CFTC v. Cilli, Progressive Investment Funds (ponzi schemes, 2013)

Judgment entered

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In March 2013 the CFTC announced it had revoked the registrations of Victor E. Cilli and Progressive Investment Funds LLC after a default initial decision, relying on a New Jersey injunction and Cilli's guilty plea to running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded four commodity pool investors of $506,000.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

—

Alleged gain

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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 release reports a registration revocation. A CFTC Judgment Officer issued an initial decision on default on February 7, 2013, finding the two statutorily disqualified because of a May 2012 injunction from the District of New Jersey and Cilli's October 2011 criminal conviction. Cilli admitted in his plea to running a Ponzi scheme that cost four commodity pool investors $506,000, and he received a 36-month prison term.

The record previously listed the status as unknown; the revocation is final as announced. No money relief is stated in the release.

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

1. 2013-03-27 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.

• CFTC release

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.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.