Release:#3959-96 (96 CIV 7814)

For Release: October 17, 1996

**EXPARTE ORDER ENTERED BY NEW YORK FEDERAL COURT****FREEZES ASSETS OF WORLD WIDE CURRENCIES INC., UNITED CURRENCIES, AND A+    CURRENCIES OF NEW YORK**

**CFTC Complaint Charges Defendants with Cheating and Defrauding    Customers and Offering and Selling Illegal Off-Exchange Futures Contracts    in Nationwide Scam**

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced    today that on October 16, 1996, the Honorable Whitman Knapp of the U.S.    District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an ***ex    parte*** restraining order freezing the assets of **World Wide    Currencies, Inc.** (a/k/a Worldwide Currencies, Inc., a/k/a Worldwide    Currencies, Ltd.); **United Currencies Corp.** (a/k/a/ United    Currencies, Inc.); and

**A+ Currencies Int'l Inc.** (d/b/a International Currencies, Inc.),    all of New York, New York.

The order stems from a four-count injunctive complaint also filed on    October 16, 1996, alleging that the defendants committed fraud in the offer    and sale of illegal futures contracts on various foreign currencies    (including Japanese yen, the British pound, and the Deutschmark), operated    as an unregistered futures commission merchant, and converted customers'    funds to personal or business uses.

In addition to freezing the defendants' assets, the court's ***ex    parte* order prohibits the destruction of books and records, and grants    the CFTC access to such books and records.**

**Specifically, the complaint charges that since at least January 1995,    the defendants violated the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange    Act (CEA) and the off- exchange futures proscriptions of the CEA through    the fraudulent offer and sale of illegal off- exchange commodity futures    contracts for various foreign currencies to members of the general public    nationwide.**

**The defendants allegedly cheated and defrauded existing customers and    prospective customers by making misrepresentations concerning material    facts related to the trading of the contracts, including    misrepresenting:**

- the likelihood of profit and the risk of loss in the trading of      commodity futures contracts;
- the trading performance and record, and investment expertise and      experience of the defendants;
- strategies used by the defendants to reduce the risks of trading      commodity futures;
- that clients have enjoyed a 33% to 41% return each year on their      investment over the past two and a half years, when, in fact, the      defendants knew the statement was false, or had no basis to believe it      was true; and

**that customer money would be kept in segregated, interest bearing    accounts readily available to for customer withdrawal, when in fact such    money was deposited in an account maintained under the name of Worldwide    Currencies Ltd. and was not available to customers upon request.**

**The defendants, according to the complaint, solicited prospective    customers from across the country using such methods as "cold calling"    individuals, placing advertisements in business magazines, running    promotional announcements on radio stations, placing advertisements on the    internet, and mailing promotional customer response cards containing an    800-toll-free telephone number. The defendants encouraged customers to    deposit a minimum amount of money, ranging from $10,000 to $12,500 to open    accounts, and most did so, the complaint alleges.**

**In the continuing litigation against the defendants, the CFTC is    seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting the defendants    from violating Federal commodity law, in addition to other remedial relief,    including disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, restitution to defrauded    customers, and civil monetary penalties of up to $100,000, or triple the    monetary gain to defendants, for each violation of the CEA or    regulations.**

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