U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Allied Markets, LLC et al

Filing 77

ORDER adopting 76 Report and Recommendation; granting, in part, and denying, in part, 75 Plaintiff's Motion for Entry of Final Default Judgment; directing the Clerk of the Court to enter judgment in accordance with this Order and close the file. Signed by Judge Marcia Morales Howard on 10/4/2019. (JW)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
JACKSONVILLE DIVISION
U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES
TRADING COMMISSION,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 3:15-cv-5-J-34MCR

ALLIED MARKETS, LLC,
JOSHUA GILLILAND, and
CHAWALIT WONGKHIAO,
Defendants.
/
ORDER
THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Magistrate Judge Monte C. Richardson’s
Report and Recommendation (Doc. 76; Report), entered on June 28, 2019,
recommending that Plaintiff’s Motion for Entry of Final Default Judgment (Doc. 75; Motion)
be granted in part and denied in part; that a permanent injunction be entered against
Defendant Allied Markets, LLC; and that judgment be entered in favor of Plaintiff. See
Report at 1, 26-27. To date, no objections to the Report have been filed by Plaintiff or
Defendant, and the time for doing so has passed.
The Court “may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the finding or
recommendations by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b). If no specific objections
to findings of facts are filed, the district court is not required to conduct a de novo review
of those findings. See Garvey v. Vaughn, 993 F.2d 776, 779 n.9 (11th Cir. 1993); see
also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). However, the district court must review legal conclusions de
novo. See Cooper-Houston v. Southern Ry. Co., 37 F.3d 603, 604 (11th Cir. 1994);

1

United States v. Rice, No. 2:07-mc-8-FtM-29SPC, 2007 WL 1428615, at * 1 (M.D. Fla.
May 14, 2007).
Upon independent review of the file and for the reasons stated in the Magistrate
Judge’s Report, the Court will accept and adopt the legal and factual conclusions
recommended by the Magistrate Judge.1 Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1. Magistrate Judge Monte C. Richardson’s Report and Recommendation (Doc.
76) is ADOPTED as the opinion of the Court.
2. Plaintiff’s Motion for Entry of Final Default Judgment (Doc. 75) is GRANTED,
in part, and DENIED, in part.
3. The motion is GRANTED to the extent that the Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED
to enter judgment in favor of Plaintiff U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission and against Allied Markets, LLC in the total amount of
$2,470,062.00, representing $1,235,031.00 in restitution and $1,235,031.00 in
civil monetary penalty. Post-judgment interest will accrue at the statutory rate
set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
4. The Clerk of Court is further DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of Plaintiff
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission as follows:
Defendant, Allied Markets, LLC, is permanently restrained, enjoined,
and prohibited from directly or indirectly: (a) engaging in conduct that
violates 7 U.S.C. §§ 2(c)(2)(C)(iii)(I)(cc), 6b(a)(2)(A), (C), 6k(2),
6m(1), and 6o(1), and 17 C.F.R. §§ 3.12, 4.20, 4.41, 5.2 and 5.3; (b)
trading on or subject to the rules of any registered entity as that term
is defined in 7 U.S.C. § 1a; (c) entering into any transactions
involving commodity interests for its own personal account or for any
account in which it has a direct or indirect interest; (d) having any

 In doing so, the Court reads the reference to the Weinberger decision in footnote 5 to be authority from
the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rather than the 8th.
1

2

commodity interests traded on its behalf; (e) controlling or directing
the trading for or on behalf of any other person or entity, whether by
power of attorney or otherwise, in any account involving commodity
interests; (f) soliciting, receiving, or accepting any funds from any
person for the purpose of commodity-related activity; (g) applying for
registration or claiming exemption from registration with CFTC in any
capacity; (h) engaging in any act requiring registration with the CFTC
(or an exemption from such registration); (i) acting as a principal,
agent, officer, or any other employee of any person required to be
registered with CFTC or expressly exempted from such registration
pursuant to 17 C.F.R. § 4.14(a), except such persons provided for in
17 C.F.R. § 4.14(a)(9).
5. Otherwise, the Motion is DENIED.
6. The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to terminate any pending motions and
close the file.
DONE AND ORDERED at Jacksonville, Florida, this 4th day of October, 2019.

i44
Copies to:
Counsel of Record
Allied Markets, LLC

3