The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida today issued a consent order against Empires Consulting Corp..(operating a commodity pool in the name of EmpiresX) imposing a permanent injunction, restitution and civil penalties。

The order found, among other things, that Empires Consulting illegally operated commodity pools without required registration, defrauded participants, and mixed participants' funds, settling a claim filed by the CFTC against Empires Consulting on June 30, 2022.。

Under the terms of the order, Empires Consulting must pay $32,178,397 in restitution and a civil penalty of the same amount, a total of $64,356,794, and permanently bar Empires Consulting from engaging in further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.。

The order stemmed from the CFTC's June 2022 allegations against Empires Consulting and its founders, Emerson Pires and Flavio Goncalves, as well as head trader Joshua Nicholas, for allegedly defrauding EmpiresX pool participants.。

The complaint alleges that Empires Consulting used the company's website and videos posted on social media platforms to solicit individuals (pool participants) to trade commodity futures, options and digital assets with EmpiresX starting around September 2020.。Pool participants may participate in trading through a "private investment" pool account directly managed by the company's chief trader, or through a pool account allegedly traded by an automated "EX Bot" that trades on the basis of the chief trader's trades.。

The order found that Empires Consulting defrauded about $100 million from pool participants.。Under the order, Empires Consulting, through its officers and employees, knowingly made false representations to potential pool participants regarding their registration status, use of participant funds, pool size and participant returns。

The order also found that Empires Consulting consolidated and misappropriated participants' funds and stopped executing participants' withdrawal requests around November or November 2021.。CFTC's Lawsuit Against Defendants Continues。