The US National Futures Association (NFA) has ordered Hardee Brothers LLC, an NFA Member commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor in New York, N.Y., to withdraw from and not reapply for NFA membership or principal status with an NFA Member at any time in the future.

NFA also ordered Sidney Curtis Hardee, an associated person and principal of Hardee Brothers, to withdraw from and not apply for NFA membership or reapply for NFA associate membership or principal status with an NFA Member at any time in the future.

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 Hardee Brothers and Hardee, in which they neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

In its Complaint, the BCC alleged that Hardee Brothers and Hardee violated NFA Compliance Rules 2-2 and 2-4 by, among other things, engaging in deceitful conduct, misappropriating customer funds and willfully providing misleading information to NFA.

For instance, Hardee Brothers and Hardee have misled NFA about the firm’s business operations because, rather than operating Hardee Capital Pool as a proprietary pool, they accepted customer funds for investment into the Pool.

The BCC also alleged that Hardee Brothers solicited a customer with a disclosure document NFA had not reviewed and accepted and commingled pool assets with firm assets, in violation of NFA Compliance Rule 2-13.