Release: 4769-03
For Release: April 3, 2003

CFTC SETTLES FOREIGN CURRENCY FRAUD CHARGES WITH CALIFORNIA AND OHIO RESIDENTS

Federal Court Orders Five Defendants To Pay $3.5 Million To Customers in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that Judge David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered consent orders of permanent injunction against Brian Moore of Brecksville, Ohio; Dennis Heyburn of Akron, Ohio; Don Lakin of Anaheim, California; Ron Rozillio of Oak Park, California; and Farzad Nafeiy of Newport Beach, California (collectively, the defendants).

The consent orders, entered on March 24, 2003, prohibit the defendants from violating the anti-fraud and off-exchange trading provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, and require them to pay a total of $3,595,896, plus interest, to approximately 90 investors. In addition, the orders require certain defendants to pay the following civil penalties: Moore ($490,047); Heyburn ($215,370); Lakin ($240,000); and Nafeiy ($181,000).

The consent orders also permanently prohibit defendants Moore, Heyburn, Lakin, and Nafeiy from seeking CFTC registration or engaging in any activity requiring such registration, and from engaging in any customer-related commodity activity; Rozillio is subject to those same prohibitions for a period of three years. Defendants, in consenting to the entry of the orders, neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the complaint or the orders’ findings.

CFTC Charged the Defendants in a February, 2002 Enforcement Action

The consent orders arise out of a two-count CFTC complaint filed on February 20, 2002 against the defendants and five corporations they owned and operated -- MAS FX, LLC; FX Advisors, LLC; FX Advisors Pacific, LLC; FX Advisors East, LLC; and, Global Equity Management Group, LLC (see CFTC News Release 4611-02, February 27, 2002).

The CFTC complaint charged that the defendants fraudulently solicited customers in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. to trade illegal, off-exchange foreign currency futures (FOREX) contracts. Among other things, the complaint charged the defendants with defrauding customers by 1) making false profit and risk claims, such as that investors could double their money in a short period of time; 2) failing to disclose the effect of defendants’ commission charges on the customers’ purported ability to profit, and 3) engaging in unauthorized trading.

The CFTC’s injunctive action continues against the one remaining individual defendant, Christian Weber of Huntington Beach, California.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff were responsible for this case: Rosemary Hollinger, Scott R. Williamson, Robert J. Greenwald, Susan Gradman, Ken Hampton, and Joy McCormack.

CFTC Media Contact:
Rosemary Hollinger
Associate Director and Regional Counsel
CFTC Division of Enforcement
(312) 596-0560

# # #

�