CFTC Release: 4653-02 (CFTC Docket 02-04)
For Release: June 10, 2002

INTERNET TRADING SYSTEM PROMOTER SETTLES CHARGES ALLEGING HE MADE MISREPRESENTATIONS ON WEBSITE

Michael Radcliffe Made False Claims Concerning Profits He Generated By Using His Commodity Trading System

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today the settlement of an enforcement action filed on January 15, 2002, against Michael Radcliffe of Mosheim, Tennessee (see CFTC News Release 4597-02, Jan. 5, 2002). Radcliffe consented to the CFTC’s issuance of an order finding that he made false statements on his Internet web site, www.mikeysmethods.com, about a commodity trading system that he had developed.

The CFTC order finds that, from at least 1997 through September 2001, Radcliffe solicited customers to purchase a commodity trading system manual called Mikey’s Methods to Money or Madness and a book about commodity futures trading called Learn to Earn. According to the order, Radcliffe falsely stated that he personally made "good profits" by trading with his system, and that he made his living through such trading. The order finds that such claims were false because during the relevant period, Radcliffe sustained aggregate net trading losses, and his personal futures trading did not provide a living for him.

In consenting to the entry of the order, Radcliffe neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the complaint or the order’s findings. The CFTC order 1) requires Radcliffe to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act, as charged, 2) requires him to pay a civil monetary penalty of $15,000, 3) orders him never to seek registration or exemption from registration with the CFTC, and 4) orders him not to misrepresent performance results achieved by any commodity futures or options trading system or the risks of trading pursuant to any such system.

The following Division of Enforcement staff are responsible for the case: Susan Bovee, Wendy Woods, and Alan Edelman.

Media Enforcement Contact:
Susan Bovee, Associate Director
CFTC Division of Enforcement, (202) 418-5409

* * * * *

�