A US federal court has ordered cryptocurrency exchange Digitex Futures and its CEO, Adam Todd, to pay $15 million in fines in a CFTC lawsuit for fraud and unlicensed activity.
According to the regulator, the company attempted to manipulate the price of its native token DGTX, offered futures contracts illegally, failed to register with the agency and failed to implement KYC/AML procedures.
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The agency's chief compliance officer, Ian McGinley, has said Todd allegedly "pumped" the coin using a computerized bot.
He has explained:
"Between approximately May 2020 and August 2020, Digitex Futures required users to deposit DGTX into their accounts to margin their trading on the futures exchange. According to the complaint, throughout the summer of 2020—the time when the exchange was readying for ‘launch’—Todd repeatedly attempted to, in his words, ‘pump’ the price of DGTX as reported by third-party exchanges."
The court has also ordered a ban on Digitex and related organizations.
The CFTC has warned that orders requiring payments to victims are likely to be improperly enforced, as perpetrators may not have the funds or assets to pay.