FINalternatives: Hedge Fund & Private Equity News

Service Providers

Seeking Alpha Certified

CFTC Seeks Second Contempt Finding Against Hedge Fund Manager

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asked a federal judge to find an Oklahoma hedge fund manager in contempt of court—again.

Mark Trimble was charged by the CFTC in February with running a $34 million Ponzi scheme, and consented a month later to having a receiver appointed for himself and his hedge fund, Phidippides Capital Management. But despite in alleged contravention of that agreement, Trimble failed to account for a $600,000 withdrawal in January and further expenditures in April, resulting in the first contempt finding.

Now, the CFTC says, he’s up to his old tricks again. The regulator asked the judge to find Trimble in contempt once again, alleging that he is continuing to hide and spend money. At the center of the CFTC’s most recent allegation is a new bank account opened by Trimble’s wife, Nancy, into which she deposited a $95,558 tax refund.

“Since she did not work in 2008, this refund is traceable to investor funds,” the CFTC alleged, adding that Trimble did not disclose the opening of the new account. In addition, the regulator says Trimble’s mother wired $71,500 to a commodity futures merchant, and that more than $60,000 of that money has been dissipated. Trimble has been barred from trading futures.


< Previous Article Print This   Send This   Reprints   Next Article >