CFTC v. Galemmo (ponzi schemes, 2014)

Settled

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In September 2014 the CFTC charged Glen Galemmo of Cincinnati and his firm QFC, LLC with operating a Ponzi scheme in a commodity pool that solicited more than $116 million but placed only about $4.7 million in futures accounts. A consent order announced on August 27, 2021 imposed permanent trading and registration bans on Galemmo; the release states no monetary sanction. He was separately sentenced to 188 months in prison.

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 complaint, filed September 15, 2014, alleges that from 2010 to July 2013 Galemmo claimed returns of 17 to 40 percent, did not trade participants' funds for years, deposited about $4.7 million into futures accounts, lost about $1.2 million, misappropriated funds and issued false statements. The allegations are the CFTC's.

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.

Outcome. The CFTC's August 27, 2021 release says Judge Michael Barrett of the Southern District of Ohio entered a consent order for permanent injunction and other equitable relief against Galemmo. It imposes permanent trading and registration bans and resolves the CFTC action as to him. It cites findings in the order, and Galemmo's own plea agreement in the parallel criminal case, that he misrepresented returns of 17 to 40 percent, solicited over $116 million, deposited only about $4.7 million into futures accounts and misappropriated the rest. The release says he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced on August 28, 2014 to 188 months with $34.5 million in criminal restitution. It states no CFTC penalty or disgorgement. The release is dated 2021; the date the order was signed is not given, so the resolved date is the announcement date. The firm QFC, LLC is not mentioned as a party to this order.

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. 2014-09-16 CFTC release published
2. 2021-08-27 CFTC announces consent order: permanent trading and registration bans

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 release 8420-21 (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.

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.

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.