Chicago, IL – May 2, 2007 – Bernadette Flavell, a Florida resident, has been permanently banned from trading commodities after being found in contempt of a previous CFTC order and for submitting false financial statements, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced today.
On April 23, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge James B. Moran of the Northern District of Illinois issued a final judgment against Flavell, ordering her to pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty. The court also imposed a permanent trading ban, effectively barring her from participating in any commodity futures trading.
The case stems from a July 11, 2002 CFTC order that found Flavell and others guilty of defrauding clients and potential clients through false advertising and promotional materials related to a commodity futures trading system called “System of Success-Window to Profit” (SOS). This activity violated anti-fraud provisions of federal commodities laws.
The initial 2002 order required Flavell to pay a $50,000 penalty under a payment plan and to regularly submit sworn financial statements to the National Futures Association (NFA) to monitor her assets and business interests. However, the court found that Flavell deliberately filed “blatantly false” financial statements with the NFA, failing to disclose numerous assets and over 100 transfers exceeding $1,000 each, including a single transfer of $805,000. She also repeatedly failed to submit the required statements altogether.
Judge Moran stated in his ruling that the CFTC has a “statutory right” to enforce its orders. The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the National Futures Association in both the investigation and prosecution of the case.
The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement team included Philip D. Rix, Elizabeth C. Brennan, Steven Ringer, Lenel Hickson, Stephen J. Obie, Scott Williamson, Richard Wagner, and Vincent McGonagle.
Source: CFTC.gov
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