CFTC v. Nevada Company and its Owner (ponzi schemes, 2019)

Judgment entered

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On March 29, 2021 the District of Nevada entered a default judgment against David Gilbert Saffron and his company Circle Society, Corp., ordering about $14.8 million in restitution, $15.8 million in disgorgement and a $1.48 million penalty, and permanent trading and registration bans.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$1.5m

Disgorgement

$15.8m

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$17.3m

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 October 16, 2019 as release 8053-19. The respondents named are Nevada Company and its Owner (0 individuals, 1 entity). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, District of Nevada.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against crypto and options.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

Outcome. CFTC release 8377-21 (April 8, 2021) reports that, after a hearing, the court entered a default judgment on March 29, 2021 against Saffron and Circle Society. Liability is joint and several for restitution of $14,841,280, disgorgement of $15,815,967 and a civil penalty of $1,484,128. The defendants are permanently enjoined and barred from trading in CFTC-regulated markets and from registering with the CFTC. The court relied on the defendants' failure to mount a defense and on their earlier non-compliance with court orders, so the judgment rests on default rather than a trial. Restitution is not a separate field in this record. The release gives the case background as the CFTC's allegations.

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. 2019-10-16 CFTC release published
2. 2021-03-29 Default judgment entered against Saffron and Circle Society

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 order or complaint
• CFTC order or complaint
• CFTC release 8377-21 (default judgment)

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.