U.S. Judge Orders El Toro Brokerage Into Receivership

An unlicensed El Toro commodities brokerage raided by state and federal agents on Sept. 29 was placed into permanent receivership Monday by a federal court judge in Los Angeles.

Alleging that BROCK International Inc. violated state and federal laws governing commodities trading, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in late September obtained court orders permitting the seizure of all of BROCK’s business records. At the same time, Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued a temporary restraining order freezing several BROCK bank accounts.

On Monday, Real appointed Los Angeles attorney Sam Jonas to serve as permanent receiver. At Jonas’ request, Real also issued several orders requiring BROCK officials to turn over newly discovered bank accounts in Switzerland, the Isle of Man and Sonoma, Calif.

CFTC attorney Richard L. Symonds said it was too early to say how many investors dealt with the company or how much money BROCK earned from selling commodities contracts for precious and strategic metals.