TAMPA, FL – A Florida man with a history of fraud has been slapped with a hefty penalty and trading ban following a default judgment in federal court. Anthony J. Klatch II, along with Lindsey Heim and their company, Assurance Capital Management, LLC (ACM), were found to have defrauded investors in a commodity pool and misappropriated funds, according to a July 11th announcement from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ordered Klatch, Heim, and ACM to jointly pay $459,613 in restitution and a $1,509,552 civil monetary penalty. Klatch is also personally responsible for an additional $96,873 in restitution and a $335,456 penalty for carrying out two separate fraudulent schemes. Heim and ACM are permanently banned from trading and registering with the CFTC.
This judgment builds on a previous CFTC action from 2011, where Klatch received a roughly $12.9 million restitution judgment and a permanent trading ban from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York following a Ponzi scheme that ran between 2007 and 2011. The current order expands the scope of that ban, prohibiting Klatch from any involvement in commodity interests as defined by CFTC regulations.
The CFTC complaint, initially filed in January 2017, detailed how Klatch, upon his release from prison in 2014 after serving time for the earlier Ponzi scheme, launched new investment schemes between April 2014 and December 2015. The court found that Klatch and Heim established ACM to fraudulently solicit investors.
In addition to the financial penalties and trading bans, Klatch is now required to disclose his past violations in any future communication regarding commodity interests. The disclosure will detail his prior CFTC cases, the restitution and penalties levied against him, and the permanent trading bans imposed.
Klatch previously pleaded guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with his earlier Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
Source: CFTC.gov
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