The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a consent order against Andrew Middlebrooks and his firm EIA All Weather Alpha Fund I Partners LLC, a Delaware company, based in the Detroit area, for operating a fraudulent commodity pool.
From at least mid-2017 through April 2022, Middlebrooks and his firm solicited and retained investor funds through a commodity pool, EIA All Weather Alpha Fund I LP, by making false and misleading statements to existing and prospective participants.
According to the order, the defendants claimed the pool was extraordinarily profitable despite significant trading losses; exaggerated pool assets under management; and falsely represented the pool’s financial statements were audited by an outside firm. They also issued falsified monthly account statements and financial reports to prospective and existing pool participants.
Through this scheme, the defendants pooled millions of dollars from dozens of pool participants in the United States and abroad.
The order finds the defendants violated the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged. It permanently bans them from further violations of those provisions, from trading for others, from soliciting or accepting funds for trading, and from registering with the CFTC.
“As this case demonstrates, the CFTC will not tolerate fraudulent conduct in the markets it oversees and will vigorously pursue fraudsters to protect the American public,” said Director of Enforcement David Miller.
The order resolves all claims the CFTC brought against the defendants in August 2022. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8576-22 ]
In a related criminal case, the Department of Justice charged Middlebrooks in October 2022 with wire fraud based on the conduct in the CFTC’s complaint. [United States v. Middlebrooks, Case No. 2:22-cr-20516-TGB-EAS (E.D. Mich. Oct. 11, 2022]. Middlebrooks pleaded guilty, and in 2025 he was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $34,346,948 in restitution — sanctions which the court recognized in the order.
