Myrtle Beach, SC – George Heffernan, formerly of Evans, Georgia, will pay $650,000 in penalties to settle a commodity fraud action brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to an order issued on April 9, 2008. The case, originally filed in December 2004, alleged Heffernan engaged in fraudulent practices while soliciting participants for a commodity pool and clients for commodity trading advisory services.
The order, entered by U.S. District Court Judge Terry L. Wooten in the South Carolina Florence Division, requires Heffernan to pay a $230,000 civil monetary penalty and disgorge $230,000 in ill-gotten gains. An additional $190,000 in restitution has already been satisfied through funds frozen by a statutory restraining order.
The CFTC’s investigation revealed that in July 2004, Heffernan founded the Index Analysis Pool, L.P., and made false claims about its profitability to attract investors. He also operated a commodity trading advisory service, marketed as Index Analysis Service through the website www.indexanalysisservice.com, offering trading advice for S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures contracts. He sold daily electronic mail subscriptions and two trading methods – “The Index Analysis No Loss – Hedge Trading Method” and “The Index Analysis Stop Loss – Hedge Trading Method” – for $25,000 and $5,000 respectively, falsely representing their potential for profit.
Court findings also indicated this wasn’t Heffernan’s first offense. He previously violated a prior CFTC order and had been found to have committed similar fraudulent schemes in two separate proceedings dating back to 2000 and 2003, as detailed in CFTC Press Releases 4442-00 and 4830-03. The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of Robert F. Daley, Jr., and the Office of the United States Attorney in Columbia, South Carolina, in pursuing the case.
Paul Hayeck, Patricia Gomersall, and Joan Manley of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement were responsible for the case.
Source: CFTC.gov
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