The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is pleased with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reaffirm recent anti-fraud enforcement action.
The court affirmed a preliminary injunction against Monex Deposit Company (Monex) and its affiliated companies alleging it defrauded thousands of retail customers out of hundreds of millions of dollars amid the execution of thousands of illegal, off-exchange leveraged commodity transactions.
“We are pleased with the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision, which reaffirms important protections established by Congress for markets and individuals,” Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam said.
The court action stemmed from the district court issuing an order prohibiting Monex from operating its Atlas program, which ceased Operation of the unregistered trading platform for leveraged retail precious metals transactions.
Monex maintained entitlement to the benefit of an exception to the CFTC’s jurisdiction for transactions resulting in the actual delivery of the commodity to the purchaser, officials said, adding the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s finding determining Monex did not make actual delivery of any metals to its customers through the Atlas program.
“The Ninth Circuit’s decision is clearly correct and bolsters our Division of Enforcement’s efforts to root out unlawful trading activity conducted by companies and individuals attempting to elude regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA),” CFTC Acting General Counsel Rob Schwartz said.