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For Immediate Release
November 13, 2008

For more information contact:
Larry Dyekman (312) 781-1372, ldyekman@nfa.futures.org
Karen Wuertz (312) 781-1335, kwuertz@nfa.futures.org

Florida firms, Universal Commodity Corp. and Comtrust Inc., agree to withdraw from NFA membership

November 13, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) has accepted a settlement offer from Universal Commodity Corp. (UCC) and Comtrust Inc. (Comtrust) to withdraw from NFA membership and never reapply. UCC, an Introducing Broker, and Comtrust, a Futures Commission Merchant, are both located in Aventura, Florida. Additionally, Stuart A. Mehler, principal of UCC and Comtrust, agreed to withdraw from NFA membership for a period of two years. In the event that Mehler obtains NFA membership at any time in the future, he must pay a fine of $500,000. The Decision, issued by an NFA Hearing Panel, is based on Complaints filed in December 2007 and August 2008 and a settlement offer submitted by UCC, Comtrust, Mehler, along with separate settlement offers submitted by several other UCC associated persons (APs), that included temporary bars and monetary fines.

The Complaint filed in December 2007 was issued against UCC, Mehler, several of UCC's APs and Comtrust. The Complaint charged UCC and its APs, Randy Burstein, Randi G. Levine, Ileana R. Marchetto and Scott E. Rautbord with making deceptive and misleading sales presentations. The Complaint also charged that UCC and Levine encouraged a customer to supply inaccurate financial information and that UCC and Rautbord used deceptive promotional material. Furthermore, the Complaint charged UCC with allowing Mehler, at the time an unregistered individual, to act as an AP and that UCC, Mehler, and Kaiser failed to diligently supervise UCC's employees.

The Complaint filed in August 2008 against Comtrust and Mehler, charged that Comtrust failed to implement an anti-money laundering program, maintain required capital and maintain books and records. Additionally, the Complaint charged that Comtrust and Mehler failed to supervise Comtrust's commodity futures business.

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