CFTC v. Christy, Crabapple Capital Group (ponzi schemes, 2013)
Judgment entered
Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
In May 2013 the CFTC announced the revocation of the registrations of Robert A. Christy and Crabapple Capital Group LLC, after a default initial decision became a Commission order, on the basis of an October 2012 Georgia consent order that found fraud and misappropriation in a Ponzi scheme.
The record
| Agency | CFTC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 6591-13 |
| Date filed | 2013-05-20 |
| Date resolved | 2013-05-20 |
| Court | U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia |
| Status | judgment |
| Criminal parallel | No |
| Defendants | Robert A. Christy ; Crabapple Capital Group LLC |
| Techniques | Ponzi schemes |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
This is the final step of the registration action announced in January 2013 (release 6504-13). The CFTC Judgment Officer's default decision of April 16, 2013 became the Commission's order on May 16, 2013. It rests on the Northern District of Georgia order that found the two violated the Commodity Exchange Act through fraud and misappropriation in operating a Ponzi scheme, enjoined them, and barred them from registration-related roles.
The release states no new money relief; the record previously showed the matter as settled and carried a single surname as the defendant.
This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes payments to earlier participants made from later participants' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.
What technique is this, and how does it work?
This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.
- Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
Timeline
- 2013-05-20 CFTC release published
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.
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.
| Date filed | Agency | Record | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-01-28 | CFTC | CFTC v. Christy, Crabapple Capital Group (ponzi schemes, 2013) | Settled |
| 2013-05-20 | CFTC | CFTC v. Christy, Crabapple Capital Group (ponzi schemes, 2013) | Judgment entered |
Related actions
Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.
| Action | Agency | Filed | Technique | Penalty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC v. Mark D. Hanf and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan (ponzi schemes, 2026) | SEC | 2026-09-04 | Ponzi Schemes | — | settled |
| SEC v. Leor Moshe, Jacob Goldman, Isaac Odes (ponzi schemes, 2026) | SEC | 2026-08-13 | Ponzi Schemes | — | filed |
| CFTC v. Goliath Ventures, Inc. and Christopher Delgado (ponzi schemes, 2026) | CFTC | 2026-08-11 | Ponzi Schemes | — | filed |
| SEC v. Goliath Ventures, Inc. and Christopher A. Delgado (ponzi schemes, 2026) | SEC | 2026-08-11 | Ponzi Schemes | — | filed |
| SEC v. Aras Investment Business Group S.A.P.I. de C.V. and others (ponzi schemes, 2026) | SEC | 2026-07-24 | Ponzi Schemes | $449k | judgment |
| CFTC v. Trevor L. Vernon and Argent Capital Management LLC (ponzi schemes, 2026) | CFTC | 2026-07-07 | Ponzi Schemes | — | filed |