Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order for permanent injunction against defendant Eyal Alper of Irvington, New York, in connection with a fraudulent scheme.
The order requires Alper to pay restitution totaling $352,901, plus a civil monetary penalty of the same amount. The order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans on Alper and prohibits him from violating provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations, as charged. The order stems from a CFTC complaint filed on October 24, 2019, which charged Alper with fraud, misappropriation, and engaging in prohibited activities as a commodity trading advisor. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8061-19]
The order finds that beginning in late 2015 and lasting until October of 2019, Alper fraudulently solicited members of the public to trade futures and foreign currency (forex) contracts through managed accounts. To solicit customer funds, Alper made material misrepresentations and omissions, including that he was an experienced and successful trader who controlled a large-dollar trading account at a UK-based trading firm. Additionally, Alper never opened trading accounts for his customers as promised, but instead misappropriated virtually all of the funds provided to him to pay his own personal expenses, including, among other things, international travel, restaurant bills, and car rentals. To conceal his misappropriation, Alper sent false statements to his customers reporting profits in the fictitious accounts and lied to customers about conditions that purportedly prevented him from honoring their withdrawal requests.
The CFTC cautions that orders requiring repayment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure that wrongdoers are held accountable.
The CFTC thanks and acknowledges the assistance of the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
The Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Alan Edelman, Kara Mucha, Erica Bodin, Daniel Jordan, 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.
