Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Financial Tree

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 27, 2020·No. 2:20-cv-01184·Unknown

Opinion

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING No. 2:20-cv-01184-TLN-AC COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. ORDER F TI RN EA EN TC RI UA SL T T ; R FE INE A d Nba C F IAIN LA SN OC LI UA TL I ON GROUP dba FINANCIAL SOLUTION GROUP TRUST; NEW MONEY ADVISORS, LLC; THE LAW FIRM OF JOHN GLENN, P.C.; JOHN D. BLACK aka JOHN BARNES; CHRISTOPHER MANCUSO; JOSEPH TUFO; and JOHN P. GLENN, Defendants; SUISSE GROUP (USA) LLC; JMC INDUSTRIES LLC; LANDES CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC; KINGDOM TRUST LLC; HERBERT CASWELL; ANNE MANCUSO; and TYLER

Relief Defendants.

/// /// /// Presently before the Court is Defendants John P. Glenn (“Glenn”) and The Law Firm of John Glenn, P.C.’s (collectively, the “Glenn Defendants”) Motion to Temporarily Stay Answer Deadline and Party Discovery. (ECF No. 68.) Plaintiff Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a response. (ECF No. 70.) No further reply was submitted. Also before the Court is Defendant John D. Black’s (“Black”) Motion to Set Aside/Vacate Entry of Default and Motion to Stay Civil Action Against Defendants Pending Resolution of Criminal Proceedings. (ECF No. 77.) CFTC filed a response to Black’s motion. (ECF No. 84.) No further reply was submitted. For the reasons stated herein, the Glenn Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. (ECF No. 68.) Black’s motion to set aside entry of default is GRANTED as to Black only. (ECF No. 77.) Black’s motion to stay the litigation is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. (ECF No. 77.) I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1 A. Instant Civil Action This action arises from an alleged fraudulent scheme to misappropriate approximately $14.32 million from consumers under the pretense of soliciting investments for trading commodity options and retail foreign currency. CFTC filed its Complaint against Defendants Black and his affiliated entities Financial Tree (“Financial Tree”), Financial Solution Group (“Financial Solution”), and New Money Advisors, LLC (“New Money”) (collectively, the “Black Entities”); Christopher Mancuso (“Chris Mancuso”); Joseph Tufo (“Tufo”); and the Glenn Defendants (collectively, “Defendants”) and Relief Defendants Suisse Group (USA) LLC (“Suisse Group”); JMC Industries LLC (“JMC”); Landes Capital Management, LLC (“Landes”); Kingdom Trust LLC (“Kingdom”); Herbert Caswell (“Caswell”); Anne Mancuso; and Tyler Mancuso (collectively, “Relief Defendants”) on June 15, 2020, asserting various violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“Act”) and Commission Regulations (“Regulations”), and seeking civil penalties, restitution, disgorgement, and other equitable relief. (ECF No. 1.) At that time, CFTC additionally moved the Court for an Emergency Ex Parte Motion for a Statutory 1 For ease of reference, the Court will refer to the ECF pagination for the parties’ attached exhibits. Restraining Order (“SRO”) and Preliminary Injunction (“PI”) pursuant to § 6c(a) of the Act (7 U.S.C. § 13a-1(a) (2018)). (ECF No. 3.) On July 2, 2020, the Court issued an SRO, freezing assets, prohibiting the destruction of records, and requiring CFTC be provided immediate access to those records. (ECF No. 9.) The SRO further ordered Defendants and Relief Defendants to show cause by July 10, 2020, as to why an Order for Preliminary Injunction should not be granted pending the remainder of this litigation. (Id. at 26.) No Defendant or Relief Defendant responded to the Court’s Order to Show Cause. On July 28, 2020, the Court issued a PI that continued the terms set forth in the SRO. (ECF No. 33.) Additionally, the PI required a complete accounting from Defendants and Relief Defendants and prohibited Defendants from committing future violations of the Act and Regulations or engaging in commodity-related activities. (Id.) The Glenn Defendants executed waivers of service and have appeared in this matter. (ECF Nos. 31–32, 59.) Chris Mancuso, Black, the Black Entities, Tufo, Kingdom, Landes, Anne Mancuso, Tyler Mancuso, Caswell, JMC, and Suisse Group failed to timely respond to the Complaint and the Clerk of the Court has entered defaults against them.2 (ECF Nos. 49, 50, 58.) On August 27, 2020, CFTC and the Glenn Defendants submitted a joint motion to amend the PI to permit Glenn to use untainted funds to pay certain reasonable expenses approved by CFTC. (ECF No. 62.) The Court granted the unopposed, joint motion and modified the asset freeze provisions of the PI as they pertained to the Glenn Defendants. (ECF No. 92.) ///

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Financial Tree, (E.D. Cal. 2020).

Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Financial Tree (Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Financial Tree) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Landis v. North American Co.
299 U.S. 248 (Supreme Court, 1936)
United States v. Kordel
397 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Adams v. Watson, Etc.
10 F.3d 915 (First Circuit, 1993)
Eduard Falk and Lettye M. Falk v. Sun Cha Allen
739 F.2d 461 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Kim Reuter v. Bob Skipper
4 F.3d 716 (Ninth Circuit, 1993)
Phillip W. Harvey v. Superintendent Gary McCaughtry
11 F.3d 691 (Seventh Circuit, 1993)
O'connor v. State Of Nevada
27 F.3d 357 (Ninth Circuit, 1994)
Chao v. Fleming
498 F. Supp. 2d 1034 (W.D. Michigan, 2007)
Bank of Montreal v. Frederick Salyer
599 F. App'x 706 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
Federal Savings & Loan Insurance v. Molinaro
889 F.2d 899 (Ninth Circuit, 1989)