CFTC v. El Paso Resident and His Firm (ponzi schemes, 2021)

Judgment entered

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In 2021 the CFTC sued an El Paso man and his firm, identified in later CFTC releases as Abner Tinoco and Kikit & Mess Investments, over an alleged forex and crypto scheme. A March 2022 consent order found fraud, and a July 9, 2024 order set restitution of $6,203,792.18, disgorgement of $6,257,904.89 and an $18,773,714 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$18.8m

Disgorgement

$6.3m

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$25m

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 October 20, 2021 as release 8452-21 against an unnamed El Paso resident and his firm. Later CFTC releases identify them as Abner Alejandro Tinoco and Kikit & Mess Investments, LLC. This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes.

Outcome: CFTC release 8507-22 (March 29, 2022) reports a consent order of permanent injunction signed on March 25, 2022 finding that the defendants misappropriated more than $7.2 million from over 300 clients and imposing permanent trading and registration bans, with money left for later decision. CFTC release 8934-24 (July 26, 2024) reports that on July 9, 2024 the court ordered, jointly and severally, $6,203,792.18 restitution, $6,257,904.89 disgorgement (credited against restitution paid) and an $18,773,714 civil monetary penalty, three times the unlawful gains. The release says the two orders resolve the CFTC action. In the parallel criminal case Tinoco pleaded guilty to wire fraud and, per the release, was sentenced to 84 months.

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. 2021-10-20 CFTC release published
2. 2022-03-25 Consent order of permanent injunction with liability findings (CFTC release 8507-22)
3. 2024-07-09 Order assessing restitution, disgorgement and civil penalty (CFTC release 8934-24)

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 order or complaint
• CFTC release 8507-22 (consent order)
• CFTC release 8934-24 (monetary relief)

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.