Legal website Law360 is reporting that the US CFTC has filed a lawsuit against offshore retail forex broker Tallinex, for illegally taking on US clients.

The CFTC also named a US introducing broker of Tallinex, called General Trader Fulfillment LLC.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah – apparently because General Trader Fulfillment LLC is based in Utah.

The CFTC alleges that Tallinex took at least $1.5 million from US customers. The violations occurred between September 2012 and at least September 2016.

Tallinex is based in Estonia but sows on its website that it is based in the offshore jurisdiction of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Law360 quoted from the CFTC filing,

Unless restrained and enjoined by this court, defendants likely will continue to engage in the acts and practices alleged in this complaint and similar acts and practices.

Tallinex has never been registered with the commission in any capacity.

Tallinex has falsely represented to U.S. customers that it is lawfully doing business in the U.S.

Tallinex apparently added to the footer of its website in September a statement that it doesn’t accept U.S. customers, according to the CFTC, but still allegedly solicits and accepts funds from them.

The CFTC suit also said Tallinex never disclosed to its clients that it was not registered with regulators.

As mentioned above, the lawsuit also named introducing broker General Trader Fulfillment LLC, which allegedly solicited and accepted retail foreign exchange transactions on behalf of Tallinex without being registered with the CFTC, according to the CFTC filing.

The case is CFTC v. Tallinex et al., case number 2:17-cv-00483, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.