The CFTC has announced its intent to revoke the registration of Raleigh Capital Management (“RCM”), a Chicago-based Commodity Pool Operator (“CPO”).  The firm has been disqualified from registration under the Commodity Exchange Act based on an enforcement action resolved earlier this year.

In May 2011, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois placed a permanent injunction against RCM. This court order emerged from an anti-fraud action filed against the CPO in October 2009. The CFTC alleged, and the order found, that the firm and its principal misappropriated over $1 million from a commodity pool run by the defendants. The principal, Richmond Hamilton, Jr., used the money for personal expenses, including payments on two planes. When the NFA arrived to perform a routine audit, Hamilton produced fake documents, and lied about his personal bank accounts and the CPO’s operating expenses.

That order required the defendants to pay over $4 million in civil monetary penalty and restitution, and permanently barred Hamilton and RCM from any commodities related activities. The current notice of intent to revoke registration stems from this order.

Read more about this CFTC enforcement action. 
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