Abdul Sultan Walji, of San Juan Capistrano, California, has had his registration as a Commodity Pool Operator revoked by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), effective October 6, 2014. The revocation stems from a series of legal actions beginning in September 2012, culminating in a criminal conviction and significant financial penalties.
The CFTC initiated proceedings to revoke the registrations of Walji and his company, Arista LLC, on February 20, 2014. This followed a successful injunctive action against them in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 3, 2013. Walji was subsequently convicted of commodities fraud.
According to the CFTC, Walji and Arista misappropriated investor funds and made false statements to investors, the National Futures Association (NFA), and the CFTC itself. The court’s consent order, issued as part of the injunctive action, mandated restitution of over $8.25 million. Civil monetary penalties were also levied against Walji ($6.45 million) and Arista ($1.54 million).
Beyond the civil penalties, Walji was sentenced to 151 months of imprisonment on November 15, 2013, by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, related to the commodities fraud. The CFTC Judgment Officer, Philip V. McGuire, determined that both Walji and Arista were subject to statutory disqualification from future CFTC registration due to these violations.
The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the NFA in the investigation. The case was handled by Michael P. Geiser, Douglas K. Yatter, Lenel Hickson, Jr., and Manal M. Sultan of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement. The initial press release regarding the case was issued on October 17, 2014 from Washington, D.C.
Source: CFTC.gov
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