WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michael Frederick Staryk of Florida has been charged with options fraud by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a civil enforcement action filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on October 1, 2024.
The CFTC alleges that from at least 2021 through 2022, Staryk, operating under the names Magestic World Wide Finance or Magestic World Wide Solutions, engaged in a fraudulent scheme targeting at least 26 retail clients in the United States. He is accused of fraudulently soliciting approximately $600,000 purportedly for trading options on commodity futures contracts, including oil and gold. However, the promised trading never occurred, and client funds were allegedly misappropriated.
This isn’t Staryk’s first run-in with the CFTC. In 2004, the agency found him liable for options fraud, revoked his registration, permanently banned him from trading, and imposed a monetary penalty. The current complaint also alleges that Staryk failed to disclose this prior CFTC action to investors.
The CFTC’s complaint also names Yvonne Stephanie Solerti-Coto of Connecticut and Global Financial Institution LLC, a Connecticut-based company, as relief defendants. They are accused of receiving client funds without providing legitimate services. The agency alleges Coto formed and controlled Global Financial, which was used to receive wire transfers from clients directed by Staryk, with the funds then being misappropriated and sent to accounts in Costa Rica and within the United States.
The CFTC is seeking restitution for defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, a civil monetary penalty, trading bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.
In a parallel criminal case, Staryk has already pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the Northern District of Texas [USA v. Staryk, 3:22-cr-00409-B].
The CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI Dallas/Fort Worth Office, and the Superintendencia General de Valores de Costa Rica (SUGEVAL) in this matter.
Source: CFTC.gov
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