(HedgeCo.Net) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Eyal Alper of Tarrytown, New York, for fraud and misappropriating funds. The CFTC’s complaint charges Alper with defrauding members of the public by fraudulently soliciting them to trade futures and/or forex contracts through accounts purportedly managed by Alper, and misappropriating at least $280,000 of the funds provided to him for these purposes.

According to the complaint, Alper improperly commingled the customers’ funds with his own funds, never opened trading accounts for his customers as promised, and sent false statements to his customers reporting purported profits in the fictitious accounts.

In its continuing litigation against Alper, the CFTC seeks restitution to defrauded customers, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of federal commodities laws, as charged.