FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Stavros Papastavrou, of Delray Beach, Florida, has been permanently banned from trading and soliciting commodity futures after a federal court found him liable for precious metals fraud. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the Consent Order, issued by Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, on April 27, 2015.
Papastavrou, owner, manager, and controlling person of Inter-Global Currency & Precious Metals, LLC (IGCPM), was penalized $100,000 and ordered to pay $447,342 in restitution to defrauded customers. The CFTC found that between August 2011 and May 2013, IGCPM, under Papastavrou’s direction, illegally solicited retail customers via telephone to engage in leveraged, margined, or financed precious metals transactions – including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
The company collected over $1 million from customers for these transactions and earned at least $447,342 in commissions and fees. However, the transactions violated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which requires actual delivery of the metal within 28 days for leveraged, margined, or financed transactions. The CFTC determined that no metal was ever delivered to IGCPM’s customers.
IGCPM executed these illegal transactions through other firms, including Lloyds Commodities, LLC, Hunter Wise, LLC, and AmeriFirst Management LLC. The CFTC previously brought enforcement actions against these firms in 2012 and 2013, alleging similar illegal practices. AmeriFirst was found liable for fraud in 2013, Lloyds was ordered to pay over $5 million in restitution and penalties in 2014, and Hunter Wise was found to have no actual metal to deliver to customers, also in 2014.
The court’s order against Papastavrou and IGCPM permanently prohibits them from registering, trading, soliciting, and engaging in any other CFTC-regulated activities.
Source: CFTC.gov
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