December 1, 2011

CFTC Charges Brant L. Rushton and Melissa C. Rushston and their Company, Summit Trading & Capital LLC, with Misappropriation and Issuing False Statements in Fraudulent Commodity Scheme

Federal court issues order freezing defendants’ assets and prohibiting destruction of books and records

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced it obtained an emergency court order on November 29, 2011, freezing assets held by defendants Brant and Melissa Rushton and their wholly-owned Illinois company, Summit Trading & Capital LLC (Summit). The court’s order also prohibits the destruction of books and records and grants the CFTC immediate access to such documents. The Rushtons, both formerly of Champaign, Ill., currently reside in Bend, Ore.

The order stems from a CFTC enforcement action also filed on the same day in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The CFTC’s complaint alleges that from August 2005 to the present, the defendants solicited at least $854,000 from members of the public in connection with three purported commodity pools to be managed under Summit’s name. In soliciting investors, defendants allegedly misrepresented both orally and through written prospectuses the profitability of their trading program and issued false account statements and false IRS Form 1099s to investors to perpetuate the fraud. Defendants also mishandled and misappropriated the majority of the investors’ funds, according to the complaint.

In its continuing litigation, the CFTC seeks a return of ill-gotten gains, restitution to defrauded investors, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and permanent injunctions against further violations of the federal commodities laws.

The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service for the District of Oregon, Eugene Division.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this action are Daniel Jordan, Michael Loconte, Erica Bodin, Rick Glaser, and Richard Wagner.

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: December 1, 2011