A New York man has been ordered to pay over half a million dollars in restitution and penalties after being found liable for commodity pool fraud, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced Wednesday. Kevin Scott Antonovich, of Cherry Grove, New York, will pay $554,375, consisting of $100,000 in restitution to defrauded investors and a $454,375 civil monetary penalty.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a Consent Order against Antonovich on October 3, 2018, following a complaint filed by the CFTC on April 23, 2018. The charges include misappropriation of customer funds, fraudulent solicitation related to investments in a commodity pool, and violations of registration requirements.
According to the court findings, between September 29, 2015, and August 17, 2016, Antonovich fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from over 150 investors for pooled investments in off-exchange binary options. He then allegedly misused more than $100,000 of those funds for both business expenses and personal spending.
The CFTC investigation revealed Antonovich made false claims to investors, including falsely stating that trading would occur on a CFTC-registered exchange when, in reality, all transactions took place on offshore platforms. He also allegedly fabricated documents to mislead investors about the availability of funds for payout, and falsely claimed the pool was profitable through misleading updates.
In addition to the financial penalties, Antonovich is permanently banned from trading and registering with the CFTC. The case was led by CFTC staff members James Garcia, Kevin Samuel, Alison B. Wilson, and Rick Glaser.
The CFTC urges investors to be cautious of unregistered investment firms and to check the registration status and disciplinary history of any firm before investing. Information can be found at www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet. Suspicious activity can be reported to the CFTC via its toll-free hotline at 866-FON-CFTC or through its online tip and complaint portal.
Source: CFTC.gov
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