CFTC Hits Eight Americans With Two-Year Bans Over Unregistered Forex Sales

TLDR

• The CFTC barred eight Americans for two years for soliciting US retail traders for unregistered offshore brokers.
• Customers funded their trading accounts in bitcoin and other crypto assets, according to the SEC.
• The owners bought almost every part of their brokers from white-label providers.
• Four brands took in about $391 million in deposits, led by KOT4X at about $296 million.
• The eight owe $650,000 in parallel SEC cases, and the CFTC imposed no fine of its own.

Eight Americans who ran offshore trading brands funded with crypto have been barred by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for two years. The CFTC announced the settled orders on Monday, November 9, 2026.

The regulator said the eight acted as unregistered associated persons of unregistered foreign introducing brokers. They solicited US retail customers for leveraged forex and commodities trades without registering, as the law requires.

Each person settled without admitting or denying the findings. The CFTC did not impose a fine of its own. Instead, each order recognizes the penalty owed in a related Securities and Exchange Commission case.

The eight are Michael Talento, Anthony Tyler Williams, Quillan Roberto Black, Christopher Williams, Michael Levi Peters, Jordan Taylor Morgan, Lewis Matthew Neal and Tyler Evan MacKechnie. Together they owe the SEC $650,000.

Customers Funded Accounts in Crypto

According to the SEC, customers funded their accounts in bitcoin or other crypto assets. Those assets were held in a margin account by the white-label providers behind the brokers.

The owners bought almost every part of their businesses from those providers. That included the website, contracts for difference, back-office systems, a sublicensed trading app, pricing, liquidity, custody and customer checks.

The brands earned a share of commissions and swap fees. Most trading was in forex, the SEC said, along with metals, crypto, stock indices and single stocks.

In June, Netrios LP Ltd. and Red Acre Ltd. agreed to pay $2.5 million over the white-label service. In MacKechnie’s case, the CFTC said Netrios also introduced him to other service providers he needed to set up his firm.

About $391 Million in Deposits Across Four Brands

The CFTC releases did not name the brokers, but the SEC’s September 30 orders against seven of the eight did. Those orders also listed how much customers deposited with each brand.

The largest was KOT4X, based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and active from 2019 to 2025. Customers deposited about $296 million with it, according to the SEC.

Its co-owners, Black and Anthony Tyler Williams, owe $125,000 each. The SEC described Black as a social media influencer known online as “Cue Banks.”

Prosperity LLC, run by Talento, Morgan and Peters, took in about $35 million. Each of the three owes $65,000.

Envi LLC, owned by MacKechnie, drew $34 million and carries an $85,000 penalty. FxSway LLC, co-owned by Neal, drew $26 million, and Neal owes $60,000.

Across the four brands, deposits totaled about $391 million, according to FinanceMagnates.com, against $590,000 in penalties for seven owners. The eighth, Christopher Williams of Dubai, owes $60,000.

Two agencies handled the case because of the products involved. Forex, metals and crypto trades fall under the CFTC, while CFDs on single stocks count as security-based swaps under the SEC. KOT4X offered such CFDs on 37 US and European shares.

The CFTC orders stop the eight from registering with the agency or working for any registrant for two years. The SEC orders also bar them from the securities industry, with a right to apply for reentry after two years.

KOT4X is no longer in operation, the SEC said. The six dealers registered to offer retail forex in the US held $470.0 million for clients in August 2026, up from $462.3 million in June, according to FM Intelligence.

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