Angel Fernando Collazo of Salinas, Puerto Rico, is facing legal action following a federal court order freezing his assets and enacting a preliminary injunction, announced February 15, 2012. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed charges against Collazo and his companies, ACJ Capital, Inc. and Solid View Capital LLC, alleging a $1 million off-exchange leveraged foreign currency (forex) Ponzi scheme.
According to the CFTC complaint filed in the District of Puerto Rico on February 8, 2012, Collazo and his companies fraudulently solicited investors by falsely promising profitable returns while downplaying the risks associated with leveraged forex trading. The agency alleges that Collazo misappropriated funds from investors to pay earlier investors and for personal expenses. He also allegedly misrepresented trading profitability and distributed false statements showing inflated account values.
Specifically, the CFTC alleges Collazo made false verbal claims about profitable trading and provided at least one investor with fabricated bank statements showing payments to his investment partners—statements that did not accurately reflect the company’s financial activity or trading results.
The CFTC is seeking restitution for defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, a ban on trading and registration, and permanent injunctions against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations. This is not Collazo’s first run-in with the law; on May 4, 2011, the CFTC filed a separate enforcement action against him and ACJ for fraudulent solicitation. He subsequently pled guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering on December 13, 2011, in the case US v. Collazo (Crim. No. 3:11-00173-GAG) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority in this ongoing investigation.
Source: CFTC.gov
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