Greensboro, North Carolina – Roger Owen, formerly of Greensboro and residing in Trinidad, Texas, has been permanently barred from the commodities market after being found liable for commodity fraud, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced May 4, 2006. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued the injunction against Owen, along with his companies, Longhorn Financial Advisors, LLC and Phoenix Financial Group, both based in Greensboro.
The charges stem from a CFTC complaint filed in October 2004, alleging that Owen, Longhorn, and Phoenix fraudulently solicited customers to purchase a computerized commodity trading system from at least January 2002 through November 2003. The defendants are accused of making false and misleading statements about the system’s profitability while customers incurred trading losses exceeding $300,000.
According to the court findings, Owen and Longhorn distributed promotional materials falsely claiming customers averaged $6,500 in monthly profits on a $30,000 investment. The materials also displayed fabricated trading gains of 134 percent in 2000, 66 percent in 2001, and 40 percent in 2002. The Longhorn website allegedly further claimed customers could achieve over a 300 percent profit within three years.
The court ordered Owen, Longhorn, and Phoenix to pay $308,400 in restitution to those defrauded. Additionally, each defendant faces a $480,000 civil monetary penalty, a permanent ban from trading and registration, and a permanent injunction preventing future commodity solicitation fraud.
In a related matter, Daniel Belbeck of Nashville, Tennessee, was also sanctioned for his role in distributing the fraudulent promotional pamphlet in Tennessee without proper CFTC registration. Belbeck was ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution and a $10,000 civil penalty. He is also permanently barred from acting as an associated person without registration and from trading.
The CFTC encourages the public to report suspicious activity involving futures, commodity options, or foreign currency investments. Consumers can contact the CFTC at 1-866-FON-CFTC or submit information through the agency’s website.
Source: CFTC.gov
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