Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Silver Star FX, LLC d/b/a Silver Star Live (SSL), a former New Mexico limited liability company, Silver Star Live Software LLC (SSLS), a Florida limited liability company, and David Wayne Mayer of Roswell, Georgia. The complaint charges all three defendants with sales solicitation fraud and failing to register with the CFTC.
The complaint alleges that from at least July 2018 to March 2019, the defendants fraudulently solicited customers to open discretionary trading accounts and offered to trade those accounts through a fully automated retail foreign currency (forex) trading software system that Mayer created. Mayer used the pseudonym “Quicksilver” to act as an unregistered associated person and to solicit clients through videos posted online, on social media, and at in-person marketing events. The solicitations contained material misrepresentations and omissions regarding Mayer’s qualifications and trading experience. Additionally, the defendants misrepresented the forex trading system’s performance history and the expected trading profits. The defendants also failed to disclose that Mayer never opened a live trading account using the forex trading system.
Related CFTC Enforcement Action
In a previous, related case, the CFTC found that SSL and SSLS acted as unregistered commodity trading advisors, and that two former officers acted as unregistered associated persons of both SSL and SSLS. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8071-19]
The Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are James A. Garcia, Michael Loconte, Erica Bodin, Aimée Latimer-Zayets, and Rick Glaser.
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CFTC’s Foreign Currency (Forex) Fraud Advisory
The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories that provide the warning signs of fraud, including the Foreign Currency (Forex) Trading Fraud Advisory, to help customers identify this sort of scam.
The CFTC also strongly urges the public to verify a company’s registration with the Commission before committing funds. If unregistered, a customer should be wary of providing funds to that entity. A company’s registration status can be found using NFA BASIC.
Customers and other individuals can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the Division of Enforcement via a toll-free hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online.
