“The rehashed excuses that the defendants offered during the hearing for their continued failure to comply with this court’s orders, and their ongoing failure to offer any colorable defense to the Commission’s claims, animate the Commission’s default-judgment arguments and underlie my conclusion that default judgment is warranted here,” according to U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey in her order against Circle Society and Mr. Saffron.
CFTC allegations against Circle Society and Mr. Saffron
In its complaint, the CFTC alleged that the defendants lured their victims to trade off-exchange binary options on foreign currencies (forex) and cryptocurrency pairs. Since December 2017, they fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $15.8 million from their victims.
Mr. Saffron allegedly created and used Circle Society to perpetrate cryptocurrency fraud. He encouraged investors to participate in a commodity pool operated by his company.
He misrepresented his trading expertise and falsely guaranteed up to 300% rate of returns to investors.
