Month: July 2026

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on June 29, 2026 an order filing and settling charges against Netrios LP Ltd. and Red Acre Ltd. for facilitating illegal off-exchange leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions involving U.S. customers who were not eligible contract participants.

According to the Commission, Netrios sold a specialized service that provided essential functions used to offer and sell leveraged or margined retail commodities through offshore, off-exchange branded platforms that solicited U.S. customers without regard to whether those customers met eligible contract participant requirements. Red Acre intentionally helped Netrios by providing customer and other support. Netrios carried out activities that lawfully could only be performed on a CFTC-registered exchange, and Red Acre aided and abetted Netrios’s illegal activities.

Penalties and Relief

The order requires Netrios LP Ltd. to pay a $1.75 million civil monetary penalty and Red Acre Ltd. to pay a $750,000 civil monetary penalty. Both firms are ordered to cease and desist from the unlawful conduct.

(Source tag: CFTC Press Release No. 9263-26)

On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on a network working in coordination with the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23) to illegally smuggle minerals from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Rwanda. Treasury described the action as supporting the U.S.-brokered Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, signed on December 4, 2025, and as reinforcing due diligence across critical-minerals supply chains.

Designated Persons and Legal Basis

Gasabo Gold Refinery LTD, a Kigali-based refinery, was designated pursuant to Executive Order 13413, as amended, for materially assisting M23 and for supporting armed groups engaged in activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the DRC through the illicit trade in natural resources. Jean Malic Kalima, Chairman of Gasabo Gold, and Bosco Kayobotsi, General Manager, were designated for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for, Gasabo Gold. Bugambira Mines LTD, Wolfram Mining and Processing LTD, and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation LTD — all controlled by Kalima — were also designated. All property and interests in property of the designated persons within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked.

Treasury Statement

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said, “The United States will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilize the region. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mineral wealth rightfully belongs to the Congolese people. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue to take decisive action against those who enable violence, exploitation, and attacks against the Congolese people.”

(Source tag: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Press Release SB-0543)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on June 29, 2026 that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a default final judgment on June 16, 2026 against NanoBit Limited, Radiant Horizons, Zhao Deli, Sweet Karma, Liu, and Zhao in SEC v. NanoBit Limited, et al., No. 2:24-cv-06517-SJB-ST.

According to the SEC, from at least September 2023 to at least June 2024, scheme participants posed as financial industry professionals in WhatsApp groups to build investors’ trust, then encouraged them to invest through the supposed NanoBit crypto asset trading platform. NanoBit allegedly falsely claimed that its affiliate, NanobitUS Securities, was a SEC-registered broker. No transactions actually took place on the NanoBit platform. Investors’ funds were diverted to scheme participants, who wired more than $2 million to bank accounts in Hong Kong and misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of investors’ crypto assets.

Monetary Relief and Injunctions

The default final judgment permanently enjoins all defendants from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. Monetary relief includes: NanoBit Limited — disgorgement of $532,649, prejudgment interest of $81,957, and a civil penalty of $1,182,251; Radiant Horizons, Zhao Deli, and Sweet Karma — civil penalties of $1,182,251 each; Liu — disgorgement of $60,603, prejudgment interest of $9,485, and a civil penalty of $50,000; and Zhao — disgorgement of $4,500, prejudgment interest of $704, and a civil penalty of $50,000.

(Source tag: SEC Litigation Release No. 26576)