CFTC Secures Over $2 Million Judgment Against Marcus Todd Brisco for Forex Commodity Pool Fraud

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has entered a consent order against Marcus Todd Brisco of Hawaii, mandating more than $2 million in financial penalties and restitution for his role in operating fraudulent commodity pools involving retail forex and commodity transactions. According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Brisco has been ordered to pay a $350,000 civil monetary penalty alongside $1.65 million in restitution to defrauded victims. The court order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against Brisco, resolving litigation that originated from a broader enforcement action filed against eight defendants in January 2023. The investigation revealed that Brisco operated two successive fraudulent commodity pools under the names Yas Castellum LLC (Yas 1) and Yas Castellum Financial LLC (Yas 2). Brisco solicited investors to deposit funds under the premise of trading leveraged or margined retail foreign exchange (forex) and retail commodity contracts. However, investor funds were never traded as promised. Between October 2020 and May 2022, Brisco used Yas 1 to solicit over $470,700 from at least 43 pool participants. Instead of deploying these funds into trading, he diverted the capital to a third-party entity and bank accounts controlled by co-defendant Tin Tran. In March 2022, the National Futures Association (NFA) conducted an examination of Yas 1 and raised serious concerns regarding Brisco's lack of oversight and control over investor funds. Although Brisco subsequently repaid the participants of Yas 1 and told the NFA he was leaving the financial services sector, he launched a second pool shortly thereafter. Just one month after assuring regulators he would cease operations, Brisco formed Yas 2 without obtaining the required CFTC registration. Through Yas 2, he solicited more than $1.9 million from at least 66 pool participants. Brisco misappropriated the capital by paying himself fictitious trading profits and transferring remaining funds to accounts controlled by Tran, ultimately failing to return more than $1.6 million to investors. The CFTC continues to urge retail investors to remain vigilant against commodity and forex pool schemes. Prospective investors should always independently verify the registration status of firms and individuals through the NFA BASIC database before transferring any funds.