Release: 5748-09
For Release: November 10, 2009

Federal Court Freezes Assets of Florida Resident David A. Owen, Charged by the CFTC with a Multi-Million Dollar Commodity Pool Fraud

Owen, doing business as Oasis Futures, charged with fraudulently soliciting at least $2.5 million, misappropriation and concealment of trading losses.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court entered an order freezing assets held by defendant David A. Owen, of Destin, Fla. The court’s consent restraining order also preserves books and records and requires Owen to make an accounting of his assets.

The court’s order stems from a CFTC anti-fraud enforcement action filed on October 30, 2009, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, charging Owen with fraudulently soliciting at least $2.5 from at least 9 individuals to participate in commodity futures pools that he operated under the name of Oasis Futures.

The CFTC complaint alleges that Owen misappropriated approximately $800,000 of customer funds for his personal use and to return funds to pool participants. Owen allegedly did not maintain pool trading accounts and lost more than $1.6 million trading commodity futures in his personal trading accounts. He periodically made oral or written statements claiming to be profitably trading on behalf of the pool and participants. He also allegedly misrepresented the risk of loss trading commodity futures and concealed trading losses and the misappropriation by issuing false account statements to pool participants, which showed non-existent trading profits.

The complaint further alleges that Owen, holding himself out as a certified public accountant, tax attorney and financial advisor, fraudulently solicited prospective and existing pool participants by falsely claiming he had expertise and a successful track record trading commodity futures. Based on his purported expertise, Owen allegedly pressured individuals to invest in his pools by claiming that they would miss a huge opportunity in the market if they failed to invest. Owen also allegedly failed to disclose his prior criminal convictions for fraud.

In its ongoing litigation, the CFTC seeks a permanent injunction against Owen, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, customer restitution and a civil monetary penalty.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members are responsible for this case: James H. Holl, III, Kara Mucha, Michelle Bougas, Gretchen L. Lowe and Phyllis J. Cela.

Media Contacts
Scott Schneider
202-418-5080

Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: November 10, 2009