The CFTC alleged that defendants transferred millions of dollars to an off-shore entity that, in turn, may have transferred funds to a foreign cryptocurrency exchange. None of these funds were returned to the pool.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged Sam Ikkurty, Ravishankar Avadhanam, and wholly-owned Florida-based company Jafia LLC, with fraudulently soliciting at least $44 million for participation interests in a so-called income fund invested in digital assets and other instruments.
The civil enforcement action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois also charges the defendants with operating an illegal commodity pool and failing to register as a Commodity Pool Operator.
The three funds owned and operated by the defendants – Ikkurty Capital LLC d/b/a Rose City Income Fund, Rose City Income Fund II LP (Rose City) and Seneca Ventures LLC – were also charged as relief defendants in possession of funds to which they have no legitimate interest.
According to the CFTC, since at least January 2021, the defendants have used a website, YouTube videos, and other means to solicit more than $44 million from at least 170 participants to purchase, hold and trade digital assets, commodities, derivatives, swaps and commodity futures contracts.
Instead of investing the pooled participant funds as represented, the defendants allegedly followed the typical Ponzi method of misappropriating participant funds by…
