Manhattan federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged the principals of SK Madison Commodities, LLC, an unregistered commodities trading pool, with commodities, securities and wire fraud, and conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. The maximum penalty is 20 years in federal prison for each fraud charge and five years for conspiracy. Michael James Seward, president of the defunct firm, faces extradition from Florida, where he is being held on unrelated state felony charges. Seward's former partner, Yan ("Ian") Kaziyev, pled guilty to all of the counts pursuant to a cooperation agreement on June 25 before federal Judge Paul A. Crotty. In the event that Seward puts prosecutors to their case, his former partner will be required to testify against him, or face more serious consequences himself. The charges allege that Seward and Kaziyev tricked investors to invest some $1.3 million under false pretenses, and then pocketed about $700,000
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