On 28 August 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed an emergency action against Traders Global Group Inc. — operating as My Forex Funds — and its chief executive, Murtuza Kazmi. Canadian regulators in Ontario moved the same day. Within hours, a US court had frozen more than $310 million in assets. The platform, which claimed to offer aspiring traders access to a proprietary capital pool they could trade for profit, was shut down overnight.
The CFTC's complaint describes the entire My Forex Funds business model as a fraud. Traders paid fees of between $49 and $1,499 to access evaluation accounts in which they had to demonstrate consistent profitability before being given access to "funded" accounts with real capital. According to the regulator, those funded accounts never contained real capital. The profitability requirements were set to ensure most traders would fail them. And the firm was secretly trading against its own customers.
How the Model Was Alleged to Work
My Forex Funds attracted over 135,000 customers globally. It collected more than $310 million in fees from those customers before the CFTC's intervention. The business presented itself as a meritocratic gateway to institutional capital: pass the evaluation, show you can trade consistently, receive access to a funded account and split the profits.
The CFTC alleges that this presentation was false from the start. Evaluation accounts were structured with drawdown limits and profit targets calibrated so that the majority of participants would breach limits before reaching funded status. Customers who did pass the evaluation and receive "funded" access were given accounts that did not reflect real market exposure. When those traders appeared to make money, the firm did not actually lose — the gains were fictitious.
The complaint further alleges that Kazmi used customer funds to support a personal lifestyle that included a private jet, luxury vehicles, and property purchases — a pattern consistent with other CFTC fraud actions where business revenue and personal spending became indistinguishable.
Why Prop Trading Evaluation Firms Are Under Regulatory Scrutiny
The My Forex Funds action was the first major US enforcement action targeting the prop trading evaluation model, but it is not an isolated case. The sector grew rapidly between 2020 and 2023, with dozens of firms offering similar evaluation-to-funded pathways. The CFTC's charges put the entire model under scrutiny: if a firm collects fees from traders, sets pass rates that ensure most fail, and does not actually expose winning traders to real market risk, the question of whether it is providing a genuine trading opportunity or selling a product designed to produce losses requires a close answer.
Not all prop evaluation firms operate the same way. Some do route funded trader positions to real markets and share genuine profits. But the My Forex Funds case established that the CFTC views the evaluation-for-fee model as subject to its jurisdiction — particularly where the firm handles customer funds, makes representations about profit-sharing, and facilitates forex transactions.
The Asset Freeze and Its Aftermath
The emergency asset freeze obtained by the CFTC in August 2023 effectively ended My Forex Funds' operations immediately. Traders who had active funded accounts found themselves unable to access the platform. Those with outstanding evaluation passes had no funded accounts to move into. The firm's website went dark within days.
Kazmi and the firm contested the charges. As of the reporting date, the CFTC proceedings are ongoing. Canadian regulatory proceedings in Ontario are being pursued in parallel. Customers who paid fees to My Forex Funds have been directed to the CFTC's reparations process, though recovery of evaluation fees paid to a frozen entity is typically partial at best.
Editor's note: The CFTC's complaint against Traders Global Group Inc. and Murtuza Kazmi was filed on 28 August 2023. The firm contested the allegations. BestForex.io will continue to follow the case as proceedings develop. Individuals who paid fees to My Forex Funds can file reparations claims with the CFTC.