CFTC v. David R. Lynch (ponzi schemes, 2013)

Settled

✓ 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.

Report an error in this record (cftc-david-r-lynch-ponzi-schemes-2013) by email

In December 2013 the CFTC announced an order requiring David R. Lynch of Florida to pay $171,297 in restitution and a $300,000 civil penalty for misappropriating funds from a forex pool, partly by paying participants in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$300k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$300k

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 order finds that from December 2008 to July 2013 Lynch took in at least $348,450 from at least 14 forex pool participants on claims of up to 7 percent monthly returns and no risk to principal, traded only part of the money at a loss, misappropriated over $126,000 for personal use and payments of false profits, and issued false statements. The headline figure of over $470,000 combines restitution and the penalty.

The order was entered administratively with Lynch's consent, so the status is settled rather than a court judgment.

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. 2013-12-12 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.