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期货和衍生品行业监管动态

fortified the agency’s strong anti-fraud authority. This comes at a critical time when
the agency is contending with fraud across a broad range of commodity assets, both

traditional and digital.”

The order resolves a CFTC action filed against the defendants on September 6,

2017, alleging that, while acting as a common enterprise, the defendants executed

illegal, off-exchange leveraged retail commodity transactions for thousands of

customers, and engaged in pervasive fraudulent sales solicitations. [See CFTC Press

Release No. 7609-17]

The order comes after substantial litigation, including two appeals to the Ninth

Circuit [See CFTC Press Release No. 7984-19], entry of a preliminary injunction

against the defendants, an order granting summary judgment in favor of the CFTC on

the charges relating to the offering and execution of illegal retail commodity
transactions, and also imposing a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants

from engaging in leveraged retail commodity transactions.

Case Background

As found in the order, between July 16, 2011 and August 31, 2021, the

defendants operated a retail over-the-counter trading platform, known as “Atlas,”

which allowed customers to speculate on precious metals price movements, with

Monex acting as the counterparty to every transaction. During the relevant period, the

defendants executed thousands of leveraged trades with retail customers, all of which

were required to be executed on a regulated exchange, but were not, as found by the

court in an earlier order.

The order also finds the majority of these trades resulted in losses for Monex’s

customers and the defendants engaged in fraud in the solicitation of customers.
Specifically, Monex touted the importance of precious metals as a hedge against

economic uncertainty. Monex’s solicitations highlighted profits, claiming that
precious metals offer “outstanding price appreciation” and “outstanding profit

potential.” Monex trained its sales representatives to pitch leveraged trading with

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