Release Number 6194-12
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February 29, 2012
Federal Court in Illinois Orders Australian Firm Enfinium Pty Ltd to Pay $80,000 Penalty, Cease Soliciting U.S. Customers, and Modify Website
Action part of CFTC’s second nationwide sweep against foreign currency firms for failure to register under the 2008 Farm Bill, the Dodd-Frank Act, and CFTC regulations
Washington DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court consent order against defendant Enfinium Pty Ltd (Enfinium) of Sydney, Australia, for soliciting and accepting foreign currency (forex) orders from U.S. customers without being registered with the CFTC.
The consent order of permanent injunction, entered February 24, 2012, by Judge Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, requires Enfinium to pay an $80,000 civil monetary penalty. The order also requires Enfinium to cease and desist from soliciting and accepting orders from U.S. customers who are not Eligible Contract Participants (ECPs) and offering to act as a counterparty to such customers’ forex transactions until it has registered with the CFTC. The order directs Enfinium to prominently display a notice on its website that Enfinium does not provide services for U.S. customers.
The order further prohibits Enfinium from trading on any CFTC-registered entity, entering any transactions, controlling or directing trading, or soliciting, receiving or accepting funds for transactions involving commodity futures, options, security futures products, or foreign currency for or from any non-ECP U.S. customers until Enfinium has registered with the CFTC.
The order settles CFTC charges that Enfinium unlawfully solicited U.S. customers to engage in forex transactions and operated as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer without being registered with the CFTC (See CFTC Press Release 6108-11, September 8, 2011).
According to the order, from October 18, 2010, the date the CFTC adopted new regulations implementing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the 2008 Farm Bill requiring retail foreign exchange dealers to register with the CFTC before soliciting or accepting forex orders from non-ECPs, until at least September 7, 2011, Enfinium solicited and accepted orders from such non-ECPs located in the United States.
Specifically, the order finds that Enfinium solicited non-ECP U.S. customers to open forex trading accounts through a website operated by Enfinium’s corporate authorized representative, Vantage FX Pty Ltd, and offered to act as a counterparty to every customer contract. Enfinium stopped accepting U.S. customers after October 18, 2010. However, Enfinium continued to accept orders from U.S. customers who had existing accounts until at least September 7, 2011, according to the order.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this case are David Terrell, Elizabeth M. Streit, Joy McCormack, Scott R. Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard Wagner.
CFTC customer protection information for retail forex customers
The CFTC strongly urges the public to check whether a company is registered before investing funds. If a company is not registered, an investor should be wary of providing funds to that company. A company’s registration status can be found on the National Futures Association’s website at http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet.
Before investing money in the forex market, the CFTC also strongly urges members of the public to review the CFTC’s forex consumer protection advisories listed below:
CFTC Consumer Advisory: Forex Fraud
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
http://www.cftc.gov/enf/enf-forex.htm
Fraud Advisory from the CFTC: Foreign Currency Trading (Forex) Fraud
http://www.cftc.gov/ConsumerProtection/FraudAwarenessPrevention/CFTCFraudAdvisories/fraudadv_forex
Foreign Exchange Currency Fraud: CFTC/NASAA Investor Alert
Media Contact
Dennis Holden
202-418-5088
Last Updated: February 29, 2012