CFTC Files Complaint in Minnesota Federal Court Against Commodity Trading Advisor, Pelton Street Publishing, Inc., and Its Principal, Roger Martin Hoy, Charging Fraud in Soliciting Customers for Commodity Trading Course

Release: �� #4297-99
For Release:�� August 2, 1999

CFTC FILES COMPLAINT IN MINNESOTA FEDERAL COURT AGAINST COMMODITY TRADING ADVISOR, PELTON STREET PUBLISHING, INC., AND ITS PRINCIPAL, ROGER MARTIN HOY, CHARGING FRAUD IN SOLICITING CUSTOMERS FOR COMMODITY TRADING COURSE

CFTC Seeks Injunctive and Other Equitable Relief, Including Disgorgement of Ill-Gotten Gains, Restitution to Defrauded Customers, and Civil Monetary Penalties

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing on August 2, 1999, of a four-count civil injunctive complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against Pelton Street Publishing, Inc. (Pelton), a South Dakota corporation with offices in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and its president and principal, Roger Martin Hoy a/k/a Roger Martin. The complaint alleges that Pelton and Hoy fraudulently solicited members of the public to purchase a 90-day commodity trading "course" called "The Keys to the Marvelous Money Machine" (the "Money Machine"). Pelton has been registered with the CFTC as a commodity trading advisor (CTA) since October 1998.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that from at least October 1998 through the present, in mail solicitations sent nationwide, Pelton and Hoy have falsely claimed that Hoy has personally made substantial profits through futures trading, that purchasers of the Money Machine are likely to achieve substantial profits with minimal or no risk, and that specific commodity traders have made extravagant profits by using the Money Machine. According to the complaint, the defendants' mail solicitations also include testimonials that falsely purport to be from customers who have purchased the Money Machine and make false claims of huge profits achieved by using the course. Defendants' commodity trading course, the complaint alleges, consists of a manual and audiotapes that describe basic information about futures and options trading, provide a trading strategy, and purport to teach how to use stop loss orders and options to trade in a manner described as "virtually risk free." It is also alleged that the course includes 90-day access to messages recorded by the defendants that can be retrieved through an automated telephone system.

The CFTC's civil complaint alleges that by making false and misleading statements about the Money Machine, Pelton and Hoy violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), specifically sections 4b(a), 4c(b), and 4o of the CEA and CFTC regulations 4.41 and 33.10. The CFTC also charges Pelton with violating CFTC regulation 4.33 by failing to maintain and produce, upon the CFTC's request, copies or transcriptions of the advice it has provided to Money Machine customers through recorded telephone messages.

The CFTC is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent Pelton and Hoy from further violating the CEA and CFTC regulations, an accounting, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, restitution to defrauded customers, and civil monetary penalties of not more than $110,000 per violation or triple the monetary gain for each violation committed.