CFTC v. Winston Reed Investments LLC and Mark N. Pyatt (2020)

Settled

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The CFTC announced on December 22, 2020 a consent order against Mark Pyatt requiring $255,850 in restitution and imposing permanent trading and registration bans; he admitted the fraud and had been sentenced to 37 months in the criminal case. The CFTC said its case against Winston Reed Investments continued.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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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 CFTC announced the complaint on February 20, 2020 (release 8120-20) in the Western District of North Carolina. The money went to business expenses, personal use and Ponzi-like payments to other participants.

The Ponzi tag is removed because the complaint charges commodity pool fraud with Ponzi-like payments as one use. The record named "Investment Firm and VP", and the trading and registration bans, once only sought, are now recorded as imposed.

Outcome. CFTC release 8344-20 (December 22, 2020) reports a consent order in the Western District of North Carolina against Pyatt: a permanent injunction, restitution of $255,850 and permanent bans on registering and trading. In the order he admitted soliciting pool participants and misappropriating most of the money. The release adds that he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and on October 27, 2020 was sentenced to 37 months. It says the litigation against his company Winston Reed Investments continued, so this outcome covers Pyatt only. No civil penalty is stated, and restitution is not a separate field here.

Timeline

1. 2020-02-20 CFTC release published
2. 2020-12-22 CFTC announces consent order against Mark Pyatt

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 8344-20 (Pyatt consent order)

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.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.