CFTC Secures $685,000 Default Judgment Against Lions of Forex and Owner for Currency Fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has entered orders of default final judgment against Roberto Pulido, also known as Berto Delvanicci, and his Miami-based company, Lions of Forex LLC (LOF). The federal court orders resolve a regulatory enforcement action initiated in September 2023. Under the judgment, the defendants are required to pay, jointly and severally, approximately $172,000 in restitution to defrauded investors and more than $516,000 in civil monetary penalties, bringing total financial sanctions to over $685,000. In addition to the monetary penalties, the court permanently enjoined Pulido and Lions of Forex from engaging in conduct that violates the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The defendants are also subject to permanent trading and registration bans across all CFTC-regulated commodity and derivatives markets. According to the court findings, Pulido and LOF fraudulently solicited at least four clients between January 2019 and March 2021 to trade leveraged or margined off-exchange retail foreign currency on a discretionary basis. LOF attracted potential victims through a retail forex signals service, which charged monthly fees for buy and sell trade recommendations and offered higher-priced one-on-one training sessions with Pulido. Promotional materials on the LOF website and various social media channels marketed Pulido as a "seven-figure trader" with a track record of significant forex profits. After funneling subscribers into direct contact, Pulido made material misrepresentations, guaranteeing clients fixed monthly returns if they allowed him to manage their trading accounts and assuring them they could withdraw funds at will. In reality, Pulido failed to generate the promised returns and refused or failed to return substantial portions of client capital upon withdrawal requests. The court determined that Lions of Forex aided and abetted the fraudulent scheme by receiving client funds into its corporate bank accounts, promoting Pulido's purported trading acumen, and allowing corporate email infrastructure to be used to communicate with defrauded clients. The CFTC acknowledged assistance in this enforcement matter from several regulatory partners, including the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent & the Grenadines.