The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has banned convicted fraudster Paul Abad from the commodity trading business and obtained more than pay $860,000 in restitution, the agency announced on Monday.
Abad ran Thirteen Thirty-Two, Inc., under the name MRTS Asset Management. The CFTC charged that the company took $400,000 from the general public to trade commodity futures contracts, and then sustained approximately $122,000 in trading losses. The company also misappropriated about $230,000 of participants’ funds and concealed trading losses in connection with operating a fraudulent commodity trading pool. The CFTC also said that the company routinely sent customers false performance statements claiming profitable trading returns.
On Nov. 3, the California financier was convicted on 25 counts of fraud and sentenced to state prison. The Orange County Superior court also ordered Abad to pay criminal restitution of more than $600,000, according to the CFTC.
