Release: 5582-08

For Release: December 11, 2008,

Nevada Firm Alliance Development Co. and William Snyder Ordered to Pay $3.65 Million in Restitution and Penalties for Operating a Commodity Pool Scam in CFTC Anti-Fraud Action

Synder’s Daughter, Christi Wilson, Ordered to Disgorge $220,000 in Payments Misappropriated from the Fraudulent Pool Operation to Pay Personal Expenses

Washington, DC—The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced today that Alliance Development Company (Alliance) of Reno, Nevada, and William Snyder of Issaquah, Washington were ordered to pay restitution of $550,000 and civil monetary penalties of $1.65 million and $1.45 million, respectively, to settle a CFTC enforcement action charging them with commodity pool fraud.

In addition, Synder’s daughter and a former Alliance principal, Christi Wilson of Reno, Nevada, was ordered to disgorge $220,000 in payments that she received from Alliance’s and Snyder’s fraudulent commodity pool operation.

The consent order, entered on December 10, 2008 by the Honorable Larry R. Hicks of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, also permanently bars Alliance, Snyder, and Wilson from engaging in any commodity-related activity. The order stems from a CFTC complaint filed on September 28, 2006 in CFTC v. Alliance Development Company, et al., Case No. 3:06-cv-00512-LHR-RAM (D. Nev.). (See CFTC Press Release 5257-06, November 16, 2006.)

According to the order, from at least October 2004 to at least February 2006, Alliance (an unregistered commodity pool operator) and Snyder (an unregistered commodity pool operator and an unregistered associated person of Alliance) used no less than ten sham companies and aliases to fraudulently solicit others to invest in commodity pools that purportedly traded, among other things, commodity futures contracts.

The order also found that Alliance and Snyder misrepresented profit potential to pool participants, neglected to advise pool participants of the risks inherent in trading futures, failed to provide required pool disclosure documents to pool participants, and provided a false futures account statement to at least two pool participants. Alliance and Snyder solicited $550,000 in pool participant funds, most of which they misappropriated to pay Snyder’s and Wilson’s personal expenses.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members are responsible for this case: Rachel Hayes, Jo Mettenburg, Lacey Dingman, Charles Marvine, and Richard Glaser.

Media Contacts
R. David Gary
202-418-5085

Dennis Holden
202-418-5088

Last Updated: December 11, 2008