The CFTC obtained more than $3.8 million in civil money penalties and equitable relief in court orders against Tyrone “Cauzae” McCall and entities he controlled, McCall Business Group, LLC and MBG Global, LLC, both of Charlotte, N.C. The sanctions resolve a CFTC enforcement action that charged them with solicitation fraud and misappropriation of investor funds in a commodity pool scheme.

The court’s order finds that, between September 2003 and March 2008, McCall fraudulently solicited and accepted about $1.2 million from commodity pool participants by making false promises of high returns with no risk of loss of their principal. McCall told prospective pool participants that he made money by keeping the difference between the promised return and the high returns he generated from trading, but these statements were false, the orders find. McCall, individually and as an agent of MBG and MBG Global, misappropriated pool participants’ funds by either using money deposited by new pool members to pay off other pool participants in a manner similar to a Ponzi scheme and/or using participants’ money for his personal use, the orders find.

The court’s order and judgment further find that, as part of this fraudulent scheme, McCall misrepresented his background and expertise by falsely stating that he had an illustrious career on Wall Street with a major investment bank to trick his victims into believing that he was a successful commodity trader. However, the orders find, McCall consistently lost money on his trading activities.