Release: 5048-05
For Release: February 3, 2005

U.S. DISTRICT COURT ORDERS FLORIDA COMPANY WORLD-WIDE CURRENCY, CORP., AND FLORIDA RESIDENTS GENADY SPIVACK A.K.A. GEORGE SPIVAK AND ELLISON KENT MORRIS TO PAY OVER $6 MILLION IN CIVIL FRAUD ACTION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued an order assessing over $6 million in civil penalties against World-Wide Currency Services, Corp. of Palm Beach, Florida; World-Wide’s president, Gennady (a.k.a. George) Spivack of Jupiter, Florida; and World-Wide’s vice president, Ellison Kent Morris of Palm Beach.

The order assessing civil monetary penalties stems from a CFTC enforcement action filed in federal court in January 2003, charging World-Wide, Spivack, and Morris with, among other things, fraudulently soliciting customers to invest in illegal, off-exchange foreign currency (forex) futures contracts (see CFTC News Release 4743-03, January 23, 2003). The order requires World-Wide to pay civil penalties of more than $4.3 million, Spivack to pay over $1.3 million, and Morris to pay almost $500,000, after defrauded customers have been repaid. Per Judge Hurley’s August 9, 2004, final judgment, the defendants were ordered to repay defrauded customers over $1 million and were permanently barred from soliciting, receiving or accepting any funds in connection with the purchase or sale of a commodity futures contract (see CFTC News Release 4979-04, August 19, 2004).

The 2004 final judgment found that defendants World-Wide, Spivack, and Morris fraudulently sold forex futures contracts to customers under the guise of conducting spot currency transactions.

According to the final judgment, defendants solicited customers using fraudulent telemarketing tactics and false claims, including telling customers that they would earn as much as five times their investment in just a few months. The final judgment also found that the monthly statements defendants mailed to customers were false because World-Wide engaged in little or no trading on behalf of its customers. The judgment also found that defendants used customer funds for personal expenses, among other non-trading purposes.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members were responsible for this case: Robert Hildum, Mary Kaminski, Trabue Bland, Charlie Ricci, and Timothy Mulreany.

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