The CFTC has won a supplemental consent order against Jacob Juma Omukwe and his companies, JadeFX, LTD and Jade Investments Group, LLC in connection with over-the-counter foreign exchange (“forex”) fraud. The defendants must  jointly and severally pay over $2.6 million in restitution and civil monetary penalties.

In March 2011, a federal judge in Wisconsin found that beginning in June 2009, Omukwe and his companies solicited the public to trade forex. The JadeFX website falsely claimed that all funds were used to trade forex, client money was held in segregated accounts, and customers funds were protected from bankruptcy. In this manner, the defendants solicited more than $3.2 million from over 500 individuals domestically and internationally.

According to the consent order, only a small portion of customer funds were ever traded in forex. Omukwe and his firms misappropriated the money for personal and business expenses. JadeFX and Omukwe also failed to register as a retail foreign exchange dealer (“RFED”) and associated person (“AP”) respectively.

In addition to paying restitution and civil monetary penalties, the defendants were permanently prohibited from engaging in any commodity-related activity and from registering with the CFTC in any capacity.

Read more about this CFTC enforcement action.
photo credit: Patrick Hoesly