Senate Democrats Want SEC, CFTC Funding Restored

Senate Democrats late on Friday unveiled their version of a federal budget that restores funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the full levels proposed by the president: $1.26 billion and $286 million, respectively, the Deal Pipeline reported yesterday. On Feb. 19, the House Republicans approved a plan that cut more than $60 billion from Obama's budget, slashing money for health reform, the Environmental Protection Agency, student aid and public broadcasting, along with money for the SEC and the CFTC. The Republican plan would fund the SEC and CFTC budgets at $1.1 billion and $186 million respectively, levels that would force both agencies to cut back on staff and technology at the same time they are assuminig their new Dodd-Frank Act responsibilities. Republicans also moved to bar the Obama administration from using czars to run various programs including the Troubled Asset Relief Program

CFTC Charges Florida Resident David L. Ortiz and his Companies, Goyep International, Inc. and Royal Returns, Inc., with Defrauding Customers in an Off-Exchange Foreign Currency Scam

http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr5992-11.html
The CFTC filed an anti-fraud enforcement action against defendants David L. Ortiz of Vero Beach, Fla., and his companies, Goyep International, Inc., of Vero Beach, Fla., and Royal Returns, Inc., of Hollywood, Fla., charging them with operating a fraudulent off-exchange foreign currency (forex) scheme that accepted funds totaling at least $420,000 from at least 10 customers.