CFTC secures final judgment against Paul Greenwood in $1.3bn investment fraud case

Maria Nikolova

Judge George B. Daniels of the New York Southern District Court granted the CFTC’s request for a final judgment against the defendant.

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has secured a final judgment against Paul Greenwood, a defendant in a $1.3 billion investment scam case. On November 19, 2019, Judge George B. Daniels of the New York Southern District Court granted the CFTC’s request.

As per the order, the Greenwood Permanent Injunction previously entered by the Court on July 28, 2010, will constitute the final judgment against the defendant in favor of the Commission. Let’s recall that a forfeiture money judgment was entered against Greenwood in a parallel criminal proceeding in the amount of $83,500,000, constituting the total proceeds he personally received as a result of the felony violations to which he pled guilty. The CFTC has withdrawn its claims for any further relief.

Earlier in November, the CFTC obtained a final judgment against another defendant in this case – Stephen Walsh.

Back in 2009, the CFTC charged Stephen Walsh and Paul Greenwood with fraudulently soliciting approximately $1.3 billion through Westridge Capital Management, WG Trading Investors, LP, and other entities.

The CFTC’s complaint alleged that the defendants solicited funds from commodity pool participants. The defendants defrauded victims by falsely depicting that all pool participants’ funds would be employed in a single investment strategy that consisted of index arbitrage. However, pool participants’ funds were transferred to another entity from which Walsh and Greenwood siphoned funds.

According to the complaint, to cover-up their misappropriation of pool participants’ funds, Greenwood and Walsh manufactured promissory notes to present the appearance that pool participants’ funds had been loaned to them.

Walsh and Greenwood allegedly misappropriated approximately $553 million in pool participants’ funds. More than $160 million was used for Walsh and Greenwood’s personal expenses, including purchasing rare books, horses, Steiff teddy bears for as much as $80,000, and a $3 million residence for Walsh’s ex-wife.

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