CFTC fines, bans individual involved in fraudulent scheme offering crypto arbitrage
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced it has issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against Jeremey Rounsville, a/k/a David Peterson, of Texas.
The order requires Rounsville to pay a $177,000 civil monetary penalty, permanently bans him from soliciting or trading in commodity interests and virtual currencies, or registering with the CFTC in any capacity, and requires him to cease and desist from any further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged.
The order finds from approximately May 2018 to 2019, Rounsville participated in a fraudulent scheme involving a website platform engaged in alleged managed virtual currency trading. Rounsville claimed to be the Chief Executive Officer of Arbitraging.co, a company that purportedly offered complex trading strategies in digital asset products.
The order further finds Rounsville’s solicitation included claims the website would take advantage of arbitrage opportunities across virtual currency trading platforms to lock in immediate profits for its customers. The order also finds he claimed the website had developed a “highly advanced arbitrage bot” to engage in what was self-described as seamless automated arbitrage trading.
However, those claims were fraudulent. The supposed bot, called the “aBOT,” never executed trades on behalf of customers. Ultimately, customers were unable to make withdrawals and as a result lost their invested funds.
As FX News Group has reported, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed charges against Rounsville.