CFTC Secures Court Order Requiring Florida Resident to Pay Over $1.3 Million in Disgorgement and Imposes Trading Ban for Commodity Pool Fraud

WASHINGTON - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a consent order against John Fortini for retail fraud, fraud as an associated person of a commodity pool operator, and related regulatory violations.

The order finds that Fortini, while serving as an executive with defendant Algo Capital LLC, misappropriated customer funds and made numerous misrepresentations and omissions to customers and prospective customers.

As outlined in the order, Fortini falsely assured customers they could withdraw their funds, even though he knew that some, if not all, customer withdrawal requests were not being honored during the fall of 2022, and he misled them about the firm's claimed use of a proprietary trading algorithm. In reality, Algo Capital had arranged for Traders Domain FX Ltd. to trade customer funds beginning no later than October 2021.

In addition, Fortini ignored several red flags that Traders Domain was engaged in fraudulent activity and not trading customer funds as they claimed. The order further finds, despite understanding the significance, Fortini failed to inform customers of Traders Domain's inclusion on the CFTC's Registration Deficient List. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8555-22]

The court ordered Fortini to pay $1,347,867.56 in disgorgement.

The court also permanently enjoins Fortini from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations, as charged, and imposes permanent trading and registration bans.

The consent order resolves all claims against Fortini in the CFTC's Sept. 30, 2024, enforcement action. The enforcement action against the remaining defendants continues. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8997-24]

The CFTC cautions that disgorgement orders may not result in victims recovering any money lost because defendants may not have sufficient funds or assets.