CFTC v. Storm Bryant, Elijah Bryant III and three companies (ponzi schemes, 2024)

Judgment entered

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In December 2024 the CFTC announced a judgment against Storm Bryant, Elijah Bryant III and 3 others. A summary judgment of 11 December 2024 orders the Bryants and three companies, jointly and severally, to pay $1.3 million in restitution and a $3.9 million penalty over a forex scheme that took $1.9 million from 233 clients, with nearly $664,000 returned in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$3.9m

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$3.9m

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 December 11, 2024 as release 9016-24. A summary judgment of 11 December 2024 orders the Bryants and three companies, jointly and severally, to pay $1.3 million in restitution and a $3.9 million penalty over a forex scheme that took $1.9 million from 233 clients, with nearly $664,000 returned in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.

This library tags the matter as a Ponzi scheme because the document describes returns to earlier investors paid from later investors' money, as alleged or found. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil penalty of $3,900,000, as the release or order states it. 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.

A parallel criminal proceeding is referenced. Civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

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. 2024-12-11 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.

• CFTC release
• CFTC order or complaint

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.