SimTradePro and its Founder Charged by CFTC for Leveraged Foreign Exchange Fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged SimTradePro Inc. and its founder Robert L. Adams for defrauding U.S. investors out of $2.3 million.

The CFTC said that between February 2018 and April 2019, the firm and its founder solicited hundreds of commodity pool participants, raised over $2.3 million from them, and used the funds to trade leveraged foreign exchange and leveraged metals on behalf of their clients. However, they did not register with the CFTC.

Defendants failed to disclose introducing brokers fees they charged or disclose results regarding simulated or hypothetical trades. They repeatedly claimed that they would not be paid until the commodity pools were profitable and that they would not charge other fees. They also claimed to have paid for the commodity pools with their own funds.

In addition, SimTradePro and Adams misled customers about the reasons for losses in leveraged gold trading and their role in causing the losses. Customers lost approximately $2 million.

The CFTC stated that SimTradePro Inc. was not registered with the CFTC as a commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor. Adams, as an associated person of an introducing broker, was also not registered with the regulator.