The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit against Cash FX Group and three individuals, alleging a fraudulent foreign-exchange investment scheme involving cryptocurrency. The complaint was submitted to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
The defendants include Cash FX CEO Huascar Jose Lopez Castillo, The Conversion Pros CEO Ronald Pope, and Justin Halladay. The agency claims the group operated a multilevel marketing Ponzi scheme, collecting over $950 million from participants under the guise of trading retail foreign currency contracts.
According to the CFTC, the defendants falsely promised returns of up to 15% weekly, claiming funds were managed by expert traders, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence. The commission alleges that minimal actual trading occurred, and most participant funds were misappropriated.
The lawsuit states that the defendants used new contributions to pay out fictitious profits while funneling millions of dollars to themselves. Participants were provided with false accounting statements and suffered losses totaling at least $406 million.
