The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico against Ramon Salvador Delgado-Gomez and his companies, FX Latino (FXL) and FXL Investment PR LLC (FXLI), alleging a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme involving retail foreign currency (forex) trading.
Also named in the complaint are Walmy Rivera-Santiago and her company, JRH Services Inc. (JRH), and Hector Javier Santos-Pagan and his company, Infinity Investment and Construction Management Corp. (Infinity), accused of aiding and abetting the fraudulent scheme.
The CFTC alleges that from approximately November 18, 2019, through February 8, 2021, Gomez and FXL solicited at least $17 million from over 2,000 investors in Puerto Rico and the continental United States, promising pooled investments in forex trading. However, the complaint states that FXL engaged in minimal, if any, actual trading.
Instead, at least $13 million of investor funds were allegedly misappropriated by FXL and Gomez to pay purported returns to earlier investors – a classic hallmark of a Ponzi scheme. Funds were also allegedly diverted to cover business and personal expenses, and payments to Gomez, his accomplices, and other involved parties.
FXLI, JRH, and Infinity, through their principals Gomez, Rivera, and Santos respectively, are accused of facilitating the fraud by utilizing their bank accounts to receive investor funds, transfer money between entities involved in the scheme, and distribute Ponzi payments.
The CFTC further charges FXL with failing to register as a commodity pool operator (CPO) and Gomez with failing to register as an associated person of a CPO. The agency is seeking restitution, 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 CFTC investigation received assistance from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Source: CFTC.gov
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