A civil enforcement action has been filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Thomas Lanzana, operating as Unique Forex, and his company, Blackbox Pulse, LLC. Also named in the complaint are Nikolay Masanko and his company, White Cloud Mountain, LLC. The defendants are accused of fraud related to soliciting investments in foreign currency (forex) trading pools.
The CFTC’s complaint, filed August 21, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleges the defendants misappropriated customer funds and failed to comply with registration requirements. Lanzana is currently residing in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, while Blackbox Pulse, LLC is based in North Bergen, New Jersey. Masanko and White Cloud Mountain, LLC are located in St. Augustine, Florida.
According to the CFTC, the defendants fraudulently obtained approximately $700,000 from at least 31 customers beginning in 2013. The complaint details that Lanzana and Masanko misrepresented Lanzana’s trading success, despite evidence he lost over $12,000 trading forex for his own account between February 2013 and February 2017. To conceal this, the defendants allegedly fabricated customer account statements, posted false balances on their websites (claiming over $800,000 in a non-existent account), and issued inaccurate tax documents.
The CFTC further alleges Lanzana misappropriated roughly $350,000 of customer funds, utilizing the money in a Ponzi-like scheme to repay earlier investors and cover personal expenses. These expenses included purchases from Amazon.com, payments to luxury car and jewelry retailers, and golf-related costs.
The defendants are also accused of operating without the required registration with the CFTC. On August 22, 2017, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo issued a restraining order freezing the defendants’ assets and preventing the destruction of records. A hearing on the CFTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for September 20, 2017.
The CFTC is seeking restitution for defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.
Source: CFTC.gov
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