Release: 4795-03
For Release: June 16, 2003

CFTC SETTLES FRAUD ACTION WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENT CHRISTIAN WEBER

Federal Court Orders Huntington Beach, California, Man to Repay Over $2 Million to Customers from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that Judge David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered an order of permanent injunction against Christian Weber of Huntington Beach, California. The order requires Weber to pay a $504,281 civil penalty and to repay $2,259,403 to approximately 57 investors.

The order, which was entered on June 3, 2003, also requires Weber to stop violating the anti-fraud and off-exchange trading provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations and permanently prohibits him from 1) seeking CFTC registration or engaging in any activity requiring such registration, 2) trading commodity futures contracts for himself, and 3) engaging in any customer-related commodity activity.

The CFTC filed a complaint on February 20, 2002, against Weber, six other individuals, and five corporations (MAS FX, LLC; FX Advisors LLC; FX Advisors Pacific, LLC; FX Advisors East, LLC; and Global Equity Management Group, LLC) (see CFTC News Release 4611-02, February 27, 2002). The complaint charged Weber and the other defendants with fraudulently soliciting customers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States to invest in illegal foreign currency futures transactions. The complaint also charged that Weber and the other defendants defrauded those customers by:

• making false profit and risk claims such as claims to investors that they could double their money in a short period of time;
• failing to disclose the effect of the commissions charged on the customers’ ability to profit; and
• engaging in unauthorized trading.

Weber, in consenting to the entry of the order, neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the complaint or the order’s findings.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff were responsible for this case: Rosemary Hollinger, Scott R. Williamson, Robert J.Greenwald, Susan Gradman, Ken Hampton, and Joy McCormack.

CFTC Media Contact:
Rosemary Hollinger
Associate Director and Regional Counsel
CFTC Division of Enforcement
(312) 596-0560

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