Amacker, et al. v. Renaissance Asset, et al.

Appellants, investors in a commodity pool, brought suit alleging that futures commission merchants violated the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. 1-27f, by aiding and abetting an investment pool operator in his scheme to defraud investors. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim against the futures commission merchants. The court held that the district court acted properly in dismissing the investors' aiding and abetting claims where the merchants had no reason to know that the operator was operating as a commodity pool or trading on behalf of other investors, let alone that the operator was running a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. The court also held that, even if the merchants' actions could be construed as negligent, they were not severely reckless. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court was affirmed. View "Amacker, et al. v. Renaissance Asset, et al." on Justia Law