CFTC insists on $3.57M fine for Forex fraudster Casper Mikkelsen
Forex fraudster Casper Mikkelsen has offered no reason for leniency and has to pay a heavy monetary penalty for his misconduct, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) argued today in a document filed with the New York Southern District Court.
A trial attorney with the Division of Enforcement of the CFTC pushed for mandating Defendant Casper Mikkelsen to pay a civil monetary penalty of triple the monetary gain from the fraudulent scheme he operated. According to the regulator, a fine of $3,573,860.61 is appropriate.
Let’s recall that, according to the CFTC’s complaint, Mikkelsen made false solicitations to clients, misrepresenting to them that that he would open individual accounts in their names and would trade their accounts in Forex through GNTFX, a purported broker providing services to the retail public.
He hid the nature of his scheme using the GNTFX website to make multiple misrepresentations to clients, created false trading histories that clients relied on in making their investments, and made available to clients false account statements showing false profits and losses. He then used clients’ funds to pay certain clients purported FX trading profits, as is typical in a Ponzi scheme.
Mikkelsen created false trading histories and provided clients with false accounts statements to lead clients to believe they had trading accounts and that their accounts were being traded by him in Forex. In fact, GNTFX was not a broker, there were no accounts, and there was no trading.
Mikkelsen simply misappropriated clients’ funds, including funds for his personal use.
The CFTC explains:
“To this day, Mikkelsen has offered no reason for leniency. To the contrary, Defendant Mikkelsen has failed to answer, move, make an appearance, contact the Court, or the Commission even though he has had ample notice of the facts and charges against him and of the filings in this case.
Defendant Mikkelsen has instead decided to flout the Court’s authority, make no appearance, and show no remorse for his fraudulent conduct including his misappropriation of his clients’ funds, which resulted in a loss of at least $1,191,286.87 to 106 of his clients”.
Let’s recall that the CFTC has already pushed for default judgment in this case. Today’s motion by the regulator supports the penalties outlined in the proposed default judgment. The Court has yet to decide whether to grant it.