June 14, 2012

Federal Court in Illinois Orders Defendants Richard C. Regan and Pro Trading Course, LLC to Pay More than $600,000 in Restitution and Civil Monetary Penalties to Settle CFTC Anti-Fraud Action

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge James B. Zagel, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, entered an order of default judgment and permanent injunction against defendants Richard C. Regan (Regan) and Pro Trading Course, LLC (PTC), both of La Jolla, Calif.

The court’s order stems from a CFTC enforcement action filed on December 7, 2011, that charged the defendants with fraudulently soliciting members of the public to enroll in a commodity futures training program (see CFTC Press Release 6155-11).

The order, entered on May 29, 2012, requires the defendants jointly and severally to pay a $461,100 civil monetary penalty and restitution of $232,200. The order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against the defendants and prohibits them from violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.

The order finds that PTC, through Regan and its employees, used false and misleading promotional material and sales solicitations, which overstated the advancement opportunity and profit potential of PTC’s commodity futures training program. The defendants also failed to disclose that not one of the 126 clients who completed PTC’s training and became PTC proprietary traders ever advanced beyond Level 1 of the program, according to the order. In addition, no PTC trader ever met the monthly profit targets set by Regan or received profit “payouts” approximating those depicted on the “Payout Charts” Regan prepared, the order finds.

The order further finds that PTC, through Regan and its sales associates, used false and misleading promotional material and sales solicitations to sell access to PTC’s Virtual Trading Room (VTR). This created the impression that VTR sessions involved actual commodity futures trading, but they failed to disclose that Regan and his team placed only simulated trades while conducting VTR sessions.

The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the National Futures Association.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Diane M. Romaniuk, Lindsey Evans, Ava M. Gould, Mary Elizabeth Spear, Scott R. Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard B. Wagner.

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
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Last Updated: June 14, 2012