Michael Shannon Sims, aka Mike Sims, has settled SAEG Ponzi costs with the CFTC for $250,000.
The CFTC filed swimsuit in opposition to Sims in January 2023 over his participation within the collapsed SAEG Ponzi scheme.
As alleged by the CFTC, Sims facilitated cash laundering of SAEG Ponzi sufferer funds.
As a part of his settlement, Sims consented to an August twenty second courtroom order that finds
from at the least October 2020 to Might 2022, on the route and with the help of Sims … engaged in a scheme to fraudulently solicit potential pool members (“Pool Individuals”) to deposit funds for the ostensible function of taking part in
a commodity pool.Somewhat than directing any Pool Participant funds to a agency that trades foreign exchange or XAUUSD or sustaining funds in an account within the title of the commodity pool, the funds had been as an alternative transferred to financial institution accounts managed by Defendant C and one other agency (“Purported Buying and selling Agency 1”).
Sims helped facilitate this scheme by, amongst different issues, directing Defendant B about the place and how one can wire funds and instructing Defendant B to disguise the transfers so the scheme wouldn’t be found.
Sims did so with information that Pool Participant funds had been meant for use to commerce leveraged or margined retail overseas forex trade (“retail foreign exchange”) or leveraged or margined gold-dollar pair (“XAUUSD”) retail commodity transactions.
Sims additionally knew or ought to have identified and that the entities to which he directed Entity A to ship the funds wouldn’t ship funds to any buying and selling agency.
Moreover, Sims offered Defendant B with confidential and proprietary details about his hedge fund, Purported Buying and selling Agency 2, that was utilized by Defendant B to mislead Pool Individuals into considering that Purported Buying and selling Agency 2 was
buying and selling Pool funds.
The order grants the CFTC a everlasting injunction in opposition to Sims, prohibiting additional acts of commodities fraud. A $250,000 civil financial penalty (CMP) was additionally ordered.
Upon full satisfaction of the Defendant’s CMP Obligation, satisfaction of financial sanctions can be entered as to Defendant.
Upon cost of the CMP, the beforehand ordered asset freeze on Sims can be lifted.
The SAEG sequence of Ponzi schemes had been a part of The Merchants Area, a mega-Ponzi run by Ted Safranko (proper).
Safranko was charged by the CFTC however has gone into hiding.
BehindMLM’s curiosity in these interconnect schemes pertains to OmegaPro, a billion greenback MLM crypto Ponzi that funnelled into The Merchants Area.
Data reveal Sims stole over $76 million by The Merchants Area (and one other $96 million by Algo Capital and an unknown quantity by OmegaPro).
Turkish authorities have pegged OmegaPro sufferer losses at $4 billion. Primarily based on withdrawals by its prime net-winners, The Merchants Area took in an estimated $3.3 billion.
As of but no The Merchants Area or OmegaPro particular costs have been filed within the US. As famous, Ted Safranko has gone into hiding.
OmegaPro co-founder Andreas Szakacs was arrested in Turkey again in July. The scope of the Turkish investigation into OmegaPro, and by extension The Merchants Area, has not been made public.
Whether or not US authorities file costs in relation to OmegaPro and The Merchants Area stays to be seen.