Release: 4729-02
For Release: December 23, 2002

CFTC SETTLES COMMODITY FRAUD ACTION AGAINST MARYLAND MAN AND FIRM

District Court Orders Defendants Peter Scott and Rothlin & Windsor Capital Management, Inc. to Pay $13.9 Million in Restitution and Civil Monetary Penalties

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a consent order imposing restitution and civil monetary penalty sanctions against defendants Peter Scott and his firm, Rothlin and Windsor Capital Management, Inc.

The consent order, entered on December 17, 2002, by the Honorable Andre M. Davis, settles the CFTC’s complaint, which charged that the defendants defrauded investors by misappropriating their funds and lying about earnings on and investment of the funds (see CFTC News Release 4549-01, August 7, 2001). The court previously found that, from June 1998 until July 2001, R&W Capital, while acting as an unregistered commodity pool operator, and Scott, the sole principal and associated person of the company, fraudulently solicited customers to invest in a commodity pool for the purpose of trading commodity futures and options on commodity futures contracts. The court also found that, during the course of the pool’s trading, Scott and R&W Capital misrepresented -- both orally and in writing -- the value of the pool, the profits generated by the pool’s trading, and the value of each individual investor’s share in the pool.

The CFTC previously obtained a consent order of permanent injunction that enjoins defendants from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, prohibits them from trading commodity futures contracts or options on commodity futures contracts, and prohibits defendants from seeking registration with the CFTC, or acting in any capacity requiring CFTC registration (see CFTC New Release 4654-02, June 12, 2002).

The defendants, who neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the complaint or the findings in the consent order, are required to make restitution to the investors of Rothlin and Windsor Future Fund in the amount of $5,276,862.57, together with prejudgment interest in the amount of $1,515,325.86, and to pay a contingent civil monetary penalty in an amount of up to $7,131,864.51, all pursuant to a ten-year payment plan.

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The following Division of Enforcement staff are responsible for this case: Jason Gizzarelli and Kay Majors-Guy.

A copy of the CFTC complaint, consent order, and supplemental order may be obtained at www.cftc.gov.

Media Contact:
Richard Wagner
Deputy Director
CFTC Division of Enforcement
(202) 418-5390

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