CFTC Charges Texas Resident and Costa Rican Firms for Running Forex Fraud
- The US CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans.

The authority noted that the following Costa Rican companies were charged as part of the enforcement action filed before the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas: The L.I.F.T. Group LLC (LIFT), CIG Internacional Sociedad Anónima (CIG), and Trading Technologies Group Sociedad Anónima (TTG) organized in Costa Rica, Trading Ventures Group, LLC (TVG), Capital Ventures Group, LLC (CVG) and Ventures Group, LLC (VGL.).
According to the findings, Avila, LIFT, CIG and TTG engaged in an investment scheme to defraud investors from 2019 to the spring of 2020. They obtained funds of around $1.8 million from 55 TVG customers, claiming that the Texan resident and his firm will invest that money in trading forex and derivatives. “The defendants failed to disclose they were not trading as promised and instead were misappropriating their funds. In the manner of a Ponzi scheme, the defendants used certain client funds to make Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. Read this Term to other CIG and TVG clients,” the CFTC noted in the complaint.
Funds Were Never Invested in Forex
Moreover, the defendants provided false statements to their victims, giving a false impression that they were legitimately trading their money on the financial markets. But, of course, Davila and the charged companies never traded these funds, causing total losses of $3.58 million for the clients of CIG, while TVG lost $1.773 million.
Furthermore, the CFTC stated in the press release that there is a parallel criminal case in the same District Court against Avila, who pled guilty to one count of wire fraud.
The authority noted that the following Costa Rican companies were charged as part of the enforcement action filed before the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas: The L.I.F.T. Group LLC (LIFT), CIG Internacional Sociedad Anónima (CIG), and Trading Technologies Group Sociedad Anónima (TTG) organized in Costa Rica, Trading Ventures Group, LLC (TVG), Capital Ventures Group, LLC (CVG) and Ventures Group, LLC (VGL.).
According to the findings, Avila, LIFT, CIG and TTG engaged in an investment scheme to defraud investors from 2019 to the spring of 2020. They obtained funds of around $1.8 million from 55 TVG customers, claiming that the Texan resident and his firm will invest that money in trading forex and derivatives. “The defendants failed to disclose they were not trading as promised and instead were misappropriating their funds. In the manner of a Ponzi scheme, the defendants used certain client funds to make Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. Read this Term to other CIG and TVG clients,” the CFTC noted in the complaint.
Funds Were Never Invested in Forex
Moreover, the defendants provided false statements to their victims, giving a false impression that they were legitimately trading their money on the financial markets. But, of course, Davila and the charged companies never traded these funds, causing total losses of $3.58 million for the clients of CIG, while TVG lost $1.773 million.
Furthermore, the CFTC stated in the press release that there is a parallel criminal case in the same District Court against Avila, who pled guilty to one count of wire fraud.