The U.S. CFTC sues Cash FX and others involved in a $950 million Ponzi scheme: participants lost at least $406 million

According to the official website of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the CFTC has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Cash FX Group S.A. and its CEO Huascar Jose Lopez Castillo, The Conversion Pros, Inc. and its CEO Ronald Pope, as well as Justin Halladay, accusing them of operating a multi-level marketing Ponzi scheme, fraudulently raising and collecting over $950 million from the public under the guise of participating in foreign exchange commodity pool trading.

The complaint states that the parties involved claimed that funds were traded by professional traders, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence, promising up to 15% weekly returns, but in reality conducted only a small amount of foreign exchange trading, misappropriating nearly all participant funds, paying false returns through the funds of new participants, and paying millions of dollars to the defendants. Participants suffered losses of at least $406 million. The CFTC is seeking restitution for losses, disgorgement of illegal profits, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction.