Daniel K. Steele of Rolla, Missouri, has been charged with fraud by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a complaint filed on September 25, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division. Steele allegedly engaged in fraudulent practices while operating Champion Management International, LLC.
The CFTC alleges that Steele acted as an unregistered Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) for at least two commodity pools involved in off-exchange retail foreign currency (forex) transactions. He is accused of failing to disclose material information to investors, including the fact that he and Champion Management were not registered with the CFTC and that the counterparty to the forex transactions was also unregistered as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED). Champion Management is also charged with acting as an unregistered CPO in connection with a third forex pool.
Between February 28, 2011, and the present, Steele allegedly solicited at least $1.7 million from at least 24 pool participants to invest in the three forex pools. The CFTC contends that Steele misappropriated a portion of these funds and failed to provide crucial registration information to investors.
On September 25, 2013, Judge Rodney W. Sippel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued an emergency order freezing Steele’s and Champion Management’s assets and prohibiting the destruction of relevant records. A hearing on the CFTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for October 7, 2013.
The CFTC is seeking a return of ill-gotten gains, restitution for investors, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and permanent injunctions to prevent further violations of federal commodities laws. The agency received assistance from the Missouri Secretary of State, Securities Division, and the United States Postal Inspection Service in this case.
Source: CFTC.gov
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