Breaking: My Forex Funds Questions CFTC’s Jurisdictions on Its Business

The legal representatives of My Forex Funds and its CEO, Murtaza Kazmi, have responded to all the allegations brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and categorically denied them.

According to the 41-page motion filled in the US court yesterday (Tuesday), “the CFTC has no likelihood of succeeding on its allegations because MFF has never solicited or accepted any investments from its customers or engaged in retail foreign exchange transactions or, indeed, any transactions with retail investors.”

The CFTC initially filed the lawsuit against two entities named Traders Global Group, one based in New Jersey and the other in Canada, operating as My Forex Funds, and Kazmi, who controls them as the CEO. With many allegations, the crux of the regulatory lawsuit is that Traders Global is a fraudulent organization.

The Defense Denies All Allegations

In the recent response, the attorneys of My Forex Funds and Kazmi questioned the jurisdiction of the CFTC over the prop trading platform, stating that “the transactions between MFF and its customers fall outside the scope of the Commodities Exchange Act’s (CEA’s) anti-fraud provisions, registration requirements, and off-exchange trading prohibitions.”

“But even if those provisions did apply, the CFTC’s allegations are devoid of factual support,” the motion of the defense added.

The court filing detailed the business model of My Forex Funds, highlighting that the platform “paid out tens of millions of dollars to customers in accordance with the rules it established and that were agreed by its customers.” Further, it pointed out that the CFTC failed to produce evidence from even a single distressed customer of My Forex Funds.

“Delivering precisely what one promises is not fraud; it is good business,” the motion stated. “The CFTC cannot prove otherwise.”

One of the primary defenses of the Lawyers of My Forex Funds is that the customers never invested their own funds. It was always the company’s money that was used to fund all of the accounts. The customers agreed “to serve as independent contractors providing trading services to MFF.” It further revealed that a significant portion of the trading activities occurred on simulated accounts.

“To the extent, CFDs and foreign exchange contracts existed — and most were only simulated — they were entered into solely by MFF, using its own capital, with CDO Markets,” the motion stated.

Moreover, the motion highlighted that the CFTC must prove the making of a misrepresentation, misleading statement, or a deceptive omission, scienter, and materiality to back the fraud claims. However, according to the defendants, the regulatory failed to establish any of them.

Removal of a Preliminary Injunction

With a previous court order, the CFTC managed to freeze the assets of My Forex Funds and also the personal assets of Kazmi. The court additionally appointed a temporary receiver. However, according to the defendants’ lawyers, “a pretrial asset freeze is an ‘extraordinary remedy’.”

“The Court should deny the CFTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction as being unnecessary to preserving Defendants’ assets,” the motion stated. “Even if the Court determines that some injunction is appropriate, however, that order should be limited to freezing any funds causally linked to the alleged wrongdoing such that they may be subject to disgorgement (of which Defendants maintain there are none).”

Under this argument, the disgorgement amount should be no more than $10,370,878.10, representing the gross profits MFF earned from traders in the live trading environment who did not qualify for payment. On top of that, the motion pointed out that such traders comprise only 6% of all MFF accounts, at most, over time.

In an earlier motion, the defense said that the CFTC had "recklessly mischaracterized transfers to and from Defendants’ bank accounts before the SRO [statutory restraining order] was entered."

Furthermore, it stressed that any injunction should apply only to the MFF corporate entities and not to Kazmi personally.