Release: 4940-04 (04 CV-4079)
For Release: June 15, 2004

FEDERAL COURT ORDERS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOREIGN CURRENCY SALESMEN TO REPAY CUSTOMERS MORE THAN $870,000 IN COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION ACTION

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that a Los Angeles federal district court has entered an order of default judgment in its favor against defendants Nawab Ali Khan Ali, Romeo Ancheta, Mega Trend 2000, Inc. and Sterling FX International, LLC. The order requires those defendants to pay to customers more than $870,000, and to pay a $120,000 civil penalty resulting from violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). All of the defendants are permanently enjoined from further violating the CEA.

The court’s order, entered on May 12, 2004, results from a First Amended Complaint in an action filed by the CFTC in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on August 20, 2002 (see CFTC News Release 4692-02, September 3, 2002).

The Defendants Obtained Their Customers Through Newspaper Employment Ads

According to the allegations of the first Amended Complaint, upon which the default order was based, the defendants had solicited and accepted funds from retail customers to engage in speculative trading of illegal, off-exchange foreign currency (forex) futures contracts. They obtained their customers by advertising through newspaper employment ads, including in the Los Angeles Times Career Building Magazine.

Defendant Ali Controlled Other Companies Engaged In Illegal Forex Trading

According to the first Amended Complaint, defendant Ali had controlled numerous other companies engaged in illegal forex activities, including two companies which were the subject of a prior CFTC action in which the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued an order finding that those companies had engaged in fraud and offered illegal forex futures contracts to the retail public (see CFTC News Release 4389-00, April 3, 2000),

The CFTC Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this action were: John Wise, David Acevedo, Michael McLaughlin, Lenel Hickson, Jr., Stephen J. Obie, and Richard Wagner.

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Related Document
Order of Default Judgment