The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleging a multi-million dollar fraud and misappropriation scheme involving multiple individuals and companies. The complaint names Marcus Todd Brisco of Wailuku, Hawaii, along with his companies Yas Castellum LLC of Denver, Colorado, and Yas Castellum Financial LLC of Wailuku, Hawaii, as central figures in the alleged scheme.
Also named in the complaint are Tin Quoc Tran of Katy, Texas; Francisco Story of Draper, Utah; Fredirick “Ted” Safranko of Vancouver or Ontario, Canada; Michael Shannon Sims of either Sunny Isles Beach, Florida or Roswell or Atlanta, Georgia; and SAEG Capital General Management LP (SAEG) of Draper, Utah. The CFTC alleges that from approximately April 2020, Tran, Brisco, his companies, and Sims engaged in three interconnected commodity pool scams designed to fraudulently solicit and misappropriate funds from investors.
The agency claims Tran directly accepted at least $144,043,883 from roughly 913 pool participants, purportedly for forex and leveraged gold trading. However, the complaint asserts that no funds were actually used for trading, instead being diverted to pay invoices, loans, unrelated businesses, and individuals not involved in the commodity pool. Simultaneously, Brisco and Yas Castellum LLC allegedly misrepresented historical trading records and operational details to potential investors, attracting at least 43 participants who transferred $470,780. These funds, according to the CFTC, were then transferred to entities controlled by Tran.
After closing Yas Castellum LLC, Brisco allegedly launched Yas Castellum Financial LLC in June 2022, continuing the same deceptive practices. This new venture reportedly attracted 57 participants and approximately $1,585,261 in investments, which were also allegedly misappropriated. The CFTC further alleges that Story, Safranko, and SAEG knowingly lied to the National Futures Association (NFA) to cover up the fraudulent activities.
On February 6, 2023, Judge Lee Rosenthal issued a statutory restraining order, freezing the defendants’ assets and granting the CFTC access to their financial records. A preliminary injunction hearing was held on February 22, 2023. The CFTC is seeking full restitution for defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.
Source: CFTC.gov
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