Chicago, IL – William H. Powderly IV, a resident of New Hope, Pennsylvania, has been charged with commodity futures fraud by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges Powderly fraudulently solicited at least $825,000 from four or more customers between January and October 2016.
According to the CFTC, Powderly claimed to have developed a highly successful commodity futures trading program alongside a university professor. He allegedly pitched the program as consistently profitable, even boasting about “beta” testing that generated gains without any losing days. However, the agency alleges this was a false pretense.
The complaint details that while soliciting investments, Powderly failed to disclose that his actual commodity trading during the ten-month period resulted in consistent monthly losses. To further conceal his losses, Powderly is accused of creating and distributing falsified account statements to his customers, misrepresenting the performance of their investments.
The CFTC is pursuing full restitution for the defrauded customers, along with disgorgement of any ill-gotten gains. The agency is also seeking civil monetary penalties, a permanent ban on registration and trading, and a permanent injunction to prevent further violations of federal commodities laws.
The case is being litigated by Diane M. Romaniuk, Joseph Patrick, Lindsey Evans, Scott Williamson and Rosemary Hollinger of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement.
Source: CFTC.gov
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