CFTC case against futures exchange Digitex and CEO results in $16 million court order

Commission sued Digitex and CEO Adam Todd in September 2022 for alleged price manipulation and failure to register.

A United States federal court has ordered Digitex CEO Adam Todd to pay approximately $16 million in restitution and fines related to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) case.

In a June 12 announcement, the CFTC said a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida had granted default judgment against Todd and Digitex LLC, Digitex Limited, Digitex Software Limited, and Blockster Holdings Limited Corporation for failing to register with the CFTC and manipulating the price of the DGTX token. As part of the judgment, the CEO and four companies under his control are banned from "trading on all markets regulated by the CFTC" and must pay $3,912,220 in restitution as well as a civil penalty of $11,736,660.

“Regardless of the technology used, the CFTC will aggressively use its well-established authority to ensure that entities are legally registered and to combat manipulation of goods in interstate commerce,” said Ian McGinley, Director of CFTC app.

Federal Court orders digital asset derivatives platform and Florida resident to pay over $15 million for multiple violations of the law on the exchange of goods. Learn more: https://t.co/AprX50QcGf

According to McGinley, Todd inflated the price of DGTX using a computerized bot, which he deployed in 2020 on third-party exchanges to buy more tokens than he sold. The commission filed charges against Todd and Digitex in September 2022. The $16 million or...