The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reports that the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has entered a consent order for a permanent injunction, restitution, and equitable relief against Jeremy Spence of Bristol, Rhode Island, who conducted business as Coin Signals.
The CFTC filed an enforcement action against Spence in January 2021, alleging he was a perpetrator of a crypto Ponzi scheme in which he fraudulently solicited individuals to invest in digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether. The consent order resolves the CFTC action against Spence.
The order requires Spence to pay $2,847,743 in restitution to victims of the fraudulent scheme.
The order also permanently prohibits Spence from engaging in further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged, and imposes permanent registration and trading bans.
There was a parallel criminal action filed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleging Spence committed a single count of commodities fraud in violation of the CEA and CFTC regulations and one count of wire fraud.
Indicted on those charges, Spence pled guilty to commodities fraud under the CEA and CFTC regulations and was sentenced on May 11, 2022, to 42 months of incarceration and three years of supervised release.