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CFTC v. Adam Todd and Digitex entities (price manipulation, 2023)

Judgment entered

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 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.

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In July 2023 the CFTC announced a July 5 default judgment in the Southern District of Florida against Adam Todd and four Digitex companies for attempting to manipulate the DGTX token price, illegally offering futures and failing to register, ordering $3,912,220 in disgorgement and an $11,736,660 penalty and imposing trading and registration bans.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency CFTC
Release number 8748-23
Date filed 2023-07-12
Date resolved 2023-07-12
Court U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Status judgment
Asset class crypto, futures
Venue OTC
Criminal parallel No
Defendants Adam Todd (individual) ; Digitex LLC (entity) ; Digitex Limited (entity) ; Digitex Software Limited (entity) ; Blockster Holdings Limited Corporation (entity)
Techniques Price manipulation

What was ordered

Civil penalty
$11.7m
Disgorgement
$3.9m
Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
$15.6m
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 Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced this matter on July 12, 2023 as release 8748-23. The respondents named are Adam Todd, Digitex LLC, Digitex Limited, Digitex Software Limited and Blockster Holdings Limited Corporation (1 individual, 4 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

The order finds Todd attempted to pump the DGTX price using a computerized bot, in addition to the registration and anti-money-laundering failures. The judgment was entered by default. This library tags the matter as price manipulation.

The conduct is recorded against crypto and futures, with OTC identified in the release.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $11.7 million, disgorgement of $3.9 million. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

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.

Timeline

  1. 2023-07-12 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.

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.

Date filed Agency Record Status
2022-10-03 CFTC CFTC v. Adam Todd and Digitex entities (price manipulation, 2022) Judgment entered
2023-07-12 CFTC CFTC v. Adam Todd and Digitex entities (price manipulation, 2023)(this record) Judgment entered

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.

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

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEBI v. Shreedhar Yellaiah Kodam (synchronized trades, Well Pack Papers, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-09-22 Matched Orders , Price Manipulation — dismissed
SEBI v. Debock Industries Limited and others (fictitious issues, inflated sales and diverted rights-issue funds, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-28 Misleading Issuer Disclosure , Price Manipulation — judgment
SEBI v. Varanium Cloud Limited and others (false accounts, diverted IPO funds and share sales, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-25 Misleading Issuer Disclosure , Price Manipulation — judgment
SEBI v. Abhay Dwivedi and others (YouTube promotion, Decillion Finance, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-03 Social Media Ramps , Price Manipulation — judgment
CFTC v. George Santos (price manipulation, 2026) CFTC 2026-07-31 Price Manipulation $17.5k settled
SEBI v. Amesh Surajlal Jaiswal and others (Telegram tips, Akash Infra-Projects, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-07-28 Social Media Ramps , Price Manipulation — judgment

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.