Jacksonville, Florida resident William Charles Guidry and Tickfaw, Louisiana resident Matthew Brian Pizzolato are facing charges of fraud following a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigation. The CFTC obtained a court order on November 24, 2009, freezing the assets of Guidry, Pizzolato, and their company, Capital Funding Consultants, L.L.C., based in Covington, Louisiana.
The court order, issued by Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, also prohibits the destruction of any relevant financial records. A hearing on the CFTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for December 7, 2009.
According to the CFTC’s complaint, filed November 20, 2009, the defendants allegedly solicited approximately $19.5 million from over 160 investors, many of whom were elderly, under the pretense of safe, secure investments. The CFTC alleges that at least $2 million of these funds were misappropriated.
Pizzolato faces a separate criminal indictment, also filed on November 20, 2009, containing 64 counts related to operating a Ponzi scheme. He was taken into custody the same day and will appear before Judge Lance M. Africk to address those charges. The CFTC complaint details that Pizzolato transferred over $2 million in investor funds to Guidry. Guidry and Capital Funding are accused of using at least $135,000 of those funds for personal expenses and to trade commodity futures in accounts owned by Capital Funding.
The CFTC alleges that investors were not informed about the losses incurred through Guidry’s trading activities. Furthermore, Guidry and Capital Funding are accused of commingling investor funds with other personal or business accounts. The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, and permanent trading injunctions against all defendants.
The Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions assisted the CFTC in this investigation.
Source: CFTC.gov
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