Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, FRAUD AND MANIPULATION—S.D. Fla.: Two defendants in Traders Domain commodity pool fraud scheme settle with CFTC, (Sep 10, 2026)

By Rebecca E. Hoffman, J.D.

The Southern District of Florida approved the consent orders involving individuals who acted as unregistered associated persons of unregistered commodity pool operators.

The CFTC announced September 9 that the Southern District of Florida entered a consent order effectuating a settlement with two of the defendants in an enforcement proceeding against participants in a commodity pool fraud scheme. For their roles in misappropriating customer funds and material misrepresentations and omissions, the two agreed to be enjoined, to abstain from trading in commodities or participating in commodities transactions, and to pay over $500,000 between them in exchange for dismissal from the case (Consent Order: Steven Likos, No. 1:24-cv-23745 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 31, 2026); CFTC v. Traders Domain FX Ltd., No. 1:24-cv-23745 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 2, 2026)).

The defendants in this matter are numerous and include Traders Domain FX Ltd. d/b/a The Traders Domain, which orchestrated the scheme, Centurian Group Inc., for which defendant Archie Rice was an agent, and Algo Capital LLC and Algo FX Capital Advisor LLC, for which defendant Steven Likos was an agent. The Algo defendants and Traders Domain have failed to appear in the case. The CFTC’s action sought injunctive and other equitable relief for the defendants’ violations of the Commodities Exchange Act.

Fraud and deceit. The orders explained that the scheme involved soliciting customers and using the resulting funds to trade leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions involving gold to U.S. dollar pairs (XAU/USD) and for a commodity pool. The defendants made fraudulent statements on their website and in communications to obtain funds for these trades. They misappropriated funds by accepting them and failing to use them for the purported trades, and by charging commissions for profits that had not been realized. Customers who attempted to withdraw funds faced delays with repeated false assurances.

From October 2021 to September 2024, Likos was a sales agent of Algo Capital, the order said. Neither were registered with the CFTC. Algo solicited customers for Traders Domain, and during this period “stopped engaging in its own proprietary trading of customer funds and instead used those funds to participate in the TD Pool, while misrepresenting and/or failing to disclose this fact to actual and prospective customers.” The order explained that Likos knew or was reckless in not knowing that this was going on and made misrepresentations and omissions about the use of customer funds and the ability to make withdrawals.

Similarly, Rice solicited customers on behalf of Centurion “for the purpose of participating in pooled trading of leveraged or margined XAU/USD by Centurion’s ‘hedge fund.’” Centurion used over eight million dollars in solicited funds to participate in the Traders Domain pool but told customers they were participating in the Centurion Pool. Other fraudulent conduct included misrepresentations about Centurion funds’ past profits, and omissions as to the difficulty of withdrawing funds, the order said.

Funds locked up. By January 5, 2023, Algo’s backlog of customer withdrawal requests to Traders Domain had grown to $27 million. Algo, Centurion, Likos and Rice falsely reassured customers about the security of their accounts.

The orders said that the defendants ignored red flags, such as irregular trading patterns that customers reported, negative customer reviews, and articles that referred to Traders Domain as a “scam.” The defendants also accepted customer funds into their own bank accounts at times, using them for personal expenses, and took commissions based on profits that they knew did not exist. Likos failed to object when funds were transferred in a manner not revealed to customers, or when “internal ledger transfers” were employed to make accounts appear to be funded.

For fraud in connection with leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions, fraud and deceit by an associated person of a commodity pool operator, and for failure to register, Likos and Rice agreed to be enjoined from further fraudulent conduct in violation of CEA Sections 4b(a)(2)(A), (C), and 4o(1)(A), (B), and from commodity trading. Likos was ordered to pay disgorgement, and Rice was ordered to pay a civil monetary penalty.

The cases are No. 1:24-cv-23745 [Likos] and No. 1:24-cv-23745 [Rice].

Judge: Altman, R.

Attorneys: Alison B. Wilson for the CFTC. Melanie Emmons Damian (Damian & Valori LLP) for Traders Domain FX Ltd. d/b/a The Traders Domain.

Companies: Traders Domain FX Ltd. d/b/a The Traders Domain

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