invest. Ikkurty assured prospective participants he invested in “stable” digital assets.

Ikkurty also gained participants’ confidence by repeatedly telling stories of his

personal success investing in and trading digital assets. Few of Ikkurty’s statements

were true. In reality, per the summary judgment order, Ikkurty did not return any net

profits to participants, and instead “ran something akin to a Ponzi scheme.” Citing the

CFTC investigator’s testimony, Judge Rowland found Ikkurty’s marketing materials

misstated his fund’s historical performance and omitted the fact that the fund fell in

value by 98.99% over a period of a few months. Also, the order finds Ikkurty invested

in unstable digital asset commodities, some related to carbon offsets, and his actual

experience with digital assets consisted of losing his personal Bitcoins to a hack.

Notably, in addition to the misrepresentations, the summary judgment order also

finds the defendants misappropriated funds through a carbon offset program. The

14