CFTC charges Total Call Group, Thomas Thurmond and Craig Poe with issuing false account statements

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Total Call Group, Inc. (aka TPFX, Inc. a/k/a Power Play FX) of Frisco, Texas, and its principals, Craig B. Poe, also of Frisco, and Thomas Patrick Thurmond (aka Patrick Thurmond) of San Antonio, Texas, with issuing false customer account statements in connection with an off-exchange foreign currency (forex) fraud.

The CFTC complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on September 29, 2010, alleges that, beginning in at least early 2006 and continuing until October 2008, the defendants solicited approximately $808,000 from at least four customers for the purpose of trading off-exchange forex contracts. As alleged, the defendants deposited and/or pooled approximately $800,000 of these funds into three forex trading accounts held at Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM), a registered futures commission merchant (FCM). In soliciting the funds, Thurmond allegedly made false representations to one or more of Total Call Group’s customers, including that Poe had been trading forex and living off the income for more than four years and that he and Poe had personally provided more than $1 million to Total Call Group for the purpose of trading forex.

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At the end of August 2008, according to the complaint, the defendants sustained trading losses and incurred FCM fees totaling approximately 90 percent of the balance in the forex trading accounts. However, the defendants did not report these substantial losses to customers. Rather, the defendants continued to promote the profitability of trading, solicited additional customer funds and lost almost all of the remaining funds by November 2008.

The complaint alleges that from September through December 2008, Poe willfully made and sent false reports and statements to customers that overstated profits and/or failed to disclose trading losses and falsely reported customers’ account balances. Poe sent several of the false statements to customers after the trading accounts were fully liquidated on November 13, 2008.

In its continuing litigation, the CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil monetary penalties.