The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday announced a consent order issued by the US District Court for the District of Utah to settle its fraud charges against a man who allegedly made false claims to garner business for a commodity futures system.
The CFTC disclosed in a press statement that Kimball Parker has never been registered with the regulator, yet he tried to get clients for his company MakeYourFuture, LLC (MYF) to sign up for a futures trading system marketed under the names ‘MakeYourFuture’ and ‘Changes Trading’.
In soliciting clients since March 2014, Parker was not truthful about his trading history, performance or the nature of the trading system, raking in a total of $853,240 from at least 289 customers by misrepresenting the software’s effectiveness.
The MYF company website falsely claimed that the trading system “never had a losing month” and generated “300% annual returns”, the suit said. In addition, the claims to bolster the credibility of their system included that returns were between 11% and 68% each month from January through December 2014. This was false, according to the CFTC, because the company never had a futures account from which to profit, and Parker’s two personal accounts had been trading at a loss.
Parker broke CFTC regulations against false advertising and failed to include a disclaimer that all results of the trading system were hypothetical, the commission said.
The Consent Order requires that Parker and MYF jointly pay restitution to defrauded investors totaling $853,294.98, plus a $354,000 civil monetary penalty. In addition, the commission is seeking a permanent injunction barring the scheme, permanent registration and trading bans, disgorgement, restitution and monetary penalties.
The allegations against Parker and MYF highlight regulators’ concerns about the risks posed by commodity trading systems sold on the internet, including the potential to undermine market integrity. According to the watchdog, it has seen an increase in websites that fraudulently promote commodity trading systems and advisory services.
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