Release: 5401-07

For Release: October 17, 2007

South Florida Court Orders Jeffrey Paul Jedlicki, Jeffrey Jedlicki, Inc., Roxana Sofia Lao Mendez, and Beatriz Peralta Quesada to Pay More Than $1.39 Million in Restitution, Disgorgement, and Civil Monetary Penalties for Foreign Currency (Forex) Options Scam

Total Judgments in this Enforcement Case Now Exceed $20 Million

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that the Honorable Cecilia M. Altonaga, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida, entered judgments against defendants in a CFTC anti-fraud action: Jeffrey Paul Jedlicki was ordered to pay $405,682.04 in restitution and a $405,682.04 civil monetary penalty; Roxana Sofia Lao Mendez (Lao) and Beatriz Peralta Quesada (Peralta) were each ordered to pay a $120,000 civil monetary penalty; and Jeffrey Jedlicki, Inc., was ordered to pay $347,586.76 in disgorgement. Each defendant was also ordered to pay post–judgment interest on the restitution and civil monetary penalties.

The orders resolve charges arising from the CFTC’s complaint in CFTC v. Berkshire International, et. al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Case No.: 05-CIV-61588 Altonaga/Turnoff (see CFTC Press Release 5148-05, December 22, 2005). The CFTC complaint in this matter alleged that, since July 2003, defendant Jedlicki and the corporate defendants defrauded nearly 400 customers who had provided more than $6 million to open accounts to trade foreign currency options contracts. According to the complaint, the corporate defendants transferred most of the customer funds to offshore accounts, from which some funds were paid to the relief defendants. The complaint further alleged that the defendants misappropriated customer funds, as only $95,000 was ever returned to customers.

The judgment against Jedlicki finds that he committed fraud by misappropriation and sales solicitation fraud and that relief defendant Jedlicki, Inc., received payments from the defendants for which it did not provide any legitimate goods or services. Defendants Lao and Peralta aided and abetted the fraudulent activities of the other defendants.

Court’s Judgments Resolve All Remaining Claims in the CFTC Enforcement Action

The judgments resolve all remaining claims in CFTC v. Berkshire International, et al. Earlier, an order entered on November 30, 2006, by Judge Altonaga required the corporate defendants (Harrington Advisory Services, SL, Richmond Royce Advisory Services, SLU, and Stafford Advisory Services and relief defendants FED and Associates, LLC, Briscoe and Associates, Inc, and International Investments Holdings Corp. and other defendants) to pay more than $19 million in restitution, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties (see CFTC Press Release 5263-06, December 12, 2006).

The following Division of Enforcement staff members are responsible for this case: Timothy J. Mulreany, David Reed, Michael Amakor, Paul Hayeck, and Joan Manley.

Media Contacts
Ianthe Zabel
202-418-5080

Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: October 17, 2007