The CFTC has simultaneously filed and settled charges against Connecticut resident Timothy Michael Murphy and his New York-based company Centurion Global Capital Management (“CGCM”), LLC, a registration-exemption Commodity Pool Operator (“CPO”). The Commission charged the defendants with fraudulent solicitation, and they have been ordered to jointly and severally pay a $140,000 civil monetary penalty and $220,000 in restitution.
According to the order, between May 2009 and January 2010, CGCM used a promotional campaign to solicit investors for their commodity pool (Centurion Multi-Strategy LP) which Murphy, CGCM’s principal, knew contained false and misleading information. The information inaccurately portrayed the performance history of two Commodity Trading Advisors (“CTAs”) employed to trade the pool’s futures account. He claimed the CTAs’ performance histories were real, when in fact they were hypothetical. This fraudulent campaign was send to at least 40 pool participants. Furthermore, Murphy forced pool participants to authorize CGCM to make all their trading decisions.
Between July 2009 and January 2010, over sixty people enrolled in the pool. These investors placed $7.76 million in the Centurion Pool. Subsequently, from September 2009 to July 2010, Murphy made $220,000 from CGCM and from fees generated by the firm’s commodity pool. In July 2010 the pool was liquidated, and the remaining funds were returned to pool participants.
In addition to restitution and civil monetary penalties, the defendants are prohibited from trading as part of a CFTC-registered entity or from registering with the CFTC for five years.
