The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has brought charges against William Koo Ichioka, a New York City resident, with fraudulently soliciting and misappropriating over $21 million from more than 100 commodity pool participants.
According to the US watchdog, Ichioka operated a fraudulent scheme from 2018 through November 2021. He solicited funds to trade digital asset commodities, such as bitcoin and ether, and in a forex commodity interest pool he operated under the name Ichioka Ventures. The commodity pool’s website promised a 10% return to investors.
However, Ichioka used $21 million of participant funds to pay back other participants, and for personal use and expenses like luxury cars.
The US regulator stated that Ichioka does not contest these claims. The CFTC is seeking full restitution to defrauded victims, a civil monetary penalty, and permanent trading and registration bans.
Director of Enforcement Ian McGinley, said:
The CFTC is committed to aggressively pursuing individuals who defraud public investors in digital assets and retail foreign currency [forex] transactions. The CFTC will strive to hold such wrongdoers fully accountable for their misconduct as we work cooperatively with our law enforcement partners to protect unsuspecting fraud victims.
In a parallel suit, Ichioka has criminal charges raised against him including wire fraud, filing false or fraudulent tax returns, and securities and commodities fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also charged him.
Earlier in June, another commodity pool operator, Kay Yang (Kay) and her companies, AK Equity Group LLC and Xapphire LLC, was ordered to pay more than $24 million for engaging in retail forex fraud by the the US district court in Wisconsin.
