backKing & Spalding alongside co-counsel Quinn Emanuel represented Traders Global Group (TGG) and its founder Murtuza Kazmi in litigation filed in the District of New Jersey by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), alleging that TGG and Mr. Kazmi fraudulently solicited customers to trade leveraged, margined, or financed retail foreign exchange (“forex”) and leveraged retail commodity transactions. This enforcement action was unlike any other the CFTC has brought in the past in that the CFTC attempted to assert jurisdiction over simulated transactions. Over the course of two evidentiary hearings and a motion for sanctions against the CFTC, it was revealed that the CFTC staff made misrepresentations in its ex parte application for temporary restraining order, resulting in the freeze of defendants’ assets. The Court determined that the CFTC knew about the initial misrepresentation prior to filing its application and repeatedly acted willfully and in bad faith over the course of the past year by obfuscating and avoiding taking responsibility for its actions. They have since been sanctioned by the Court and admonished by its own Chairman for its misrepresentation and failure to correct. The staff involved have been placed on administrative leave pending an OIG investigation.
On May 14, 2025, U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed the lawsuit against TGG and Mr. Kazmi with prejudice, imposed sanctions on the CFTC, and ordered the CFTC to pay Mr. Kazmi’s legal fees.
The case is COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION v. TRADERS GLOBAL GROUP INC. et al, 23-cv-11808 (DNJ). The King & Spalding team included Craig Carpenito, Jeff Bucholtz, Alex Kazam, TJ Scrivo, Paige Tenkhoff and Nick Cohen.