FRISCO, TX – On March 30, 2012, a federal court entered a default judgment against Craig B. Poe, a resident of Frisco, Texas, in connection with a foreign currency (forex) fraud scheme. The judgment, issued by Judge Richard A. Schell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, follows an enforcement action initiated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on September 29, 2010.
Poe, along with co-defendant Thomas Patrick Thurmond of San Antonio, Texas, and their company, Total Call Group, Inc. (also operating as TPFX, Inc. and Power Play FX), were accused of issuing false customer account statements. The CFTC alleged the defendants fraudulently solicited approximately $808,000 from at least four customers between early 2006 and October 2008 to trade forex.
According to court findings, Thurmond misled customers by falsely claiming Poe had successfully traded forex for over four years and that they had personally invested over $1 million into Total Call Group. The defendants sustained significant trading losses, amounting to roughly 90% of customer account balances by late August 2008. However, they failed to disclose these losses, continuing to solicit additional funds while falsely promoting the profitability of forex trading.
By the end of 2008, the defendants had lost nearly all remaining customer funds. Despite this, Poe sent out fabricated account statements, even after the accounts were fully liquidated in November 2008, falsely reflecting a positive balance exceeding $750,000.
As a result of the judgment, Craig B. Poe is required to pay a civil monetary penalty of $3.24 million. Thomas Patrick Thurmond was also ordered to pay $1.62 million, and Total Call Group is jointly and severally liable for the combined penalty amount. The case was led by CFTC staff members Patrick M. Pericak, Daniel Jordan, Eugenia Vroustouris, Jessica Harris, Michael Loconte, Rick Glaser and Richard B. Wagner.
The court’s order includes a permanent injunction preventing further violations of CFTC regulations.
Source: CFTC.gov
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