Cite as: 519 U. S. 465 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
Commission) to regulate "off-exchange" trading in options to buy or sell foreign currency.
I
The CFTC brought this action in 1994, alleging that, beginning in 1992, petitioners solicited investments in and operated a fraudulent scheme in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), 7 U. S. C. § 1 et seq., and CFTC regulations.1 App. 10. See 7 U. S. C. § 6c(b); 17 CFR § 32.9 (1996).2 The CFTC's complaint, affidavits, and declarations submitted to the District Court indicate that customers were told their funds would be invested using complex strategies involving options to purchase or sell various foreign currencies. App. 8. Petitioners apparently did in fact engage in many such transactions. Ibid.; 58 F. 3d 50, 51 (CA2 1995). To do so, they contracted directly with international banks and others without making use of any regulated exchange or board of trade. In the parlance of the business, petitioners traded in the "off-exchange" or "over-1 The complaint names as defendants William C. Dunn, Delta Consultants, Inc., Delta Options, Ltd., and Nopkine Co., Ltd. App. 6-7. Only Dunn and Delta Consultants are petitioners here.
2 The statute provides: "No person shall offer to enter into, enter into or confirm the execution of, any transaction involving any commodity regulated under this chapter which is of the character of, or is commonly known to the trade as, an 'option' . . . contrary to any rule, regulation, or order of the Commission prohibiting any such transaction or allowing any such transaction under such terms and conditions as the Commission shall prescribe." 7 U. S. C. § 6c(b). The regulations at issue here further make it unlawful "for any person directly or indirectly . . . [t]o cheat or defraud or attempt to cheat or defraud any other person; . . . [t]o make or cause to be made to any other person any false report or statement thereof or cause to be entered for any person any false record thereof; . . . [or] [t]o deceive or attempt to deceive any other person by any means whatsoever . . . in or in connection with an offer to enter into, the entry into, or the confirmation of the execution of, any commodity option transaction." 17 CFR § 32.9 (1996).
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