The Funded Trader, a retail futures and forex funded trading provider operating as thefundedtraderprogram.com, was sued in Palm Beach County, Florida, by its technology provider FPFX Technologies over unpaid software licensing fees and an alleged breach of a licensing agreement exclusivity clause. The complaint, filed against both The Funded Trader LLC and its operator Easton Consulting Technologies LLC, cited an outstanding balance of 184,079.25 dollars as of July 2025, not including late fees or interest, plus 500,000 dollars in liquidated damages sought for breach of the agreement exclusivity and non compete terms under section 12 of the license.
FPFX alleges The Funded Trader engaged a competing infrastructure vendor while still bound by an exclusivity provision in a software license FPFX granted the firm on 26 February 2024, covering access to proprietary API based trading infrastructure. The lawsuit is a civil commercial dispute rather than a regulatory enforcement action, since funded trading providers generally fall outside the licensing regimes that govern traditional forex and CFD brokers. It nonetheless offers a rare, court filed window into the firm internal finances at a time when its retail customers were separately describing unresolved payout delays.
A History of Suspended Payouts
The lawsuit did not emerge in isolation. The Funded Trader suspended client payouts and operations in March 2024, citing what it called an internal audit amid broader industry pressure after MetaQuotes moved against unlicensed prop trading use of its MetaTrader platforms. The firm later resumed operations and announced a relocation to the Cayman Islands. Founder Angelo Ciaramello subsequently started a separate futures prop firm, Rev One Trading, which he closed in August 2026, stating the closure reflected platform limitations rather than trader demand, and announced his own move away from funded trading entirely toward prediction market products. Rev One and The Funded Trader are separate companies, and Ciaramello departure from Rev One does not establish the current operating status of The Funded Trader itself.
Are Payout Complaints Still Coming In
The Funded Trader carries an overall Trustpilot rating of 2.9 out of 5 across nearly 22,000 reviews, with 24 percent of that volume at one star. Reviews dated into August 2026, well after the FPFX lawsuit and the 2024 suspension, continue to describe denied payouts and unresponsive support. One reviewer posting 15 August 2026 reported a denied payout and unresponsive support. Another, posting 3 July 2026, wrote that after three years the account still had not received payout. A third, posting 21 July 2026, described waiting roughly two months for a payout that never arrived. These are individual, unverified customer accounts rather than an audited finding, but their persistence across more than two years and past a major litigation and operational disruption event argues against treating the 2024 suspension as a resolved, closed chapter.
Industry Implication
A vendor lawsuit over unpaid infrastructure fees is a different category of problem than a payout dispute with a retail trader, but the two are not unrelated when they involve the same company inside the same rough window of time. A funded trading provider that cannot settle a six figure infrastructure bill while its retail customers report months long payout delays raises a reasonable question about whether the firm underlying liquidity, not just its customer service responsiveness, is the actual constraint. Traders evaluating any funded trading provider with a recent suspension, relocation or litigation history in its background should weigh that history alongside the marketing claims on the firm current website.
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The Funded Trader has already lived through one suspension, one relocation and now a vendor lawsuit alleging six figures in unpaid fees, and its Trustpilot record shows payout complaints did not stop after any of those events resolved. A civil contract dispute over infrastructure fees is not, by itself, proof that customer funds are at risk. But when the same firm is simultaneously the subject of a lawsuit over unpaid bills and a steady stream of trader complaints describing payouts that never arrive, the honest read is that these are not two unconnected stories. The Funded Trader has had ample opportunity since March 2024 to demonstrate that its payout problems were a one time audit rather than a structural pattern. The reviews dated into August 2026 suggest it has not yet done so.
About The Funded Trader
The Funded Trader is a retail funded trading provider offering evaluation programs across forex and futures instruments, founded by Angelo Ciaramello. The firm suspended operations and payouts in March 2024 citing an internal audit, later resumed operations and relocated its stated base to the Cayman Islands. The Funded Trader and its operator, Easton Consulting Technologies, remain defendants in a 2025 filed civil lawsuit brought by technology vendor FPFX Technologies over unpaid licensing fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Funded Trader being sued.
Yes. Technology vendor FPFX Technologies sued The Funded Trader LLC and its operator Easton Consulting Technologies in Palm Beach County, Florida, over unpaid software licensing fees totaling 184,079.25 dollars as of July 2025 and an alleged breach of an exclusivity clause, seeking an additional 500,000 dollars in damages.
Did The Funded Trader suspend payouts before.
Yes. The Funded Trader suspended client payouts and operations in March 2024, citing an internal audit, before later resuming operations and relocating its stated base to the Cayman Islands.
Are The Funded Trader payout complaints still happening in 2026.
Trustpilot reviews dated as recently as August 2026 continue to describe denied or delayed payouts and unresponsive support, more than two years after the firm 2024 suspension. The Funded Trader carries an overall rating of 2.9 out of 5 across nearly 22,000 reviews.