September 29, 2014

CFTC Charges Illinois Resident Gerald J. Considine and His Companies, Novo Trading and Considine Trading, with Fraudulent Solicitation and Misappropriating More than $1.65 Million of Customer Funds

Considine allegedly used customer funds for personal expenses, such as country club fees, automobiles, dinners, entertainment, and health and pet care

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, charging Defendants Gerald J. Considine, a/k/a Jerry J. Considine, of Oak Park, Illinois, and his companies, Novo Trading LLC (Novo) and Considine Trading Corp. (CTC), with fraudulently soliciting more than $2.4 million from at least nine customers to open managed commodity futures or foreign exchange (forex) accounts and misappropriating more than $1.65 million of those funds.

Specifically, the CFTC Complaint alleges that from at least January 2010 through December 2013, Considine and his two companies fraudulently solicited customers to purportedly open individual managed commodity futures or forex trading accounts and grant Novo or CTC discretionary authority to trade such accounts.

However, instead of instructing customers to open and fund individual trading accounts at registered Futures Commission Merchants for Novo and CTC to trade on their behalf, Considine instructed customers to transfer their funds directly to CTC or Novo. As alleged, Considine never opened or funded any individual trading accounts for customers with the customer funds received. Instead, Considine and his companies allegedly misappropriated approximately $1,650,127 of customers’ funds for their own purposes, including opening and funding commodity futures and forex accounts in Defendants’ names and paying Considine’s personal expenses, such as country club fees, automobiles, dinners, entertainment, and health and pet care during the four-year period.

The Complaint also charges Defendants with defrauding customers by issuing account statements that falsely represented that Defendants had funded individual customer trading accounts and depicted fictitious trading results and account balances.

Defendants violated the registration provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act because at times during the period, CTC and Novo were acting as Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) and Considine was acting as an Associated Person of the CTAs without being appropriately registered with the CFTC.

In its continuing litigation against the Defendants, the CFTC seeks restitution, civil monetary penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the commodities laws, as charged.

The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, which filed an indictment against Considine on September 4, 2014.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Diane M. Romaniuk, Ava M. Gould, William Janulis, Mary Elizabeth Spear, Scott R. Williamson, and Rosemary Hollinger.

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CFTC’s Foreign Currency (Forex) Fraud Advisory

The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories that provide the warning signs of fraud, including the Foreign Currency Trading (Forex) Fraud Advisory, which states that the CFTC has witnessed a sharp rise in Forex trading scams in recent years and helps customers identify this potential fraud.

Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online. 

Media Contact
Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: September 29, 2014