The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a consent order against Andrew Middlebrooks and EIA All Weather Alpha Fund I Partners LLC for operating a fraudulent commodity pool. The order finds that the defendants violated the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations and permanently bars them from further violations, from trading for others, from soliciting or accepting funds for trading, and from registering with the CFTC. From at least mid-2017 through April 2022, Middlebrooks and his firm solicited and retained investor funds through EIA All Weather Alpha Fund I LP by making false and misleading statements to existing and prospective pool participants. The order states they claimed the pool was highly profitable despite significant trading losses, overstated assets under management, falsely said the pool’s financial statements were audited by an outside firm, and issued falsified monthly account statements and financial reports. Through the scheme, they pooled millions of dollars from dozens of participants in the United States and abroad. The consent order resolves all claims the CFTC brought in August 2022. In a related criminal case brought by the Department of Justice, Middlebrooks pleaded guilty to wire fraud and in 2025 was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison and ordered to pay USD 34,346,948 in restitution, sanctions the court recognized in the order.

Original source View in tracker