June 3, 2013

Federal Court Orders Melissa C. Rushton to Pay $50,000 to Settle Charges Pertaining to Her Husband’s Fraudulent Operation of Summit Trading & Capital LLC

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that it obtained a federal court order on May 30, 2013 requiring defendant Melissa C. Rushton of Gridley, Illinois to pay a $50,000 civil monetary penalty to settle fraud and other charges stemming from her role in the operation of Summit Trading & Capital LLC (Summit). The court’s order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against her and prohibits her from violating the anti-fraud and other provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulations, as charged.

The Order, entered by Judge James E. Shadid of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, stems from a CFTC enforcement action filed November 29, 2011 against Summit, Melissa Rushton, and her husband Brant L. Rushton, charging them with fraudulent operation of a commodity pool (see CFTC Press Release 6150-11 Dec. 1, 2011). On February 1, 2013, Judge Shadid granted summary judgment against Brant Rushton and Summit and subsequently ordered them to jointly pay approximately $1.6 million in restitution to defrauded pool participants and a civil monetary penalty of approximately $3.2 million (see CFTC Press Release 6556-13 April 5, 2013). In July 2012, Brant Rushton pled guilty to criminal charges in a parallel federal criminal action stemming from the same conduct. Melissa Rushton was not charged in the criminal action.

The current Order finds that Melissa Rushton was a controlling person of Summit and that upon learning of the fraud being perpetrated by her husband, she failed to act but instead allowed the fraud to continue until the CFTC filed this action.

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

Last Updated: June 3, 2013