CFTC Revokes Registration of CTA

The CFTC announced the revocation of the registration of Prestige Capital Advisors, LLC ("Prestige") as a commodity trading advisor ("CTA").

On January 2, 2014, the CFTC Judgment Officer issued an Initial Decision on Default against Prestige, finding that it was statutorily disqualified from CFTC registration. On February 3, 2014, the Judgment Officer's Initial Decision became the Order of the CFTC.

The District Court's Orders found that, among other things, Prestige:

• fraudulently solicited and accepted more than $4.7 million from multiple pool participants for investment in one or more commodity pools that traded commodities and futures contracts;
• misappropriated pool participant funds;
• posted false trading returns on a website called "BarclayHedge" (where fund managers could post unverified historical returns for prospective clients to view);
• sent false trading results to at least one Prestige pool participant; and
• issued false account statements.

As a result, the court ordered Prestige to pay approximately $6.9 million in civil monetary penalties and restitution of over $4.1 million.

See: Initial Decision: Prestige; CFTC Press Release.
Related news: CFTC Revokes Registrations of a CPO/CTA but Creates Issue of Administrative Law (with Zwirb Comment) (February 4, 2014).