The CFTC has announced a default judgment against Michael B. DePetrillo, Meteor LLC and NOLA FX Capital Management LLC that closes its civil forex-fraud case. Disclosed on 21 October, the decision adds permanent trading and registration bans to a civil monetary penalty exceeding $9.2 million.[1]
The judgment was entered on 30 September in the Eastern District of Louisiana. It makes the defendants jointly and severally liable, so the stated sum is a combined obligation rather than a separate $9.2 million penalty for each defendant. Its prohibitions extend to directing commodity-interest trading for others and accepting money for such trading.[2]
Two separate court-ordered monetary obligations
| Measure | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Civil monetary penalty | $9,211,492.44 | September 2026 judgment; payable to the CFTC.Source 2 |
| Criminal restitution | $6,748,412.79 | July 2025 sentence of DePetrillo; separate from the civil penalty.Source 4 |
The court’s reasons identify $3,070,497.48 in fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation and set the penalty at three times the defendants’ net monetary gain. It found intentional misconduct, including fabricated bank and trading statements used to conceal the scheme. The defendants had not appeared to answer the civil case or challenge the entry of default.[3]
According to the CFTC, clients were told that their money would support profitable retail forex trading. The court instead found payments to earlier participants resembling a Ponzi scheme, expenditure on DePetrillo’s personal needs and trading through his personal account. The new judgment resolves the claims brought in the agency’s 2024 complaint.[1]
The related criminal case had already produced a nine-year prison sentence on 23 July 2025. The Justice Department said the scheme took roughly $9.2 million from about 55 investors over seven years, a measure of money received rather than the net-gain figure used for the civil penalty. It also described commingled funds and the absence of deposits into the purported pool’s trading accounts.[4]
The monetary orders establish liabilities; neither is evidence that the full amount has been collected. The case’s operational failure was more basic than poor trading performance: account statements represented activity and returns that the pool’s own trading accounts did not substantiate.[4]
Sources & further reading
- CFTC Secures Court Order Directing Louisiana Man and His Companies to Pay Over $9 Million in Forex Fraud Commodity Futures Trading Commission · 21 Oct 2026 · Accessed 21 Oct 2026
- Default judgment: CFTC v Meteor, LLC, et al., document 37 US District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana · 30 Sep 2026 · Accessed 21 Oct 2026
- Order and reasons: CFTC v Meteor, LLC, et al., document 36 US District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana · 30 Sep 2026 · Accessed 21 Oct 2026
- Former New Orleans Attorney Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison For Commodity Exchange Act Violation US Department of Justice · 29 Jul 2025 · Accessed 21 Oct 2026