A married couple from Tennessee has been ordered to pay a penalty of nearly $7 million for fraud involving a commodity pool, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on Thursday.
Commodity Pool Fraud Costs Couple Millions, CFTC Says
According to the September 25 press release, married realtors Michael Griffis and Amanda Griffis convinced 145 people to contribute $6.5 million to a community pool known as “Blessings Thru Crypto.”
The duo claimed that the funds would be “used to trade commodity futures on the Apex Trading Platform with guidance from an individual known only as Coach Wendy.”
In reality, the commodity pool was a copy of an overseas exchange and it is still unclear who exactly “Coach Wendy” is.
“More than $4 million of the pool’s funds were sent to the illegitimate overseas exchange where it was immediately sent to a variety of other accounts and offshore trading platforms,” the press release states.
“The remaining funds were misappropriated for personal expenses, including paying personal debts and buying a variety of consumer goods,” the press release continues.
CFTC Bans Realtor Couple For Alleged Crypto Scheme
According to a newly filed consent order in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the couple $5,528,121 in restitution to defrauded victims and a $1,355,232 civil monetary penalty.
In total, the duo will have to pay over $6.8 million in monetary relief.
They are also banned from trading and registering with the CFTC and are prohibited from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.
“This case is a stark warning to be cautious about whom you trust with your money,” said Charles Marvine, Acting Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Retail Fraud and General Enforcement Task Force. “If an investment opportunity seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is, for you and anyone you bring along.”
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