A US court
has ordered Adam Todd to pay approximately $16 million for operating an
unregistered crypto exchange Digitex Futures. The amount includes $11.7 million
in civil monetary penalty and $3.9 million as the return of illicit
profit.
Judge Roy
K. Altman of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida
delivered the judgement on July 5, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC) announced
today (Wednesday). Judge Altman also banned Todd and four companies he
controlled from registering with the CFTC or engaging in any trading activities
overseen by the US derivatives regulator.
CFTC in
September last year charged Todd
and his digital asset derivatives trading firm, alleging that the exchange between
May 2020 and May 2022 operated an unauthorized trading platform from a Florida-based office. The derivatives watchdog also accused the Digitex Founder of attempting to
manipulate the price of the exchange’s native token, DGTX. In addition, it considers the token to be a ‘commodity’ in interstate commerce.
“According
to the complaint, throughout the summer of 2020—the time when the exchange was
readying for ‘launch’—Todd repeatedly attempted to, in his words, ‘pump’
the price of DGTX as reported by third-party exchange,” CFTC explained.
Furthermore, CFTC alleged that Digitex failed to establish a customer
information program, know-your-customer policies and anti-money laundering
procedures.
“This case
demonstrates that regardless of the technology used, the CFTC will aggressively
use its well-established authority to ensure entities are lawfully registered
and to address the manipulation of commodities in interstate commerce,” noted
Ian McGinley, Director of CFTC’s Division of Enforcement.
A US court
has ordered Adam Todd to pay approximately $16 million for operating an
unregistered crypto exchange Digitex Futures. The amount includes $11.7 million
in civil monetary penalty and $3.9 million as the return of illicit
profit.
Judge Roy
K. Altman of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida
delivered the judgement on July 5, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC) announced
today (Wednesday). Judge Altman also banned Todd and four companies he
controlled from registering with the CFTC or engaging in any trading activities
overseen by the US derivatives regulator.
CFTC in
September last year charged Todd
and his digital asset derivatives trading firm, alleging that the exchange between
May 2020 and May 2022 operated an unauthorized trading platform from a Florida-based office. The derivatives watchdog also accused the Digitex Founder of attempting to
manipulate the price of the exchange’s native token, DGTX. In addition, it considers the token to be a ‘commodity’ in interstate commerce.
“According
to the complaint, throughout the summer of 2020—the time when the exchange was
readying for ‘launch’—Todd repeatedly attempted to, in his words, ‘pump’
the price of DGTX as reported by third-party exchange,” CFTC explained.
Furthermore, CFTC alleged that Digitex failed to establish a customer
information program, know-your-customer policies and anti-money laundering
procedures.
“This case
demonstrates that regardless of the technology used, the CFTC will aggressively
use its well-established authority to ensure entities are lawfully registered
and to address the manipulation of commodities in interstate commerce,” noted
Ian McGinley, Director of CFTC’s Division of Enforcement.
