NFA orders former AP Peter Georgantones never to reapply for membership
The United States National Futures Association (NFA) has ordered Peter Chris Georgantones, a former associated person of an NFA Member introducing broker located in Plymouth, Minn., never to reapply for NFA membership or act as a principal of an NFA Member.
The Decision, issued by NFA’s Business Conduct Committee (BCC), is based on a Complaint issued by the BCC and a settlement offer submitted by Georgantones, in which he neither admitted nor denied the allegations. The Complaint alleged that Georgantones utilized unauthorized trades and fictitious trade transfer requests to improperly allocate winning trades to favored customer accounts, while allocating losing or unprofitable trades to non-favored customer accounts.
Eighteen customer accounts profited from Georgantones’s scheme. Twenty-nine customer accounts incurred losses due to the deceptive scheme. The losses ranged from $40 to $80,000.
The Complaint also alleged that Georgantones exercised discretion over customer accounts without written authorization.
Also today, NFA ordered Plymouth, Minn. introducing broker Roy E. Abbott Futures, Inc. (Abbott Futures) to pay a $75,000 fine and approximately $198,000 in restitution to customers who incurred net losses resulting from improper trading activity by a former employee of the firm.
The Decision, issued by the BCC and a settlement offer submitted by Abbott Futures.
The Complaint alleged that Abbott Futures, acting through its former employee, utilized unauthorized trades and fictitious transfer requests to improperly allocate winning trades to favored customer accounts, while allocating losing or unprofitable trades to non-favored customer accounts.
The Complaint also alleged that Abbott Futures, acting through the same former employee, exercised discretion over customer accounts without written authorization.
Finally, the Complaint alleged that Abbott Futures failed to adequately supervise the former employee and the firm’s operations. In its Decision, the BCC found that Abbott Futures committed the alleged rule violations.