U.S. Commodities Agency Sues Precious-Metal Firm

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it filed a two-count complaint in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Eurogold Exchange, a Westlake Village company.

The complaint alleges that starting in June, 1987, Eurogold Exchange sold precious-metal option contracts without being properly registered with the CFTC, the federal agency that oversees commodities trading. The company also did not register as required under the California Corporations Code, the CFTC complaint says.

The complaint also names Kevin Mitchell, who lives in Westlake Village; Hans J. Schulz, a resident of West Germany, and Gerald Rogers, also known as J.K. Glenn, who is in the custody of Swiss officials pending his return to the United States in connection with other criminal proceedings, the CFTC said.

The CFTC said a federal court judge last month granted its request for a temporary restraining order freezing Eurogold’s assets in the United States, appointed a receiver for the company’s assets and granted the commission access to the firm’s books and records.

David Ray, a Los Angeles attorney and the court-appointed receiver for Eurogold, said he had not yet seen the records for the company and did not know the extent of the company’s assets.