CFTC Sanctions Eight for Unregistered Broker Activity
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has barred eight individuals from registering with the agency for acting as unregistered associated persons of foreign brokers.
Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Financial Crime
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed and settled eight orders against individuals who acted as unregistered associated persons of unregistered foreign introducing brokers. The respondents solicited U.S. customers, who were not eligible contract participants, for off-exchange leveraged or margined retail foreign currency and commodities transactions without registering as required.
Why it matters
The orders target solicitation of U.S. retail customers into off-exchange foreign currency and commodities transactions run through unregistered intermediaries. The actions follow a prior CFTC order against Netrios LP Ltd. and Red Acre Ltd. for the same type of illegal off-exchange activity.
Eight individuals have signed cease-and-desist orders and face two-year bars from CFTC registration. Each respondent's penalty is being resolved in a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission proceeding based on the same conduct.
The players
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
The federal agency that regulates U.S. derivatives markets, including commodity futures and swaps.
Securities and Exchange Commission
The federal agency that enforces securities laws and oversees the U.S. securities markets.
The details
The CFTC said the respondents—Michael Talento, Anthony Tyler Williams, Quillan Roberto Black, Christopher Williams, Michael Levi Peters, Jordan Taylor Morgan, Lewis Matthew Neal, and Tyler Evan MacKechnie—solicited orders for off-exchange transactions without registering as associated persons of the introducing brokers. The SEC filed and settled charges over the same underlying conduct, and the CFTC thanked the SEC for its assistance.
Timeline
November 9, 2026: CFTC announces the eight orders.
Legal Context
The sanctions enforce the Commodity Exchange Act's requirement that associated persons of introducing brokers register with the CFTC before soliciting customers. They follow the earlier Netrios and Red Acre order, showing the agency pursuing both the entities and the individuals who solicit U.S. customers for illegal off-exchange transactions.
Retail customers approached by unregistered individuals offering leveraged foreign currency or commodities trades face heightened risk of losses without the protections that registered intermediaries provide. Checking whether a firm or individual is registered with the CFTC before opening an account is a practical safeguard.
The takeaway
Before trading leveraged foreign currency or commodities, verify that the individual and firm soliciting you are registered with the CFTC. Unregistered solicitation is a recognized warning sign of the kind of activity these orders target.
Further reading
For more on enforcement actions like these, see the Financial Crime section.
