The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Judge Susan C. Bucklew of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered an Order of Final Judgment by Default against Defendants Anthony J. Klatch II, Lindsey Heim, and their company Assurance Capital Management, LLC (ACM) for defrauding pool participants in a commodity pool they operated, misappropriating pool participants’ funds, and other violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.
The Order requires that Klatch, Lindsey Heim, and ACM jointly pay $459,613 in restitution and a $1,509,552 civil monetary penalty. The Order also requires that Klatch pay an additional $96,873 in restitution and a $335,456 civil monetary penalty for two additional fraudulent schemes he carried out.
The Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against Lindsey Heim and ACM. Klatch is already subject to a permanent trading and registration ban and an approximately $12.9 million restitution judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) following a 2011 CFTC action filed against him in connection with a Ponzi scheme he orchestrated between 2007 and 2011.
The Order expands upon the SDNY’s injunctive relief by, among other things, banning Klatch from trading in commodity interests, as that term is defined in CFTC Regulation 1.3 (yy). The Court’s Order also requires that Klatch make the following disclosure in connection with any speech or writing concerning commodity interests:
I have violated the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations. After being sued by the CFTC in federal courts in New York and Florida, I have been collectively ordered to pay $13,476,225 in restitution to victims of my illegal conduct. I have also been ordered to pay $1,845,008 in civil monetary penalties for my illegal conduct. In addition, I have been permanently enjoined from, among other things: 1) entering into any transactions involving commodity interests; 2) controlling or directing the trading for or on behalf of any other person or entity in any account involving commodity interests; or 3) soliciting, receiving, or accepting any funds from any person for the purpose of purchasing or selling any commodity interests. Case numbers for the CFTC actions against me are: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 11-cv-5191, and U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, 17-cv-213.
Klatch, in connection with his prior Ponzi scheme, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 months in prison on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.