This week, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed and simultaneously settled charges against Alexandre P. Guimaraes and his company, ACI Capital Group, L.L.C. for fraudulently soliciting customers to trade off-exchange foreign currency contracts (“forex”).  According to the Order Instituting Proceedings, Making Findings and Imposing Remedial Sanctions, Guimaraes solicited approximately $465,000 from at least 29 people in California and Hawaii by misrepresenting Guimaraes’s experience trading forex and his profitable returns.  In reality, he suffered large trading losses for ACI customers and concealed the losses by issuing hundreds of false monthly account statements.  The false account statements falsely showed each customer was earning a profit every month.  In addition, Guimaraes misappropriated more than $44,000 of ACI customer funds, using the funds to pay for personal expenses.  Lastly, Guimares failed to register with the CFTC as a commodity trading advisor.  The Order finds that Guimaraes and ACI violated Section 4(b)(2)(A)-(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulation 5.3(a)(3)(i).