HOUSTON, TX – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement action against Marcus Todd Brisco of Wailuku, Hawaii, alleging fraud and misappropriation of funds related to interconnected commodity pool scams. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on February 23, 2023, also names Tin Quoc Tran of Katy, Texas; Francisco Story of Draper, Utah; Fredirick “Ted” Safranko of Vancouver or Ontario, Canada; and Michael Shannon Sims of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida or Roswell or Atlanta, Georgia, as co-defendants.
According to the complaint, beginning in April 2020, Tran, Brisco, and his companies, Yas Castellum LLC and Yas Castellum Financial LLC, along with Sims, engaged in fraudulent schemes that solicited funds from approximately 913 pool participants, totaling at least $144,043,883. These funds were purportedly intended for trading forex or margined gold, but were instead misappropriated for personal use, including paying invoices, loans, unrelated businesses, and individuals not associated with the commodity pools.
The CFTC alleges that Brisco and his companies misrepresented historical trading records, trading strategies, fund maintenance, and trading personnel to potential pool participants. Between October 2020 and May 2022, at least 43 participants transferred $470,780 to Yas Castellum LLC. Instead of trading these funds, Brisco and Sims directed them to entities controlled by Tran.
Brisco subsequently launched Yas Castellum Financial LLC in June 2022, continuing similar misrepresentations. This resulted in at least 57 participants transferring approximately $1,585,261, which was also allegedly misappropriated. Story and Safranko are accused of providing false information to the National Futures Association (NFA) to conceal these scams.
On February 6, 2023, Judge Lee Rosenthal issued a statutory restraining order, freezing the defendants’ assets and granting the CFTC access to their records. A preliminary injunction hearing was held on February 22, 2023. The CFTC is seeking full restitution for defrauded participants, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.
The investigation is ongoing.
Source: CFTC.gov
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