September 21, 2012
CFTC Orders Infinity Futures LLC, an Introducing Broker, to Pay $340,000 for Supervision Violations
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an order filing and settling charges against Infinity Futures LLC (Infinity), a Chicago-based registered Introducing Broker, for failing to supervise diligently the handling of certain trading accounts by its officers, employees, and agents.
The CFTC order finds that Infinity’s officers, employees, and agents ignored warning signs that third party customer funds were improperly being deposited in a proprietary trading account. The order also finds that an Infinity customer was holding himself out to the public as a Commodity Trading Advisor and trading individual client accounts, without being registered with the CFTC or obtaining a power of attorney, as required.
Additionally, according to the order, Infinity did not have an adequate system of supervision in place, its compliance manual was outdated, no written policies or procedures were provided to its associated persons, and Infinity did not follow or enforce its compliance procedures. Infinity also did not adequately train its employees, officers, and agents regarding detection of suspicious account activity and fraud prevention, the order finds.
The CFTC order requires Infinity to pay a $300,000 civil monetary penalty, disgorge $40,000 in ill-gotten gains, and cease and desist from violating CFTC regulation 166.3, as charged. The order also requires Infinity to comply with certain undertakings including hiring an outside compliance consulting firm to assist in training staff and reviewing and updating its current compliance procedures.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Robert Howell, Joseph Patrick, Susan Gradman, Brigitte Weyls, Scott Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard Wagner.
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