Commodity pool operator to pay over $24 million in forex fraud CFTC case

Steffy Bogdanova
June 16, 2023 12:43 pm

The US district court in Wisconsin has ordered commodity pool operator Kay Yang (Kay) and her companies, AK Equity Group LLC and Xapphire LLC  to pay more than $24 million for engaging in retail forex fraud.

According to the announcement published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the victims of the fraud were members of the Hmong minority group, an indigenous population residing in East and Southeast Asia. The payment includes a restitution amount of $13.6 million and a civil monetary penalty of $10.3 million.

The CFTC detailed in its Thursday announcement that the court made the judgement on the previous Monday. Additionally, the court ordered Chao Yang, who is Kay’s husband, to return $1.4 million of the illicit funds he obtained from the fraudulent scheme.

CFTC

In April of the previous year, the US regulator filed a lawsuit against Kay, and her companies AK Equity Group and Xapphire. The CFTC accused them of unlawfully enticing approximately 67 investors to contribute at least $15.7 million to partake in a commodity pool, ostensibly for forex trading. The US watchdog added that the defendants made “false representations and material omissions”.

The CFTC stated:

The defendants also misappropriated at least $4.8 million of pool participants’ funds and spent that money on Yang’s personal expenses, including spending nearly $1.4 million at casinos and on luxury hotels and cars.

Earlier in May, the CFTC issued a $4.7 million fine for fraud and registration violations against Sharief Deona McDowell, a California resident.

LeapRate Analyst

Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
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