Page 31 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2022年7月）

期货和衍生品行业监管动态

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U. S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order on July 14 for a

permanent injunction, monetary sanctions, and disgorgement of ill-gotten proceeds

against Jimmy Gale Watson of Dallas, Texas.

The consent order resolves the claims against Watson in the CFTC action filed

against Watson and John David McAfee on March 5, 2021 that alleged they engaged

in a manipulative and deceptive digital asset “pump-and-dump” scheme.

The order requires Watson to disgorge over $146,000 he received in ill-gotten

gains from the scheme and also to pay an equal amount in a civil monetary penalty.

The order also permanently prohibits Watson from engaging in further violations of

the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations as charged, and it

imposes registration and trading bans.

“The CFTC will continue actively to use its enforcement authority in the digital
asset space to combat fraud and manipulation, ” said CFTC Acting Director of

Enforcement Gretchen Lowe.

Case Background

As found in the order, Watson participated in the scheme by assisting in the

strategic selection of suitable digital assets. As is typical of pump-and-dump schemes,

he also secretly accumulated positions in digital assets in anticipation of price spikes

following the misleading social media endorsements that touted the assets. These

endorsements “pumped” the asset in order to increase demand, while deceptively

concealing the previously accumulated position and the intent to promptly sell the

position. He then“dumped”the digital asset by selling it into the inflated demand as

price levels rose in response to the deceptive touting.

https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8558-22

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