Dominick Vincent Carducci of South Carolina is facing charges of fraud and misappropriation following a civil enforcement action filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the Southern District of New York on September 9, 2019.
Carducci, along with his company VOS Capital Management, LLC, allegedly defrauded at least 30 investors in a commodity pool that claimed to trade leveraged foreign currency, also known as retail forex. The CFTC complaint details a scheme where over $1.1 million in pooled funds were misappropriated between August 2016 and September 2018.
According to the CFTC, Carducci never actually traded forex on behalf of the investors. Instead, he used the funds to support a lavish lifestyle, including international travel, luxury automobiles, and repayment of student loan debt. A portion of the funds was also used to pay earlier investors, operating in a manner consistent with a Ponzi scheme. The investors were misled through false account statements designed to conceal the lack of trading activity and the misappropriation of funds.
The CFTC alleges that Carducci falsely represented that funds would be used for forex trading to entice investors. In reality, the majority of the money was diverted for personal expenses. The complaint further states that Carducci directed investors to deposit funds into VOS Capital’s bank account, from where the misappropriation occurred.
The CFTC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, restitution for the victims, a permanent ban on Carducci’s registration and trading activities, and a permanent injunction to prevent further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and related regulations. The case is being pursued by CFTC staff members Alben Weinstein, Linda Y. Peng, David W. MacGregor, Lenel Hickson, Jr., and Manal M. Sultan.
The CFTC encourages anyone with information regarding suspicious activity or potential violations of commodity trading laws to contact them via their toll-free hotline at 866-FON-CFTC or submit a tip online.
Source: CFTC.gov
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