The CFTC announced late yesterday that a federal court has ordered Richmond Hamilton, Jr. (currently living in Morocco) and his company Raleigh Capital Management, Inc. (RCM), a commodity pool operator (CPO) based in Chicago, to pay over $4 million in civil monetary penalties and restitution. The two defendants were originally charged with misappropriating over $1 million and making false statements to the NFA in 2009.
According to the order, beginning in 2004 Hamilton stole over a million dollars from the Raleigh Fund, a commodity pool he established in 1987. He used the money for personal expenses, including payments on two planes he owned. When the NFA screened Raleigh Capital Management as part of a routine audit, he produced fake documents for real estate deals, and lied about his personal bank accounts, restrictions on investors’ requests for redemptions and his payment of operating expenses.
In addition to the fine, Hamilton and Raleigh Capital Management are prohibited from engaging in any commodities-related activity regulated by the CFTC, and from registering with the CFTC in the future.
Read more about this CFTC enforcement action.
photo credit: AMagill
