November 29, 2012

Federal Court in New York Orders Marc Perlman and iGlobal Strategic Management, LLC to Pay over $2 Million for Solicitation Fraud and Misappropriation Involving Off-Exchange Foreign Currency and a Commodity Pool Ponzi Scheme

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Barbara S. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment and permanent injunction order against defendants Marc Perlman of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and his firm, iGlobal Strategic Management, LLC (iGlobal). The order stems from a CFTC complaint filed on August 28, 2012, charging the defendants with operating a commodity pool Ponzi scheme that fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $670,000 from at least 17 people — largely persons from the deaf community (see CFTC Press Release 6339-12).

The order requires Perlman and iGlobal to jointly pay a civil monetary penalty of $1,794,537 and restitution of $598,179. The order finds that Perlman and iGlobal violated anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and imposes permanent trading and registration bans against the defendants.

The order further finds that Perlman, directly and on behalf of iGlobal, made material misrepresentations and deceptive statements regarding the profitability of iGlobal’s trading. Perlman made a number of statements in which he claimed that profits had been earned when, in fact, the iGlobal trading accounts had losses or had some profits but of a significantly lower magnitude than those claimed, the order finds.

Specifically, the order finds that Perlman, directly and on behalf of iGlobal, solicited members of the public to trade leveraged off-exchange foreign currency contracts (forex). Although Perlman represented to certain iGlobal investors that their funds would be and were invested in forex, no more than about $305,000, or less than half of the funds invested, were transferred to trading accounts and of the funds transferred to trading accounts, nearly all of the funds were lost trading, the order finds.

In addition, the order finds that at least $365,000 of iGlobal investor funds were misappropriated to make payments of fictitious profits, for cash withdrawals and payment of expenses, including charges at department, electronic, grocery stores, and restaurants, and to pay rent for Perlman’s personal residence and utility costs, among others.

The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the National Futures Association and the U.K. Financial Services Authority.

CFTC staff members responsible for this case are Laura Martin, Christopher Giglio, Manal Sultan, Lenel Hickson, William Tylinski, Stephen Obie, and Vincent McGonagle.

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
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Last Updated: November 29, 2012