Court Hits Louisiana Forex Operator With $9.2 Million Penalty in Ponzi-Style Fraud

A federal court has ordered a Louisiana man and his two companies to pay more than $9 million for running a fraudulent retail foreign-exchange scheme, closing out a civil case the Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought in 2024.

In an announcement dated October 21, 2026, the CFTC said the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana entered a default judgment against Michael B. DePetrillo, Meteor LLC, and NOLA FX Capital Management LLC. The court found the defendants fraudulently solicited and misappropriated more than $3 million from participants, telling them their money would be used to trade retail forex while misrepresenting how profitable that trading was and issuing false account statements to cover their tracks.

According to the CFTC, the misappropriation followed a familiar pattern: the defendants paid existing participants with other participants' money "in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme," covered DePetrillo's personal expenses, and traded in his personal account. The court ordered a civil monetary penalty of $9,211,492, permanently barred the defendants from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, and imposed permanent trading and registration bans. The default judgment resolves all claims in the CFTC's 2024 complaint.

The civil penalty sits alongside a separate criminal case over the same conduct. The CFTC said that on February 18, 2025, DePetrillo pleaded guilty to violating the Commodity Exchange Act, and on July 23, 2025, the court sentenced him to nine years in prison and ordered him to pay $6,748,412 in restitution. The agency credited the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the FBI's New Orleans Division.

Key facts

• Civil penalty: $9,211,492, entered as a default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (CFTC, Release 9313-26).
• Amount misappropriated: more than $3 million from participants (CFTC).
• Defendants: Michael B. DePetrillo, Meteor LLC, NOLA FX Capital Management LLC; permanent trading and registration bans imposed (CFTC).
• Criminal case: guilty plea February 18, 2025; nine-year prison sentence and $6,748,412 restitution ordered July 23, 2025 (CFTC).
• Underlying civil complaint filed in 2024 (CFTC Release 9003-24, referenced by CFTC).

The real-world read

Two numbers are worth sitting with. The scheme took in "more than $3 million," per the court's findings, but the civil penalty is $9.2 million — roughly triple. That gap is not a measure of losses; CFTC monetary penalties can run to multiples of the gain or loss, so the headline figure overstates what victims lost. Collectibility is a separate question the order doesn't address: a default judgment means the defendants didn't contest the case, and DePetrillo is already serving a nine-year sentence with a $6.7 million criminal restitution order on top. Whether participants see meaningful recovery isn't something the announcement speaks to. Note too that the three figures — $3 million taken, $6.7 million restitution, $9.2 million civil penalty — measure different things and shouldn't be added together.

This is a government enforcement announcement, not marketing, but it is still one interested party describing its own win; the underlying findings come from the court's default judgment.

This is news reporting, not financial or legal advice.

Sources

• CFTC, Press Release 9313-26 (October 21, 2026) — primary source for the default judgment, the $9,211,492 penalty, the court's findings, the bans, and the related criminal plea and sentencing. A government enforcement release; not sponsored, but an account from the prosecuting agency. References the agency's own 2024 complaint (Release 9003-24).