Washington, D.C. – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a consent order on March 21, 2022 for a permanent injunction, monetary sanctions, and equitable relief against defendants Dro Kholamian of Barrington, Illinois and his company, Blue Star Trading, LLC (Blue Star), which had an office in Park Ridge, Illinois.
The consent order resolves a CFTC action filed on November 30, 2018 [See CFTC Press Release No. 7857-18] alleging solicitation fraud, misappropriation of client funds, and failing to register with the CFTC as a commodity trading advisor and an associated person.
The order requires Kholamian and Blue Star to pay $227,000 in restitution to victims of their scheme and to pay a $150,000 civil monetary penalty. The order also permanently prohibits the defendants from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, as charged, and imposes permanent registration and trading bans.
Case Background
The order finds that from January 2013 through November 2018, the defendants fraudulently solicited and accepted $995,000 from clients for futures and/or forex trading through accounts that Kholamian and Blue Star managed. Kholamian sought out some clients through his connection with his Armenian church and social contacts of Armenian heritage. The defendants returned $768,000 to their clients and misappropriated $227,000 of their funds, using…
