A former New Orleans attorney, Michael Brian DePetrillo, has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for violating the Commodity Exchange Act. The sentencing took place on July 23, 2025, and was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson.
Court documents state that DePetrillo, 43, operated as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) and Associated Person (AP) of a CPO without proper registration with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He used several companies—Meteor, LLC; NOLA FX Capital Management, LLC; ELC Enterprise Solutions, LLC; and Argosapolis, LLC—to act as a CPO and AP of a CPO while embezzling client funds.
DePetrillo told investors their money would be pooled and invested in the NOLA FX FUND for trading foreign currency pairs on a leveraged basis. However, instead of investing as promised, he misappropriated the funds. According to court records, DePetrillo used approximately $3.7 million to pay returns to earlier investors in what appeared to be a Ponzi scheme structure. He also spent about $575,000 on personal investments, $425,000 on rent, $200,000 on private air travel, and $300,000 on online gambling.
To hide his actions from investors and authorities, DePetrillo created false account statements under the names NOLA FX FUND and NOLA FX CAPITAL. These statements falsely claimed successful forex trading activity and profits that did not exist. In reality, no investor funds were deposited into legitimate trading accounts for these entities.
Over seven years, DePetrillo collected roughly $9.2 million from about 55 victims by commingling their funds with his own rather than keeping them separate as required by regulations.
United States District Judge Jay C. Zainey handed down a sentence of 108 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. DePetrillo was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $6,748,412.79 and assessed a $100 special court fee.
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson said: “The United States Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn McHugh and Brian M. Klebba from the Financial Crimes Unit.
