The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Thursday that it had ordered a resident of Idaho Falls, Idaho, to pay a $150,000 civil monetary penalty for failing to register as a commodity pool operator (CPO). According to the press release, Cody Malosi Wilson is accused of failing to comply with CFTC regulations regarding CPOs.

Furthermore, the order asks the individual to cease and desist from further violations of the authority’s rulings. Findings by CFTC revealed that between August 2015 and October 2018, Wilson operated several commodity pools under different names, including Young Millionaires, Simple Wealth and Simple Wallet. The Idaho man asked investors for funds through such investment schemes, although the watchdog did not authorize him because he had not registered as a CPO.

“The order also finds that Wilson violated CFTC regulations by receiving funds from pool participants via accounts in his name, commingling pool funds with his own property, and failing to operate each commodity pool as a separate legal entity from himself,” the CFTC commented. This kind of scheme had led the authority to issue several ‘Commodity Pool Fraud’ advisories.

Recent Commodity-Related Fraud Cases

In May, the CFTC moved against two commodity pool operators and charged LJM Partners Ltd and LJM Funds Management Ltd, which collectively operated as LJM, with commodity pool fraud and releasing false statements about losses. In addition, charges were brought against Anthony J. Caine, the Chairman and owner of the two companies, and Anish Parvataneni, Chief Portfolio Manager.

But more recently, in July, Finance Magnates reported about a civil enforcement action brought by the CFTC against three individuals allegedly involved in a multimillionaire commodities fraud scheme. The commission filed charges before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Robert Jeffrey Johnson, Kathleen Hook, Ross Baldwin, Precious Commodities, Inc. (PCI), National Coin Broker, Inc. (NCB) and NCB Wholesale Co. (NCBWC), who were all from Florida.