Release #4121-98 (95 Civ. 5416)

For Release: March 16, 1998 NEW YORK COURT ORDERS DEFENDANTS TO PAY NEARLY $4.2 MILLION IN CIVIL PENALTIES, AND ORDERS RESTITUTION TO CUSTOMERS IN THE CFTC'S ANTI-FRAUD ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST TITLIS INTERNATIONAL INC.

CFTC Charged Titlis, Three Individual Defendants in 1995 with Fraud in the Sale of Illegal, Off-Exchange Currency Futures Contracts

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that the Honorable Milton Pollack of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment and order against Titlis International Inc. (TII), Nan Ping Cheng a/k/a Faith Cheng, Andrei Knotko a/k/a Andrew Knotko and Po Fuk Wong a/k/a William Wong. The final judgement orders the defendants to disgorge ill-gotten gains, to make restitution to customers, and to pay civil monetary penalties totaling nearly $4.2 million.

The final judgment orders TII to disgorge $1,098,803.03, Cheng $200,759.19, Knotko $17,133.83, and Wong $83,356.39. Also, the court's order requires each defendant to pay restitution of $893,218.77. The court's order also imposes civil monetary penalties of $3,296,424.09 against TII, $602,262.57 against Cheng, $250,069.17 against Wong, and $100,000 against Knotko.

The final judgment also permanently enjoins the defendants from violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged in the CFTC complaint, and rescinds all contracts between TII and its customers.

The court's final judgment order, entered on February 19, 1998, is the culmination of proceedings that began on July 20, 1995, when the CFTC filed a four-count injunctive complaint against the defendants (see CFTC News Release #3861-98, August 2, 1995). In its anti-fraud action, the CFTC alleged that the defendants violated federal commodity law and CFTC regulations by offering and selling illegal off-exchange foreign currency futures contracts, cheating and defrauding customers in connection with the offer and sale of such contracts, bucketing customer orders, and violating the CFTC's registration requirements. On July 20, 1995, the Court entered an ex parte order which, among other things, froze TII's assets.