Florida-Based Fraudsters Get Stung with $8 Million Penalty and Sanctions

Florida-based fraudsters were found guilty by a federal court for running a phony commodity pool scheme. Judge Gregory A. Presnell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, issued a permanent trading and registration ban against Philip Leon and Paul Rangel, in addition the two were issued a monetary penalty and sanctions of over $8 million.

The main financial watchdog that supervises derivatives markets in the US, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC CFTC The 1974 Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) in the United States created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Commission protects and regulates market activities against manipulation, fraud, and abuse trade practices and promotes fairness in futures contracts. The CEA also included the Sad-Johnson Agreement, which defined the authority and responsibilities for the monitoring of financial contracts between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commiss The 1974 Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) in the United States created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Commission protects and regulates market activities against manipulation, fraud, and abuse trade practices and promotes fairness in futures contracts. The CEA also included the Sad-Johnson Agreement, which defined the authority and responsibilities for the monitoring of financial contracts between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commiss Read this Term), obtained federal court Orders requiring Defendants Philip Leon, of Altamonte Springs, Florida, to pay a $4 million civil monetary penalty and $1,598,343 in disgorgement and Paul Rangel, of Apopka, Florida, to pay a $1.7 million civil monetary penalty and $819,781 in disgorgement to settle CFTC charges related to a fraudulent commodity pool scheme.

The federal court Order comes seventeen months after the CFTC charged the two mentioned above along with John Wilkins and their company Altamont Global Partners LLC with fraud and misappropriation.

Details of the case show that the trio were running a commodity pool scheme that solicited at least $18 million from approximately 241 commodity pool participants to trade in a range of asset classes including; commodity futures contracts, options on futures, and off-Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term foreign currency contracts.

Furthermore, the Orders further find that Leon and Rangel misappropriated a combined total of more than $2.4 million of pool participants’ funds and issued false statements to pool participants regarding the profitability and value of their accounts. Specifically, Leon misappropriated nearly $1.6 million and Rangel nearly $819,000 of pool participants’ funds as “loans” and “advances” from the commodity pools, designed to disguise their misappropriation.