WASHINGTON — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Cash FX Group S.A. and its CEO, Huascar Jose Lopez Castillo, of Brazil; The Conversion Pros, Inc. and its CEO, Ronald Pope, of Oregon; and Justin Halladay, of Florida.

The complaint alleges the defendants operated a multilevel marketing Ponzi scheme, fraudulently soliciting and accepting over $950 million from the public, including individuals in the United States, for the purported purpose of trading retail foreign currency contracts in a commodity pool. 

According to the complaint, the defendants falsely claimed pool funds were traded by expert traders, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence, and promised up to 15% weekly returns on that trading.

Contrary to their representations, Cash FX engaged in minimal forex trading. Instead, it misappropriated nearly all participant funds, using new contributions from participants to pay fictitious trading profits to other participants and paying millions of dollars to each defendant. Cash FX also provided false account statements to participants to perpetuate the lie that it was generating large trading returns. Cash FX’s participants lost at least $406 million. 

“The Division of Enforcement has continued to refocus on its core mission of protecting the public from fraud and manipulation,” said Director of Enforcement David I. Miller. “This critical action, and the massive fraud it targets, reflects our steadfast commitment to addressing fraud wherever we find it.”

The CFTC seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.