A New Orleans resident, Michael Brian DePetrillo, has pleaded guilty to violating the Commodity Exchange Act. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson. DePetrillo, 43, admitted his guilt on February 18, 2025, and now faces a potential sentence of up to ten years in prison along with three years of supervised release. He could also face fines up to $1 million and additional penalties.
Court documents revealed that DePetrillo was not registered as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) or an Associated Person (AP) of a CPO with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Through several companies including Meteor LLC, NOLA FX Capital Management LLC, ELC Enterprise Solutions LLC, and Argosapolis LLC, he operated as both a CPO and AP while embezzling client funds.
DePetrillo promised investors that their pooled funds would be used for trading foreign currency pairs through the NOLA FX Fund. However, instead of investing these funds as pledged in forex trading or other financial instruments like gold futures options and cryptocurrency, he misappropriated them for personal use. His expenditures included approximately $3.7 million paid as "returns" to prior investors and significant amounts spent on personal investments and luxury expenses such as rent, private air travel, and online gambling.
To cover up his activities, DePetrillo issued fake account statements under the names NOLA FX Fund and NOLA FX Capital which falsely showed profitable trading returns from forex investments that never occurred. He did not follow regulations in setting up the forex pool nor did he maintain separate accounts for investor funds.
Over seven years, approximately $9.2 million was taken from around 55 investors through this fraudulent scheme.
Sentencing is set for May 25, 2025 before United States District Judge Jay C. Zainey.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is leading the investigation into this case and is seeking information to identify more victims of DePetrillo’s fraud via http://fbi.gov/depetrillovictims.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn McHugh and Brian M. Klebba are prosecuting this case within the Financial Crimes Unit.