CFTC v. Dro Kholamian and Blue Star Trading, LLC (2018)

Settled

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In December 2018 the CFTC sued Illinois trader Dro Kholamian and Blue Star Trading, alleging they misappropriated funds taken from clients for forex and futures trading. On 21 March 2022 a federal court entered a consent order requiring $227,000 in restitution and a $150,000 penalty, with permanent trading and registration bans. Kholamian had been sentenced to 48 months in prison in a parallel criminal case.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$150k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$150k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The CFTC announced the complaint on December 17, 2018 (release 7857-18) in the Northern District of Illinois. It alleged Kholamian promised 10 to 20% returns with withdrawals at any time, did not trade as represented, spent the money on personal and business expenses and paid some clients in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme.

Outcome. The CFTC's March 2022 release says the Northern District of Illinois entered a consent order on 21 March 2022. It requires Kholamian and Blue Star to pay $227,000 in restitution and a $150,000 civil monetary penalty, permanently enjoins further violations, and imposes permanent registration and trading bans. The order's findings, as the release describes them, are that the defendants took $995,000 from clients between 2013 and November 2018, returned $768,000 and misappropriated the remaining $227,000. The release also reports that Kholamian pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a parallel criminal case and was sentenced on 3 September 2021 to 48 months in prison and $755,000 in restitution. The CFTC order was entered by consent.

Timeline

1. 2018-12-17 CFTC release published
2. 2022-03-21 Consent order entered: $227,000 restitution, $150,000 penalty, permanent trading and registration bans

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• CFTC release
• CFTC press release 8504-22 (consent order)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.