The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. derivatives market regulator, has announced that it has filed a civil enforcement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Florida against Patrick Wonsey of Riverview, Florida.。

The indictment alleges that Wonsey was suspected of fraud and embezzlement and that his trading scheme involved leveraged or margin retail foreign exchange (forex) and binary options trading, among others, on and off exchanges regulated by the CFTC.。Wonsey raises at least $3.4 million from at least 50 people。

According to the charges, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) demanded that Wonsey return the illegal proceeds, civil fines, compensation, a permanent ban on registration and trading, and a permanent ban on further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).。

Case Background

According to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), approximately from January 2017 to September 2022, Wonsey raised and pooled more than $3.4 million from at least 50 pool participants for so-called retail foreign exchange, binary options, metals and digital asset trading.。In order to induce pool participants to remit money to him, Wonsey made fraudulent and materially false statements about the success of his past transactions, the chances of future profitability, the frequency of payments, and the risk-free nature of transactions through him.。Wonsey only trades retail forex and binary options。

Wonsey did not trade pool participants' funds as promised, but instead misappropriated funds for personal gain and paid out to other pool participants in a Ponzi scheme。When pool participants requested access to funds, Wonsey did not pay them。He either ignored the requests, offered false excuses or delayed payment as long as possible。

In addition, Wonsey is not registered as a commodity pool operator, does not establish commodity pools as required, and mixes the funds of commodity pool participants with its own funds.。