Cooper City, FL – September 30, 2014 – Martin Sommers, 53, of Cooper City, Florida, and his company, International Monetary Metals, Inc. (IMM), are facing charges of precious metals fraud brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC filed a civil enforcement complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers.
According to the complaint, between July 2011 and March 2013, IMM, under the direction of Sommers, solicited approximately 240 retail customers via telephone and online to participate in leveraged, margined, or financed transactions involving gold, silver, and platinum. The company allegedly collected at least $6 million from these customers and earned over $827,000 in commissions and fees.
The CFTC alleges that IMM acted as a Futures Commission Merchant without proper registration, and that the transactions were illegal under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 because actual delivery of the precious metals never occurred. The complaint further states that IMM conducted these transactions through two other entities, Worth Group, Inc. and AmeriFirst Management, LLC, both of which have already been subject to CFTC enforcement actions.
Worth Group, Inc. was previously sued by the CFTC in August 2013 and was subject to a preliminary injunction in January 2014. AmeriFirst Management, LLC, along with three individuals, was ordered to pay over $25 million in restitution and $10 million in civil penalties in July 2014.
The CFTC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, restitution for affected customers, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act from both IMM and Martin Sommers.
Source: CFTC.gov
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