Texas Trader and His Firm Hit With $13 Million Default Judgment in CFTC Commodities Fraud Case

A federal court has ordered a Texas man and his company to pay more than $13 million after finding they ran a commodities fraud that pulled in — and then misappropriated — over $3 million from participants.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on November 3, 2026 that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered a default judgment against Walter Dunning Larrick III and Cambridge Financial Advisors LLC. A default judgment means the defendants did not mount a defense; the court's findings follow the CFTC's unopposed account rather than a contested trial.

According to the CFTC, the court found that Larrick and his firm falsely told participants their money would be used to trade futures and options tied to natural gas, oil and gold. Instead, the court found, the defendants made material misrepresentations and omissions about how profitable that trading was, and issued false account statements to paper over what was actually happening to the money.

Where did the money go? The court found the defendants misappropriated participant funds in three ways: paying earlier participants with newer participants' money "in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme," covering Larrick's personal expenses, and routing funds to offshore accounts in Costa Rica.

On the numbers, the court ordered a civil monetary penalty of $9,767,625 and restitution of $3,255,875 — together just over $13 million. It also permanently barred the defendants from trading and from registering with the CFTC, and enjoined them from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. The judgment resolves all claims in the CFTC's original 2023 complaint (Press Release No. 8768-23).

Key facts

• Default judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against Walter Dunning Larrick III and Cambridge Financial Advisors LLC (CFTC, Nov. 3, 2026).
• Court found more than $3 million fraudulently solicited and misappropriated from participants (CFTC).
• Civil monetary penalty: $9,767,625; restitution: $3,255,875 — over $13 million combined (CFTC).
• Misappropriation included Ponzi-style payments, Larrick's personal expenses, and transfers to Costa Rica (CFTC).
• Permanent trading and registration bans imposed; resolves the CFTC's 2023 complaint (CFTC).

The real-world read

Two cautions worth stating plainly. First, this is a default judgment, so the findings are the CFTC's case as accepted by the court without opposition — not the product of an adversarial trial. Second, an order to pay is not the same as money recovered. The CFTC's own release says nothing about how much of the $3.25 million in restitution participants will actually see, and funds routed offshore to Costa Rica are typically the hardest to claw back. The agency didn't disclose any recovery figure. Note too the three-year gap between the 2023 complaint and this 2026 resolution — the clock on collection effectively starts now.

This is news, not financial advice.

Sources

• CFTC Press Release No. 9320-26 (Nov. 3, 2026) — primary source for all findings, penalty and restitution figures, bans, and case background. A government enforcement announcement, not marketing.