A US federal court has ordered Michael Frederick Staryk to pay $547,616 in restitution and a $5,907,720 civil monetary penalty after entering a default judgment in a Commodity Futures Trading Commission options-fraud case. The two amounts total $6,455,336, with the penalty approximately 10.8 times the restitution award. The difference separates the punitive sanction from the amount ordered for harmed clients. The US District Court for the District of Connecticut also permanently barred Staryk from trading and registering with the CFTC and enjoined him from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and related regulations.
The judgment concerns Staryk individually and his business under the names Magestic World Wide Finance, Magestic WW Solutions and Magestic World Wide Solutions. Together, the default judgment against Staryk and the separate consent order against the relief defendants resolve all claims from the CFTC’s 2024 enforcement action.
At Least 26 Retail Clients Sent Funds for Trading That Did Not Occur
The court found that Staryk fraudulently solicited and obtained funds from at least 26 US retail clients for purported trading in options on commodity futures. The promised trading did not occur and the money was misappropriated.
The CFTC’s original complaint said the scheme operated from at least 2021 through at least 2022 and obtained approximately $600,000. Clients were told their money would be used for options tied to commodity futures including oil and gold contracts.
According to the regulator, Staryk created emails and a website, presented himself as an industry expert and directed other purported traders involved in client solicitation. Funds were sent through US bank accounts and then transferred or dissipated to companies and individuals in the United States and Costa Rica. The CFTC thanked the Superintendencia General de Valores de Costa Rica for assisting the investigation.
The case is one of several CFTC retail-fraud actions involving promised derivatives trading. FinanceFeeds has covered a $14 million case involving alleged fake returns and Ponzi payments, a $5 million forex fraud complaint against Technical Trading Team and a separate options-fraud order exceeding $4 million.
Relief Defendants Must Return $110,509.86
In a separate consent order, the court required Yvonne Stephanie Solerti-Coto and Global Financial Institution to disgorge $110,509.86. The court found that they received Staryk client funds to which they had no legitimate claim.
They were named as relief defendants, meaning the order concerns possession of proceeds rather than liability for the fraud charged against Staryk. Their disgorgement is separate from Staryk’s $6.46 million restitution and civil-penalty total.
The $110,509.86 disgorgement is not part of Staryk’s $6,455,336 total. Restitution is intended for harmed clients, while the civil monetary penalty is punitive and payable under the enforcement judgment.
Staryk Had Already Been Banned by the CFTC
The 2024 complaint said the CFTC had held Staryk liable for options fraud in 2004, revoked his registration, permanently banned him from trading and imposed a cease-and-desist order and civil penalty. The later solicitation allegedly did not disclose that action.
The regulator also said Staryk pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a parallel criminal case based partly on the same conduct. The case is USA v. Staryk, case 3:22-cr-00409-B in the Northern District of Texas. The September 2026 default judgment resolves the civil enforcement case and does not determine punishment in the criminal proceeding.
Repeat misconduct after a prior ban shows the limits of registration sanctions when clients do not check a solicitor’s history or when the person continues operating outside authorized channels. FinanceFeeds has reported similar patterns in the CFTC’s case against an already jailed binary-options operator and a $3.4 million FX and binary-options action.
A monetary judgment also does not guarantee full recovery. The amount ultimately returned to clients will depend on available assets and collection efforts, but the order establishes the restitution obligation, penalty and permanent prohibitions against Staryk.