The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued Cash FX Group S.A. and several associated individuals, alleging they ran a vast multilevel marketing operation that collected more than $950 million under the pretense of pooled retail foreign-exchange trading.
The civil complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, names the Panama-based firm, its chief executive Huascar Jose Lopez Castillo of Brazil,
The Conversion Pros Inc. and its chief executive Ronald Pope of Oregon, and Florida resident Justin Halladay.
According to the agency, the defendants solicited funds from the public, including US residents, between at least June 2019 and December 2023.
Participants were told their money would be placed in a commodity pool and traded by skilled professionals, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence.
Promotional materials and recruiters allegedly promised weekly returns of as much as 15 percent.
The CFTC says those representations were false.
Cash FX conducted only negligible forex trading, using less than 1 percent of incoming funds for actual market activity.
Instead, the complaint alleges, nearly all participant money was diverted.
New contributions were used to pay earlier participants amounts presented as trading profits, a classic Ponzi structure.
False account statements were issued to create the appearance of consistent gains.
Over 400,000 accounts were funded worldwide, including more than 6,000 belonging to US residents who supplied at least $27 million.
While some investors recouped principal through those recycled payments, about 81 percent of participants together lost at least $406 million.
The filing further claims Lopez controlled cryptocurrency wallets that received investor funds and personally retained tens of millions of dollars.
The Conversion Pros and Pope are accused of facilitating conversions and payments that kept the structure operating, while Halladay is alleged to have promoted the program.
Cash FX was not registered as a commodity pool operator, and participant assets were not kept segregated from operators’ accounts, the CFTC says.
Enforcement Director David I. Miller described the case as part of a renewed focus on protecting the public from fraud and market manipulation.
The agency is asking the court for a permanent injunction, restitution to harmed participants, disgorgement of alleged ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, and bans on trading and registration.
The allegations remain unproven in court; the defendants have not yet answered the complaint.
The case underscores how high-yield promises, multilevel recruitment, and technology-themed marketing can be used to attract large sums across borders, including through cryptocurrency payment channels that complicate tracing.
Investors considering any pooled trading program should verify registration status, demand independent proof of actual market activity, and treat advertised weekly double-digit returns as a warning sign rather than an opportunity.
