CFTC Charges Dean Dellas and DSD Capital Management Over Alleged $690,000 Futures Fraud Scheme

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a civil enforcement complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York against Syracuse, New York resident Dean S. Dellas and his investment advisory firm, DSD Capital Management, LLC. The defendants are charged with fraud and the misappropriation of more than $690,000 from clients. According to the CFTC's complaint, Dellas and DSD Capital operated as commodity trading advisors from at least February 2021 through November 2023. During this period, the defendants allegedly committed fraud through material misrepresentations, omissions, and misappropriation of funds belonging to at least two clients: a 61-year-old man and his 91-year-old mother, who had entrusted the firm with their entire life savings. The regulator alleges that Dellas and DSD Capital engaged in tens of thousands of futures trades across the clients' accounts without disclosing the inherent risks. For the first client, these trades resulted in more than $169,000 in trading losses and commissions. The defendants concealed these losses while assuring the client that the accounts were performing well. Despite an agreement to charge fees equating to only 10% of trading profits, the defendants allegedly misappropriated over $235,000 from the client via unauthorized transfers and excessive fees. The complaint further details that the scheme was expanded to the client's elderly mother. Without her authorization or knowledge, the defendants executed tens of thousands of futures transactions in her account, generating more than $196,000 in losses and commissions. The defendants hid the losses and allegedly misappropriated more than $459,000 from her through unjustified fees and unauthorized fund transfers. To facilitate the ongoing scheme, Dellas allegedly concealed the contents of documents he had the clients sign and impersonated them in communications with futures commission merchants. In its enforcement action, the CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans, and permanent injunctions against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. In a parallel criminal proceeding, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York unsealed an indictment on May 6 charging Dellas with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to the same alleged conduct.